Doc is Jim posing for these shots, if not you're getting good.

Just wait 2 years and get a magnetic resonance charger. It'll be all the rage.

http://www.idt.com/products/power-management/wireless-power-transmitter-and-receiver-solutions/wireless-power-magnetic-resonance

Yes.

All cars can have fires as Jafo pointed out. But how many warn the driver to pull over and stop before the fire is even apparent? That Tesla that you saw burning did exactly that.

And getting insurance for them isn't hard, in fact I was surprised at how little I had to pay for it. (It was entirely consistent with the rates for any comparably priced gas or diesel engine vehicle.)

Sorry for the semi-hijack of the thread, it is why I didn't mention the car make in my initial reply

So far, none of my li-ion laptops have lit up, even when dropped.

Don't get me wrong.  There are two Tesla's in my neck of the woods, one white, one black.  They are suhWEEET!  If I had the jack, I'd seriously think about one, but my current wet dream is an Audi 8.

I'd be very happy with a 2013 Chevy Camaro, or a 2013 Dodge Challenger. 

Or a 1957 Chevy.

Well...we've wandered off-topic...but so has RND...

Every car I have ever owned FIRST gets one specific 'extra' - an extinguisher.  Best place for it is just infront of the driver's seat...on the floor - accessible in an instant.

Reason I do so is the 38 years in the Motor Racing game.  You get to see quite a few BBQs in that time.  Most recent one I saw [on telly] was Webber's Red Bull.  It fried itself quite well....thanks to somewhat 'tardy' response from the officials [Korea is relatively new to the game of F1 - frustrating thing is many of them were trained by us in the Aussie GP].

A great annecdote was in Adelaide when those yellow extinguishers were being universally outlawed [BCF] thanks to them affecting the ozone layer.  We were still allowed to use them - IF the situation was life threatening....so Ron Dennis told Senna to stay IN the car if it lit up...so the BCF would be used....instead of Dry Chem or Foam ...as both of those can ruin an engine requiring a full rebuild....

Well, I think I got enough opinions on charging.

I even watched the "charging" video on the Tesla site. Man, that's a car! Costs more than my house did!

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/walkthrough

Of course...it's just one-of-those-things that the 'outlawed' extinguisher would probably be the BEST one to use on a Tesla fire.  It's 100% inert [you can breathe it [but not too long! -it's an oxygen displacer] and non-conductive...

Plannin' on takin' in the Ron Howard flick on Lauda?  "Rush" I believe it is.  Sure it wouldn't hold up to your actual experience, just wonderin'.

Definitely.  It's being lauded [no pun] as being excellent...

'The Rat' would have been one to benefit from speedier fire-response too...

I'm pretty sure that is snark, but I will take it at face value. So, of course they didn't. And if you drop a Tesla it won't start on fire either. The NHTSA crash tested the Model S just like any other car. No fires. And in fact top scores for safety. Check out those videos too!

As for the Audi A8, that's a fine car as are most Audi vehicles. My previous two cars were an A4 and an A6 and I was planning on buying a diesel powered A7 when they were released in the US until the Model S convinced me otherwise. Having now driven both I am quite happy with my decision!

@Jafo... I am not sure if that would be best for a Li-ion battery or not but from your description I don't see why it wouldn't work quite well. The trouble with any battery fire is that you have a potential runaway situation. Too much heat leads to fire which leads to more heat which leads to more fire as the battery cells "cascade" in failure. That's why the Tesla pack is designed in discrete cells that are isolated from one another and thermally managed. That design worked in this fire. The management system noted a thermal problem and told the driver to stop. Once the runaway led to a battery fire, that fire was contained to the single cell (out of 16 in the pack)! Pretty impressive when you consider the fire was caused by running over a curved steel object that impacted with enough force into the bottom of the vehicle to penetrate the 1/4 inch thick steel exterior of the pack. Would be interesting to see what would happen if the same thing happened to a gas tank. Yikes!

Since we are talking cars (I love it ), I like the Nissan Leaf Electric, but I am worried about range...I would love to know that I can charge as I drive. But I definitely want it's big brother...the Nissan GTR. I totally love that car. I also love the Audi RS5, which is a beautiful car, but the power and tech of the GTR is more alluring than a Siren to me .

It was a tad snark, xinh2, but the Tesla going toast was blamed on it running over something in the road, something metal allegedly.

flagyl -

The company in Phoenix which was to install and service charging stations for EV's went belly up last week.  At least in a place as spread out as greater Phoenix (some of my regular sojourns are 80-100 miles round trip without ever 'leaving town'), all-electric vehicles are almost all second vehicles.  Not that that's a bad thing.