Tango v Tesla @ Infineon Nov 30th

[roymaitland]

.naro.co.uk/

[KLowD9x]

Surely that wasn't stock for stock.

[jorgbrown]

@KLowD9x It surely was. But that was Tesla #9, and went out with a 2-speed transmission, lower gear not available. Tesla later switched to a 1-gear design & upgraded early customers - free! After the upgrade, the Tesla got down to 13.2 => /watch?v=v3Qivh-ZmzA

Later, we added some LiIon batts to the Tango and got its quarter-mile time down to 12.874 seconds (at 101mph!) - see /watch?v=GtkDHtZs8rI . The Roadster Sport was there that day, though, and got 12.643

[KLowD9x]

@jorgbrown That is hilariously fast. How are the two motors connected to the wheels? I just can't see a transmission handling that much torque.

[jorgbrown]

@KLowD9x Technically it's not a transmission; it's just gearing. Each rear wheel has its own motor, with a fixed ratio gear, so, no clutch, no differential.

[KLowD9x]

@jorgbrown How do you balance the motors so that you don't have one wheel turning faster than the other (giving you some nasty torque steer) on acceleration? A single controller or a dual controller setup with some kind of load balancing?

[MrJetjoe]

evs are not only good for the envirment, also good for the ecconmy we spend too much money on oil that only funds bad people

[cgrscott]

With the electric car, the G force on your body is like a Nasa rocket. The GM EV1 was like that too.

[pfkgm]

The quietest drag race ever

[omgsean2]

@pfkgm because it use electric motor not produce sound but gas engine is make mid or loud sound

[mophoplz]

that's a pretty fast porta potty!

[herbienbrian2]

LOL!!!!!! Its so funny!!!!

[MrLowAltitude]

Damn is this thing ugly! I don't want to call it car...

[DanFrederiksen]

the fix is in! : )

[mrjswift]

wth, how can that little Tango go that fast with those small tires?

[macheteboy787]

imagine that baby with 24" lol

[leloodallasmultipass]

tango- fabulous engineering, ZERO design. too bad.

[xme71]

first time I ever saw a Tango

[Domman56]

Miss the tango that was a cool car

[joecool3535]

too ugly and too expensive!!!

[allawayjared]

This is awesome, I hope I can get my converted Mazda B2200 working soon.

[ThirdEyeLight]

I love electric transportation but it does seem kind of anti-climactic without the roar of the engines lol!

[BeNGALi4LFE]

i dont care how safe it is i'd take the tesla over that little zippy toaster anyday.

[pagemaster2012]

Pretty funny. But, the Tesla was hardly accelerating from the stop. Instead, the tesla kind of inched forward while the "cube" accelerated at maximum. This was probably for a laugh. Very funny indeed...

[Castolom22]

Owned!!!! LOL

[BeNGALi4LFE]

tango did amazing on the roll cage, acceleration, handing, etc. But how can a car that good look so fugly?!?! the design needs some serious fixing. as well as the price.

[Anothercoilgun]

Do no be fooled by numerical statistics alone. Its may be safer in regards to roll cage (who gives a shit) but it could roll longer as well. Smashing many cars before it slows down. Hurray for the driver! SOL for all those in its path.

[danwat1234]

@Anothercoilgun But does the Tango have air bags? I'm concerned with small to no crumple zones in a crash..

The aptera for example has a large front and rear crumple zone, side & front air bags...

and the Tesla I think has at least front bags.

[Anothercoilgun]

Tango is one of the reasons those that do not support electric cars continue to not support them on visual appearance.

[josephayal]

OMG!! ugliest car ive ever seen in my life

[Anothercoilgun]

True.

[kemorc]

you haven't seen the cube?

[spiaggio]

ma che merda è?

[DEATHBRENGER]

why cant i see the video

wanting new friends IE

[DarkinvadeherRennie]

looks like a kids toy car

[Vlican]

get a table

[cyclonex6]

I dont like the Tango XD if i crash in that thing maybe i will not survive and in the Tesla yes :D

[buck19]

It's has a roll cage in it and built for a 200mph crash. Handles better than most exotics, and also has a 5 star rollover rating. You'll be fine since youre strapped in with 4 point harness in a racing bucket. And it weighs 2000 lbs.

[100thmono]

The Tango has a NASCAR rated safety cage. It's safer than nearly any other car on the road.

[flipside217]

would you even survive in a car crash at 40 mph in one of those things..

[He101A]

NOPE! You would be a pancake inside that little car if you got into an accident, lol!

[jorgbrown]

The Tango is designed for racing; it has a full steel roll cage inside that meets SCCA/NHRA rules, and the doors have re-enforced steel inside, too. The seats are sparco with 4-point restraints. In theory it should be able to survive a 200mph crash without damaging the integrity of the roll cage.

[malgacho]

@jorgbrown

That's good and all, but how about the person inside surviving? does it has air bags? I really like the Tango, it is quirky like me.

[GdzieJestBabcia]

@jorgbrown but you will die because of internal injuries... when you stop suddenly from 40mph to 0mph your body will suffer because of extreme forces, i think a lot of g. And this car is hard as steel, so it won't crush and forces won't be taken by material.

[flodeezul]

@jorgbrown how much do these cost



[jorgbrown]

@flodeezul They're ridiculously expensive. There's a used green one on sale for $160,000 at commutercars' web site; the slower T200 model will hopefully be available someday for around $40K. But what the company really wants to do is move into mass production and if they can ever pull that off, the price will get around $20K. (The owner wants investors more than he wants customers, at the moment)

[disbsam333]

@flipside217 I am guessing that the guy meant to say that the glass is shatter-proof from an Escalade's cadillac logo being imprinted in the side of your head.

[Stubbari]

@flipside217 Owned.

[budoboy]

Good for the environment? That little car had two gas-powered generators charging it when it pulled in. Funny that they still need gasoline to make electricity - so what is the point?

[jorgbrown]

The little car has 3,920 miles on it. The 1.5 gallons of gas it used that day are the first gas it's ever used. It's the same principle behind the Chevy Volt: if the first 40 miles are gas-free, there are a lot of people who will never need gas.

To put it another way: the point is, I can take my gas engine off when I want.

[BlueRSX]

Hey Jorg, I was curious to know what kind of generators you used and if it would fit into the back of the Tango.

[BillFillmaff]

Full sized generators and power plants are many magnitudes more efficient at converting fuel into usable power than the engine of a car.

[Barai93]

it lowers the cost from ur pocket, it lowers pollution, and is a great start for future models to based on. i very intelligent idea.

[boxa888]

yes combine the tesla roadster with nikola teslas wireless energy transfer and you will get 99% efficientcty and save the enviroment at the same time. i put up videos on how teslas industrial wireless energy transfer would work if your interested!!

[meshies]

that was hilarious

[Triple8880]

Owned!

[veltpak6]

lol at that porta potty on wheels

[BlueRSX]

did jaymitch actually type 'van'?

[ArtThroughtheAges]

all I can think about, besides these new, great vehicles coming, is that GM, who are asking for billions of dollars from all of us, pulled their EV-1s off the market, wouldn't let anyone buy them, poof. Gone.

[Robotfan987]

I like Smartcars, but that little Smartcar wannabe is ugly as hell... Why is it so boxy I wonder? Oh well, at least it's good for the environment. And fast. Pretty cool.

[wetweasel56]

I'd drive it but I'm not hung up on appearances like most people in this country are.

[KoukiFC3S]

respectable mid 14s for both

[hitssquad]

High 12s for the $75,000 Lotus Exige 260.

google. com/search?q=lotus+exige+260

Low 11s for the ~$110,000 Corvette ZR1.

google. com/search?q=corvette+zr1+quar­ter+mile+motor+trend

"The quarter-mile flashes by in just 11.2 seconds at a trap speed of 130.5"

[jnmunsey]

Apparently nobody told the cameraman that you're supposed to zoom in on the time board after the race. Hellooooo? What was the time and trap speed?

[jnmunsey]

oh sheesh nm.

[pikachhu]

look in the video info.....

[jaymitchnj]

Looks like the van started way too early...

[jorgbrown]

View in high-def; you can see the wheels start moving at almost exactly the same time. The Tesla starts slow because it has a 2-speed transmission stuck in 2nd gear; Tesla later switched to a new design that allows for much faster starts. Also, the Tesla is an AC design that never puts out more than 250hp; the Tango has twin DC motors that deliver 1000 ft-lbs of torque off the line. But the Tango's torque and HP fall off rapidly... the Tesla's HP is constant all the way up to its 125mph redline.

[omgsean2]

@jorgbrown but 2007 tesla roadster have 2 speed transmission before 2008 change for single speed transmission for it because it make easy to get 3.7 sec in 2.5 than old one was 6 sec but problem in gran turismo 5 is 6 sec in tesla roadster 2008.

[BlueRSX]

Awesome Jorg!