Circuit EV debuts at Detroit Auto Show (http://www.calgaryherald.com/Chrysler+reveals+electric+sports/1793804/story.html)

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.calgaryherald.com/chrysler+reveals+electric+sports/1793804/1793807.bin?size=620x400

Chrysler is showing it may have reason to receive substantial bailout funds by revealing more details on the all-electric sports car it first told us about in the summer.
Based on a Lotus with Tesla components, the Dodge Circuit EV is a car we can only hope Chrysler builds, though its future is very much in doubt as the automaker struggles to stay afloat. Details on the car emerged just ahead of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Sunday.

Should Chrysler find a way to build the Circuit, the car would deliver a 240 km - 320 km range under the optimal conditions.

Quick math; the KM range translated works out to roughly 150-200 miles.

Are you sure it has Tesla parts? It is definitely based on a Lotus Europa, but that doesn't mean there are any Tesla parts in it.

..........

Are you sure it has Tesla parts? It is definitely based on a Lotus Europa, but that doesn't mean there are any Tesla parts in it.

Maybe Prowler knows; other than the computer, are there really any "Tesla" parts? I always figured Tesla to be pretty shrewd, using off-the-shelf parts, and integrating them.

Maybe Prowler knows; other than the computer, are there really any "Tesla" parts? I always figured Tesla to be pretty shrewd, using off-the-shelf parts, and integrating them.Unlike the Daimler deal, there havn't been any early rumors of Tesla supplying Chrysler. Although some articles have mentioned "Tesla parts", I haven't seen anything substantive - in fact, Chrysler is using A123 (an MIT derivative which I would have to root for, but it's actually a competitor to Tesla's battery business).

Tesla sources the roadster parts from around the world for the body and chassis, but the powertrain is theirs - motor (based on other's patents, but highly customized), battery pack (their technology as marketed to others, including Daimler Smart and the basis for $100-million of the DOE loans to build the battery/drivetrain plant), transmission (custom-designed and built for them, Borg I believe) and the digital controls (designed by JB Straubel as "lab test equipment" as told in the MIT Technology Review "Innovator of the Year under 35" article - and he didn't go to MIT). Since the drivetrain and final assembly in CA is valued at more than half the car, the Tesla Roadster (and Tesla Motors) is considered an American car company (which, by now, may be the ONLY profitable American car company).

I'll be back to add a post of the JB Straubel MIT article (and a picture that I think is apropos).

-SPARKZZ

If you want to get into the guts and engineering of the Tesla Roadster, this is about the best I've seen:

http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/Profile.aspx?TRID=742

If you want to go deeper, download the "full version" in the left box (about 20 Meg):



Did anyone know that Ford has been making parts for electric cars for some time now? . . . . (you'll probably have to zoom in and invert):

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/sunpowr/latch.jpg


-SPARKZZ
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/sunpowr/2009_05_09_Tesla/th_signtur.jpg

Excellent link Prowler, thanks.

I love this car. I saw it at the LA auto show. I want one. I like it much better than the Tesla. I think the likelihood of it becoming 1) a reality, and 2) affordable very slim to none. I doubt Fiat.. urmm umm, I mean the New Chrysler, is going to be outsourcing any tech from England or Telsa. I believe this is just something for them to temporarily trot out at auto shows to toss a little green on the company and give people something worth looking at in the Dodge display while they gear up for the new line of re-badged Fiats.

Prowler,

Wow, is that a jen-u-wine Ford door / trunk latch specially designed for EV's?