An interesting infographic comparing the new Tesla Roadster and Bugatti Chiron has got some car enthusiasts absolutely fuming.
$200,000 is a huge chunk of money to spend on a car but when you compare that amount of money to a car that’s fifteen times as much, suddenly $200,000 doesn’t seem like all that much. According to a recent Reddit thread that popped up earlier today (Nov 19, 2017) on /r/TeslaMotors, an infographic is drawing some interesting parallels between the super expensive Bugatti Chiron, a supposed marvel of engineering, and Tesla’s new Roadster 2.0. Check out the infographic for yourself below and make your own conclusions.
This simple infographic poses four arguments pitting the Tesla Roadster and Bugatti Chiron against each other, speed, range, seating, and price. For both cars, top speed and acceleration are two big chips on each of their shoulders. The Bugatti Chiron has a reported top speed of 261 MPH with the ability to go faster given a better set of tires. Tesla’s Roadster claims says they can hit above 250 MPH and beyond.
In terms of sheer acceleration, electric motors simply trump conventional internal combustion engines. While the Bugatti’s engine packs a wallop, converting fuel into more than 1,500 HP and 1,180 lb-ft, a lot of that energy is mostly converted into lost heat and sound. Although electricity, when compared to gasoline, doesn’t have the same punch in terms of energy density, an average 80 percent efficiency level means that electric motors can keep up with ICE motors to a point.
Then there’s range. Given a big enough tank size, any ICE engine can keep up with an electric car and vice-versa given more battery packs. But whereas a gallon is always a gallon in volume, battery packs are getting smaller and more efficient. Rumors swirling around say that the Tesla Roadster has twice the number of batteries when compared to a Tesla Model S, thus the range being 600 plus miles.
Finally, the price. Only in the world of supercars and hypercars can numbers with more than six digits be bandied around without batting an eye. If the Tesla can hit the Chiron’s performance numbers as cheap as it does, is the Chiron worth that much more when compared to the Tesla Roadster?
Are we comparing Apples to Oranges here? Has it become an inconvenient truth that electric cars are so much more superior to their ICE equivalent? It’s certainly becoming harder and harder to argue for ICE cars moving forward.
