Test Driving the Tesla Roadster
Back in 2007 when we first heard about Tesla Motors opening up dealerships around the country, I never thought I'd get an opportunity to actually drive one. Tesla is a company fighting hard to bring the electric car to mass market, starting with their Tesla Roadster. The roadster could be described as a sporty little golf cart on steroids, but then you'd be missing the point. It's a remarkable piece of technology, but prohibitively expensive at around 100k. Tesla plans on releasing a sedan in 2011 which will be moderately less expensive, but the price doesn't really matter. What matters is that a car company has emerged that wants to do something different.
I'm going to get to the test drive in a second. First, I want you to go to the Tesla website and see what dealerships are near you. Is there one within 50 miles? Good. Now call them. Schedule a test drive. It is so very very worth it.
Now, I am by no means a car buff. I drive an efficient little Scion xA and I am quite happy with it. I don't have to do anything to it to make it go beyond filling it with gas and giving it the occasional oil change, it just goes. I value this in an automobile beyond all else. I want it to just work. The Tesla definitely fits this bill. The roadster basically just has one moving part to its engine: the spindle. The engine is fully electric and is powered by a bank of lithium-ion batteries, the same ones that power this laptop I'm typing on right now. Instead of having to replace one giant battery (and and expensive one in the case of the Prius) you can take them out individually and get them replaced. The batteries supposedly have a 8-9 year lifespan, however, so you probably won't be replacing them any time soon. The Tesla is also completely upgradeable. Because it's mostly electronics and software, you can literally just go in and get the firmware flashed as technology advances and improve the efficiency of your car. Say Tesla develops a way to squeeze a bit more life out of the battery, or a bit more performance out of the already incredible engine, just go into your dealership and tell them to make it so. There's even iPhone apps being developed that interface seamlessly with the car.
It never requires an oil change. It costs around $4 to fully recharge and a single charge lasts around 250 miles of straight up driving. You can get a charging station installed in your garage which charges you fully within 3.5 hours. It comes with a portable charger which you can use at any RV hookup, or as the dealer I talked to pointed out, any Target store (Target apparently always has an RV hookup in the back). It is electronically locked at 125mph, though the dealer tells me it can go up to 200mph. That is ridiculous. As a matter of fact, everything the dealer told me sounded completely ridiculous. I was literally laughing out loud as he told me this stuff because of how magical it all sounds. Like Tesla the man, Tesla the car company seems to be tapping into some mystical space energy to achieve their goals. I was geeking out hardcore.
But how does it drive? I can honestly say that I have never ridden in a ground vehicle that could accelerate so fast, outside of a roller coaster. When you go zero to sixty in five seconds, you can really feel it. This car has G-forces as you accelerate. It's an incredible thing. The steering feels a bit tight and the deceleration is slightly awkward but I can tell it would be easy to eventually get used to. It has no real shifter, as it has no real gears. Driving the Tesla is as easy as driving a Power Wheels.
If you have a chance, I highly recommend trying one of these out. Even if you feel like you could never afford one, you need to experience what is essentially the car of the future. You owe it to your 10 year old self to drive an electric car named Tesla. This is the future, man. Live it. See how happy Jinny is? You could be this happy too.
