Whoops! Mis-read that somehow. I thought it said ambient temperature. The fact that they were doing it an vacuum chamber threw me off. And, yes, I know temperature in a vacuum doesn't mean a whole lot. Just read too fast.

Nope, they did it in a vacuum chamber ...

Thank you! You beat me to posting this. From the summary:

"Thrust was observed on both test articles, even though one of the test articles was designed with the expectation that it would not produce thrust. Specifically, one test article contained internal physical modifications that were designed to produce thrust, while the other did not (with the latter being referred to as the "null" test article)."

"The cost savings of switching to an electric will be substantial ..."

All the analyses I've read say that, so far, it takes a very long time for an EV's total cost to match an ICE's. As the cost of gas continues to increase, then EVs become more cost attractive.

Yes, but Musk only claims that this can shave 30% off the costs of the batteries and 3rd party analysts are skeptical of Tesla's claimed and projected costs ...

Yes, but even Tesla projects that this will ultimately only shave 30% off the cost of the batteries and 3rd party analysts are skeptical of Tesla's claims on the cost of their current batteries and there ability to reduce them. It looks to me like a technology breakthrough is needed here, not just economies of scale.

Scroll down on your link:

"Tesla Superchargers represent the most advanced charging technology in the world, capable of charging Model S 16x faster than most public charging stations. We will soon roll out 120 kW Superchargers, which are 33% faster than our current version and can replenish half a charge in as little as 20 minutes, for free."

Why, when I can choose all three with something like a VW TDI?

"Could you elaborate on what is missing?"

With the undercarriage missing like that, it is likely that the interior and storage space of the vehicle is far smaller than is usual in a regular car.

What's missing from EVs more generally is the kind of range the Model S has for a price that is competitive in the mainstream (rather than luxury) market of cars.

I wholeheartedly agree. We are still at least one major breakthrough in battery technology away from EVs being mainstream competitors with ICEs. They need to either get the energy density way up and/or the cost way down somehow.

Tesla charges $10K to upgrade from the 60 Kwh to 85 Kwh battery. That means the 60 Kwh battery pack likely costs somewhere in the $20-25K range all by itself. The 85 Kwh battery pack is likely somewhere in the $30-35K range all by itself.

Tesla claims their next gen superchargers can already give a 50% charge in 20 minutes, so I think the recharge time argument is largely headed out the window already.

Maybe, but they are getting close to an acceptable mix of mileage and recharge time. Recharging for twenty minutes every few hours on a long trip is not so burdensome as to put such an EV out of the running for most people.

"As for reasonable price.... well, no one but you knows what that reasonable price is."

So, you think that more than $60K (and that's lowballing a Model S's cost) is a reasonable price for a car for most people? If Tesla can build a cheaper, say around $30K, but still decent car with the same range and recharge capabilities, then they'll be in the mainstream market and not just the luxury market.

My whole point was that I think we are at least one major breakthrough in battery technology away from that reality because the power pack for the lower range Model S costs about $25K all by itself. Or at least that is what Tesla is charging for it as they charge $10K to upgrade from the 60 Kwh -> 85 Kwh battery pack.

That's great! Too bad they're so expensive ...

I just went and looked at Tesla superchargers and they claim that their next iteration of superchargers (i.e. - akin to gas stations) will be able to give 50% charge in 20 minutes and 80% charge in 40 minutes. That's pretty exciting assuming it doesn't degrade the lifetime of the batteries.

Now if they can just get the cost of the batteries down to a reasonable level, then this will be a true competitor to ICEs in the near future.

"Right, because gas powered cars built specifically to break speed/efficiency records are so much more practical...oh wait, they're also worthless for everything but breaking records and look just like this one ... Why would you want to go to sleep now and miss all the exciting rapid development?"

My point was that we are still at least one major breakthrough in battery technology away from having EVs actually being meaningful competitors to ICEs.

"And in case you missed it, several Tesla's have already made cross country road trips."

Most people don't have $80+K to drop on a Model S.

"It might take 30 min to charge but 3 years ago it took 12 hours."

Is this actually true? Can you repeatedly fully re-charge a Model S in 30 minutes without doing long term damage to the battery? If so, then that's exciting news to me.