I am a car fan. I wouldn't call myself a "nut" because that would connote that I know the ins and outs of cars. I know enough to distinguish electrical from fuel related problems, but I don't exactly know what to do about them. And I love collecting diecast cars (though I think that's been covered in just about every other post here for the last three weeks).
I love watching Formula One races. I love the adrenaline, the high-pitched whine of the V8 engines hurtling across the track.
All that said, I look forward to the day when internal combustion engines are phased out, or at the very, very least drastically reduced in production and use (phasing out, I think, is not something I'll see in my lifetime), and I think the Tesla roadster, the world's first electric performance car, is the vehicle to bring us closer to that day.
As anyone who's seen the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? knows, in 1996 General Motors of America launched an electric car, dubbed the EV-1 (for electric vehicle, prosaically enough) in response to a legal mandate by the California state legislature that a certain percentage of their production line be emission-free. Through arm-twisting and intimidation that went all the way to Washington (if the film is to be believed), the Big Three car manufacturers and the Oil Giants basically put so much pressure on the State legislature that they eventually relented, amending their mandate to say that they would only require electric cars if there was a demand for them. Through manipulative marketing, the big three and particularly GM killed that demand. They sabotaged one of their own products because they thought it would hurt their bottom line.
Enter Tesla Motors (named for Nikolas Tesla, a scientist who made spectacular inroads in the use of electricity,) a company determined to make the world's first electric performance car.
Tesla's approach to making this car was a holistic one; it wasn't about just slapping an electric motor into an existing chassis; it was about engineering a brand new car from the ground up, and getting the best people in the business to do it. They did this absolutely right, hiring the Lotus engineers from Britain to basically design the bodywork and chassis, thereby guaranteeing a well-handling and visually stunning car. In addition, they hired a Formula One engineer (whose name escapes me to the point that I'm not even sure it was mentioned) to design their car's two-speed transmission.
The results speak for themselves: the car generates about 250 bhp and apparently very high torque, a top speed of 130 mph (which is electronically limited), and the clincher a 0-60 mph accelaration of 4 seconds. That's supercar territory, faster than most Lamborghinis.
Oh, yes, there is the bit about it getting something like the equivalent of 135 miles to the gallon, which is something no existing supercar could possibly do in its maker's wildest dreams.
Thus far Tesla has sold the first hundred of these at a hundred grand a pop.
It may seem strange to sing praises of a car that I'll probably never get to drive, much less buy, but I think it's an important step towards adopting a truly cleaner and greener lifestyle (which won't come a moment too soon considering global warming is hitting us hard this year with the projected weather being the hottest in over a decade).
I know that, despite its limited numbers, the Tesla will succeed where the EV-1 failed, for a number of reasons, the most important one being that it is made by a company that wholeheartedly believes in it, not one which made one begrudgingly, out of a sense of obligation, and it is from this that all other reasons are derived.
The second reason (a derivative of the first) is that this car is unbelievably sexy. Any sports car fan knows that Lotus knows its sports cars, from the legendary Esprit to the more conservative Elise, the chassis and bodywork of which shares many elements with those of the Roadster. And SEX appeal is something electric or even hybrid cars have never had, especially the EV-1, which looked like a shitty 1950s Fiat. One can tell that Tesla wants this car to turn heads as much as GM wanted their EV-1 to have people averting their eyes. Selling cars these days, especially to sports car fans, is all about sex appeal, really. An engineer can design the most aerodynamic car imaginable, but if it isn't sexy, the execs at his car company will trash the whole thing, saying that it won't sell. GM knew this, and so does Tesla. The difference is what they do about it.
A third reason is that they're selling the damned things. GM only put its EV-1s up for lease, and even then the demand for it was insane. The way I see it, it doesn't matter whether you sell this car to millionaires or huddled masses. The important thing is that it gets out there, into the hands of a consumer that can own it.
In fact, selling them so exclusively, with the right spin, can have marvelous effects in the long run; the roadster can acquire the status previously only accorded to the most exotic of European sportscars. Rich people can buy them, making Tesla richer and driving the price of the technology down. The basic trickle down effect of all this, though it may take more than a couple of simple steps, will, down the road, really open people's eyes to a whole world of possibility.
I liken this effect to those that can stem from the fact that Audi came up with a diesel-powered car that won the 2006 24-hour Le Mans tournament for the first time in the history of the event. More than anything, this victory will really open up the possibility of mass-producing diesel engines for cars and not just for trucks, which is good considering that diesel engines are more receptive to cleaner biofuel than gas engines.
All that's needed is for magazines like Motor Trend to give this car the thumbs up, or to have auto-journalist icon Jeremy Clarkson declare how spectacular the Roadster is, and it's on its way to superstardom, taking the whole concept of the electric car along for the ride.
Of course, I'd be first in line if they suddenly came up with diecast models of this thing...
Check them out at www.teslamotors.com. Whether or not you're going to buy one, it warms the heart to know that the future looks this good.
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