Striking Lightning With an Electric Car
1/4/2008
The Tesla Roadster Rocks
If you’re of a certain age (not that I am), you might remember a band called Tesla from the early ‘90s. I am not now, nor have I ever been a Tesla fan (sorry guys). But I’ve found a Tesla that I just might like – a car company in Silicon Valley (that’s right, not Detroit) that is developing an electric sports car modeled after the Lotus Elise.
The Tesla Roadster will reputedly be able to do zero to 60 in less than four seconds. Oh, and that whole not-having-to-get-gas thing (hallelujah!) is pretty sweet too. Never before has going green and lessening your dependence on oil been so sexy. If ever an electric car was going to make it big, it is now, so bring it on!
Interestingly, Tesla isn’t even being built by auto industry folks; its founders, employees and investors comprise mostly successful Silicon Valley tech geeks and their friends who have cash to burn. Even those nice men who started Google – and who are worth billions and billions and who seem pretty darn savvy – have put some cash in Tesla (why can’t I come up with an idea they want to invest in?). The car just might bring sexy back too, since George Clooney and Matt Damon allegedly have already reserved a Tesla Roadster of their own.
Tesla was supposed to ship out its first batch of Roadsters in 2007, but now eager would-be owners have to wait until sometime in 2008 to get their hands on this electric wonder according to Joe Powers, Chief Sales Associate at Tesla.
Joe didn’t tell me this, but I discovered news reports that evidently, there are some transmission problems and the guys running the company are having some troubles jumping through all of the auto industry hoops – like crash-testing and other regulatory stuff.
There are a couple of other barriers of a more practical manner that could also hinder the Tesla’s success. For instance, a Tesla will set you back $98,000. Let’s just call that $100K, shall we? Now that might be chump change for the “Sexiest Men Alive” mentioned above, but it’s a whole lotta dough for normal folks like me.
The other thing I’m struggling with is the whole plug-in aspect. Apparently the Tesla Roadster will have a range of about 245 miles on a single charge so the Tesla folks say “you can use it all day long without the worry of running out of juice.” Um, sure, unless you’re driving further than 245 miles. More than the distance thing, my own personal inconvenient truth is that no matter how much I believe in helping to save our planet and reducing my carbon footprint, I can see myself forgetting to plug my electric car in at night and thus, not having any wheels the next day. Often I forget about plugging my phone in. So those days when I forget to plug in my car and my phone? I wouldn’t even be able to call for a taxi!
Enough of my worries, I’m still excited enough about the prospect of a viable electric car that I’m wondering when Tesla might produce a car that would actually be a bit more practical for me and my family (i.e., affordable and with a backseat that has some car seat latches). My pal Joe told me that they consciously chose to develop the high-performance Roadster first so they could easily use the Roadster DNA to develop a more family-friendly type of car. With that in mind, he told me that a four-door, five-passenger electric-drive sedan (super secret codename: Whitestar) is planned for release sometime in 2010. The sedan would be produced at a lower price point and significantly higher volumes (a goal of 10,000 units in the first year of production has been set), and will represent Tesla’s introduction to a more mainstream market.
Joe told me that Tesla is fully aware of the influence we women have on car purchases, so they’ll be looking for lots of female feedback during the design process. Hot damn! Note to Tesla: for the love of god, call on MotherProof to provide feedback! Not only do we know our stuff, but we’re also full of brilliant ideas, zany, fun and modest.
Comments
Instead of worrying about forgetting to plug it in, my concern will be, how long does it have to be plugged in to get fully charged? Because, sometimes I am the DD to be called up in the middle of the night.
Posted by: J | Jan 4, 2008 1:50:27 PM
I guess Hollywood won't look like plebians driving these around like they do in the Prius. Clooney makes my ass tired.
Nice article. But, Courtney, do us all a favor and refrain from JT song references in your future articles.
Posted by: Bowrider | Jan 4, 2008 2:17:41 PM
Actually, they've had to downwardly adjust the semi-official range number to 221 miles since the company that was doing testing screwed up slightly. Still, that's about twice the range that virtually any electric car has had up until now, and enough to cover 3-4 hours of driving.
They say it can recharge in roughly the same amount of time, 3.5 hours, though that requires a 220V circuit. I think it goes up to 6-8 hours if you're talking of a standard 110V outlet. Of course, that's for recharging a dead battery. If you usually drive less than the full range and plug the car in whenever it's home, it would charge faster.
Posted by: mulad | Jan 4, 2008 2:50:52 PM
Accord in a Tesla garb? are you smoking weed? GM may delay the Volt, and Tesla is having problems! The bad thing about the Tesla is it has no gasoline engine to recharge the battery. After the battery is dead, the car dies! All for a 98,000 price tag!!!!
Posted by: ghent the car king | Jan 6, 2008 2:11:33 PM
Bowrider, how can you not like JT? He's such a talented young mouseketeer! hee, hee.
Posted by: Courtney | Jan 6, 2008 8:18:40 PM
He is talented and as long as you continue to write good articles in accordance with your auto reviews, I guess I can handle the JT references....
Posted by: Bowrider | Jan 6, 2008 9:00:46 PM
"he bad thing about the Tesla is it has no gasoline engine to recharge the battery. After the battery is dead, the car dies! All for a 98,000 price tag!!!!"
Compared to what? A Porsche 911? Just as expensive, not as fast, and when the tank is empty, the car dies!! What is easier, finding a an electrical outlet and "filling up" for $5, or finding a gas station and filling up for $75?
Not to mention having 3000 moving parts instead of 50...
Posted by: Chris | Jan 7, 2008 4:28:09 PM
Courtney, Do your homework, i don't think this car's moniker (Tesla)can be linked to a band. Ever hear of Nikolas Tesla or Tesla's theory? This is the inventor or more precise the discoverer of (DC) Direct Current. Since this is an electric car that runs on batteries, and batteries are direct current..well I'll let you put two and two together. Band.... indeed!
Posted by: George Veytia | Feb 7, 2008 12:46:42 AM
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They've been testing them all over the state here in California as there's been several spottings. Very trick little ride. Since they're building the roadster on a Lotus platform, I wonder if they'll do something similar for the sedan or if they're going it totally alone on the chassis. I'd love to see the new Honda Accord in Tesla garb. Or perhaps a partnership of some kind.
Hopefully you all will get an invite to any press events on it, namely test drive events! Folks are excited about this one so it will be a tough ticket to get perhaps.
Posted by: HDC | Jan 4, 2008 1:41:15 PM