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Sep 22, 2009 04:00 PM | 24
“Are you ready?” the young driver beside me asked, as we sat in the two-seat Tesla Roadster convertible, facing a straight, steep, quarter-mile road that rises from the water of San Francisco Bay up the headland to the Golden Gate Bridge. Then he floored the accelerator. I was driven into the seat-back behind me—and I mean driven, like I was strapped into some insane amusement park ride—for several full seconds as the car accelerated and accelerated like a rocket up the climb. Only there was no screaming flame blasting behind us. There was no engine roaring either. I was being shot up this road so fast my emergency senses were on full alert, yet all was eerily quiet.
The Tesla Motors roadster is an all-electric vehicle. Which means zero emissions. There’s no engine, no fuel tank, just a deep bank of lithium-ion batteries and a single-gear, direct-drive motor that hits maximum torque instantly (that’s the beauty of electric propulsion). The car is blistering fast; the sport edition goes from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds. Not up on car specs? The Chevy Corvette, with a monster 6.2 liter, eight cylinder, 430 horsepower engine takes 4.6 seconds. The Tesla accelerates faster than the Porsche 911. Faster than the Ferrari Spider. The typical sedan takes a good 6.0 seconds or more to reach the same speed.
The Tesla is not a one-trick pony, however. It has a range of 244 miles on a full charge, which it has proven in real-world driving tests. It meets all the standard safety requirements and looks and handles like any other exotic roadster, particularly the Lotus: it is a low-slung, two-door, hard-top convertible with tight cockpit seats and little room for much else. The price tag is $128,500, which sounds like a lot until you start looking up exotic roadsters, which can cost even more. If you want to save some money for sushi lunches on the pier, you can buy the regular Tesla Roadster for $101,500, but you’ll have to wait a full 3.9 seconds to hit 60 miles per hour.
Few people can afford this car, of course, but the pin-drop quiet Tesla makes a loud statement: an all-electric car can compete with gasoline roadhogs. And if they can do that, they can certainly make it as mainstream vehicles. The Roadster is much more than a proof of technology; it proves to the world that all-electric automobiles are for real. The company has begun offering a four-door sedan for $49,900 that will be delivered in 2011.
Sales manager Dan Myggen gave me my ride outside the GoingGreen conference in Sausalito, Calif. All day he took passengers for a spin around the half-mile circle in front of the Cavallo Point hotel, then up the steep road to the bridge. Every person who returned climbed out of the car with a big smile on his or her face. It was impossible not to grin. The car looks hot and rides hot. It’s a smile machine. Whether Tesla will succeed commercially remains to be seen, but other startups are making their own all-electric models, and the major car companies are diving in too. Whether the standard claim that volume production will bring down cost proves true also remains to be seen, but I can say with certainty, now, that if anyone doubts whether all-electric cars can compete: they can.
Credit: Courtesey of Tesla Motors
Tags:
alternative fuels,
electric cars,
Tesla Motors
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24 Comments
Add CommentUgly wheels. Get the "green porsche" when it comes out instead. But go for one that is red.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisno accouting for taste, I think that is sweet looking ride... wheels and all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWho needs a rocket bearing in mind most speed limits? A cheap, simple and green method of getting from A to B is all that is required... If people want a thrill on a rocket they should pay the Russians for a parabolic sub-orbital trip on a mig 29...Its cheaper than booking a flight on a space shuttle!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs enthusiastic as the article is it actually understates how quick is the Tesla relative to other cars. What "typical" sedan can do 0-60 in 6 seconds? "Typical" is more like 9 seconds or more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy did we waste billions of dollars bailing out irresponsible US auto manufactures that have been spewing out inefficient, gas guzzling cars and trucks for decades? Why didn't we give all that money to Tesla Motors? It would've been a much better investment in our future and would've shown a REAL commitment to going green.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Tesla is much more than a technological Automotive wonder. After all, it's named after Nikola Tesla, the most prolific Engineer/Scientist in history. Tesla started the GREEN movement when he developed the dynamo for use of Alternating Current (AC). His first Employer in the United States was Thomas Edison, but their ideas ran awry and they split. Just a little background on the name. The car is said to be powered by laptop computer batteries, so I bet the battery pack is very expensive. Great looking and performing design. Electro/magnetics is the power of the future!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy nobody says how long does it take to recharge the car? A typical refueling for the gas cars lasts around 5 minutes. As far as I know it takes hours to recharge the batteries of an e-car. Remember that this is a serious drawback!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have waited for this car my whole life and I am 58 years old; you are right elizabettac123, why did we waste the tax payers money on the three big loosers when we could've gave all the money to Telsa and have these beautiful cars on the marked in a couple of years. The roaster is Telsa's signature car so the price will not come down, but it will on their sadans. And for FiziLLA, if you did a little research; the car can be charged in full in about 45 minutes and the batteries will last longer than the acid lead batteries we have now. When it is time to replace the battery, we can recycle them as we do with the lead acid batteries and the price will also come down on the batteries when they are mass produced. GREAT GOING TELSA!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAny of you have the smallest clue how enormously ungreen and destructive it is to make huge lithium batteries? Know how lithium is mined and refined? Where? Or how many "zero" emissions come out of the coal plant making electricity to charge this toy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against electric cars. I like 'em. I like Hummers, too; but this toy is about comparable to one or probably worse with regard to environmental impact.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe coal plants you refered are at least twice as more efective than a car's engine, meaning less fuel for more power, and coal station have nowadays a lot of improvments that decrease their polution plus not all the power comes from coal burning.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut the problem of lithium remains, but if the bateries are indeed recicled and the mining and refining are improved this wont be so large a problem in the future.
Please dont compare this with a hummer, if you include the litium mining and refining in the electric, you must include the drilling of oil as well as the their enviromental(not to mentiong social) damages, that arent that little, in the hummer.
voiceofreason: Don't we need to *both* remove gas burning cars from the roads AND coal burning plants? In the short term, we win by solving half that equation with battery powered cars. And in the long term, the job of replacing a few thousand coal plants will pale in comparison to the hard work being done by Tesla and other automakers proving this technology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery time I read someone chiming in that batteries are worse, it strikes me as incredibly shortsighted commentary.
The wheels ARE ugly, but the rest of the car is friggin' gorgeous. 0-60 in 3.7 is not just fast, it's motorcycle fast -- and I have maintained for some time that high performance is necessary to remove the stigma of slow, ugly little econoboxes which the original edition of the Prius attached to all electric vehicles. When it is something people actually want instead of an environmentally responsible but boring alternative, then the species will gain wide popular acceptance. Tesla is smart to start with a high-performance vehicle to establish the brand's desirability, and then launch a cheaper and more sedate version. Nobody's going to laugh at you at the stoplight. Not for long, anyway.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@JamesDavis: Well, I did a little research and it turns out that (according to Wikipedia and their website) you need min. 3.5 hours to recharge the car. This is if you use the home connector (costs $3000). And if you are on a road trip you can forget about the home connector (it is for you home after all). Then, there is the universal mobile connector ($1500) but it takes 6 hours with it. There are cheaper connectors that you may use on the road but they recharge even slower. Another thing is that you have to replace the whole ESS (the battery) every 160.000 km (ca. every 5 years) and this alone costs $36.000 (1/3 of the whole price). So, what I am saying is not that e-cars are bad, but that in my point of view the technology is still too expensive compared to gasoline cars. Also the question of how green they are indeed is standing. Electricity does not come for free. Most of it flows from coal power plants that spit tons of CO2.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFiziLLA: Wikipedia is not a good source to obtain information since Ms. Jones third grade class are the ones who post the information. Go right to the source...Telsa motors; they are not lying. According to the researchers on the History chanel, the Science chanel, and SciAm, Telsa provides everything you need to charge the car to full charge in 45 minutes from home. You can charge the car while you use the bathroom and then you will be the only thing emitting pollution. They, I cannot remember the university's name, are developing a new battery called "the liquid battery" and it can hold a mega charge and can be charged from a solar panel on or near your car and the panel can be folded up and placed in your trunk. While you are at work, home or play, unfold the panel, plug it into your car and charge your new liquid battery. The battery will cost about as much as your acid lead battery does now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat are you going to do now that they are eliminating all your excuses for not buying a eCar? Face the facts; their here, they are queer and they are going to stay...get use to it.
@JamesDavis: First, maybe you missed that I referred not only to Wikipedia but also to the website of Tesla. This is an excerpt from it: "The Home Connector is the fastest way to charge your Roadster and ideal to install in your garage. You can fully recharge your car – from empty to full – in less than 4 hours. " Since they write "less than 4 hours" I guess it means between 3 and 4 hours for a full recharge.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSecond, again on their website they say that the only way to recharge the car on a road trip is with their universal mobile connector and it takes around 6 hours for a full recharge! And I am not making up these numbers. Go to http://www.teslamotors.com/electric/charging.php and you'll see them. All this means that you have to stop roughly every 250 miles and wait 6 hours for your roadster to recharge. So just forget about longer road trips with it.
Third, I am not saying that e-cars are bad. I myself would buy one somewhere in the future. I just say that the technology is not cheap enough for the average folks. And also it is not advanced enough to compete with the fuel powered cars.
How long do the batteries last? And how much to replace them???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow long do the batteries last? And how much to replace them???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis car is based on a Lotus body. Have you ever seen any of Lotus's cars?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you have you can now live your life in blissful peace.
Frankly, Lotus makes much more appealing cars than Ferrari ever did.
Electric power plants create 1/3 of the carbon that the U.S. omits. Internal combustion creates most of the rest. Out of the kettle and into the fire.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSA needs to vet the numbers, so to speak. The corvette zr1 (priced at $103k) does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, 0 - 100 in 7 flat, 11.3 in the 1/4 for 131 mph with a top speed of 205 mph. Gets 20 mpg on the highway. It can get up to 360 miles on a tank of gas and takes only a couple of minutes to refuel.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's not about getting or not a dragster, it's about there seems to be no traditional limits to electric cars design.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Tesla Roadster shows the evolution of the car systems from the fuel-dependent vehicles to electric cars today. This emphasizes the unending development of car companies and car manufactures from the changing demands of the public. This car system proves to have a greater speed and acceleration compared from the Pontiac and the Chevy. Even if electric cars are not fully accepted by the public because of its inherent issues, the electric car manufacturers are providing an ambitious alternative for car lovers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHello all,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI was always a big fan of Tesla until we had the opportunity to test drive the Tesla Roadster... Now I'm their NUMBER ONE FAN!
Check out our video with and exclusive interview with the Tesla Communications Manager and the representative of ProMotor Romania:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQ59VZMJ3Q
Personally I can't wait for the SUV...
Hello all,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI was always a big fan of Tesla until we had the opportunity to test drive the Tesla Roadster... Now I'm their NUMBER ONE FAN!
Check out our video with and exclusive interview with the Tesla Communications Manager and the representative of ProMotor Romania:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQ59VZMJ3Q
Personally I can't wait for the SUV...