TESLA: Burn Rubber, Not Oil

We are still a couple of years away from electric cars totally catching on, but the Tesla Roadster is giving us something to look forward to. The folks at Tesla have shifted their focus beyond the gas-electric hybrid platform that we have seen in recent years, an have gone all out by designing a fully electric sports car. The Roadster will whisk from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds, is as quiet as a whisper (the motor only has one moving part!), and fully charges its batteries in 3.5 hours. The thing is fast, that’s for sure–I saw it road-tested on the Today Show this morning and it was pretty impressive to watch. The design is top-notch as well–especially the interior. The only thing that bothers me about the car — and this is definitely a catch 22 — is that it IS quiet. To me, there is something very special about the roar of a V-12 gas motor. The quietness of the Tesla Roadster is kind of emasculating, don’t you think? That said, I don’t want to judge the quiet ride until I have the chance to get into one and experience the ‘quiet flight’ myself. Tesla will be shipping its pre-orders in about a year, at the cost of about $120,000 (this is what I remember hearing, but if anyone knows this price figure to be false, let me know). I have to give props to Tesla for what it is doing–it designed a fast sports car that produces 1/10 of the pollution and is 6 times as efficient as top sports cars–the quiet ride notwithstanding.