Why do a lot of articles fail to mention WebTV, is it because it's Google and the reporters think that because Google came out with it, it must be a new concept that no one has done before?!
Where do they think Andy Rubin came from?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Rubin
Many of the type of folks who would buy an electric car at this early stage are the same type of folks who will also add solar or wind power to their home so that they can generate their own "gas".
My solar panels cover my electrical usage pretty much 100% to charge my Tesla Roadster, along with the rest of my house. Power Utility optional (but nice to have as a back up). System more than pays for itself when charging an electric car and preventing brownouts from popping my computers and electrical equipment.
Many of the other Tesla owners I know have added solar to their houses, as did many of the EV1 owners and original RAV4EV owners. I expect a large percentage of Volt and Leaf owners will do this as well.
you don't need to buy anything to write Android apps. If you expect to write iOS apps, you need a Mac and you need XCode.
This makes the assumption that the original poster already has a PC and does not already have a Mac. It also insinuates that XCode costs money (it ships for free on the OS X install disc). The original poster claims to daily support both OS X and Windows, so he likely has access to both Desktop platforms.
Therefore he should not need to buy anything to get started out coding for either Mobile platform.
The Grandparent has it wrong (today) about Tesla.
The only current Tesla is the Roadster which has only one option: 245 miles. The forthcoming Tesla Model S is the one which will have options from 160-300 miles.
With my Tesla Roadster I never run out of juice. Since EVs always start off each day with a full tank, there is never a day where I get surprised that I plan to drive more then 200+ miles.
If I do plan to take a trip which is more than 200 miles, it is usually an overnight trip and we either plan to stay somewhere we can charge the car, or we take my wife's car (which is not electric).
Today's electric cars (read: the Tesla and maybe the mini) still pretty much have the requirement that you have a garage, and that your household has more than one car. It is more or less the same demographic which buys any high-end 2 seater car.
In the not-too-distant future there will be better options if you are a single-car household, and/or live in an apartment.
This probably sheds some new light into Google's sudden defense of Flash blog post from June 29
http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html
Investing in a bunch of Flash games means they have to now start propping up the Flash platform instead of only touting the virtues of HTML5.
Because that means you can't hop in the car, drive to Colorado for the weekend for skiiing, stopping three times for fuel at a total of 15 minutes (30 if you stop to pee).
Right - but there is no way I would take my Tesla Roadster skiing (or on any road trip which requires a trunk large enough for luggage. Any more than I would take a Ferrari or a Lamborghini there. It doesn't mean I can't take a road trip - it just means for a trip greater than 200 miles, we take a different vehicle.
The point being that just because my Telsa Roadster is not the perfect car for all situations. (trips to the Home Depot for instance, or helping a friend move) does not mean that electric cars are not really really fantastic for most situations - far superior to gas powered transit. And the occasions where it is not the ideal transportation, it is trivial to work around.
The OP's complaint was that charging can't work as fast as refilling gas so we better stick with gas. But for the majority of the driving you do it is far better and more convenient to have an electric than a gas car. And for the times where it isn't (going to Hawaii, picking up a new washing machine, and yes... the Colorado ski trip) I go via a different vehicle. And I am not any more put out than when I could not drive my previous gas powered 2-seater to Hawaii. I didn't drive that one to Colorado either.
And the batteries would be conditioned, tested, and recharged with every use. Charge them overnight or other low periods at lower cost.
My Tesla Roadster already gets charged overnight. In my own garage. And takes zero time out of my day to do so. The Roadster itself recalibrates and rebalances the battery and in the morning, every morning I have a full "tank".
Why should I complain that I can't refill my car within 10 minutes like my gas powered car? Instead I do complain when I drive a gas car where I have to take 10 minutes out of my day to stop at a gas station, and likely end up getting gas on my hands. Not to mention sending my cash to terrorist sponsoring petro-dictators.
Never a problem with my electric car because it is always "full" when I leave in the morning. There is never a day where I leave my house in the morning and I do not know I plan to drive more than 200 miles that day. I am never "surprised" by running out of fuel, and never need a 5 minute recharge.
The friction brakes on my Tesla still squeak after 12,000 miles of driving.
I find the brakes on my Tesla Roadster also squeak - mostly due to non-use. The brake dust gathers on the rotor and doesn't get wiped away since I mostly use regen to slow the car. This causes the brakes to squeak when I do try and use them. When this happens, I can make the squeak go away by braking hard once to remove the brake dust. I find an empty residential street and bring the car up to 15 or 20 miles per hour, and then stomp hard on the brakes to come to a complete stop. No more squeak for another 1000 miles.
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. - Edmund Burke
