Quiet Riot
April 1, 2008
We may not yet live in the George Jetson age, with flying cars and other cartoonishly fun transport devices. But then there is the Tesla Roadster, if not a leap into the sci-fi future, certainly a detour down the road not taken—some of the earliest cars, after all, were battery powered. Ironically, the company’s namesake—Nikola Tesla—invented the alternator and electric starter motor that made internal combustion engines practical more than 100 years ago, hence delaying the development of electric cars.
Fast-forward to the day of our test-drive, which dawns crystalline—a blue sky backdrop makes the Marin Headlands’ stunning green-and-brown cliffs stand out against the rouge of the Golden Gate Bridge. Adding silver to that palette are the Tesla folks, who’ve trucked up from their Silicon Valley headquarters with an almost-ready-for-prime-time prototype of the world’s first production electric sports car.
Actually, this is a quasi-mass produced electric roadster, not just some mad scientist’s Saturday project that causes the neighborhood kids to furrow their brows. While it will take some time and a major price drop before these $100,000 cars are anything close to common, enough of the 600 models scheduled to be produced in 2008 will soon be circulating in California that it might give people the impression that a Jetsonian future could already be here.
In the Bay Area, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have plunked down deposits for the car, as has San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom. Down in Hollywood, the number of A-list celebrity customers is growing and currently includes George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As the object of such frenzy rolls out of its trailer, tourists taking in the expansive view of San Francisco stop and stare. It sure looks like a Lotus, at least from a few paces. But then again, step closer. It’s built on the Lotus Elise’s extruded aluminum chassis. While the Elise almost channels Picasso with its intersecting lines and swoops; the Tesla is less fussy and more purposeful. The sills are lower and its flanks simpler. Its wheelbase is longer (to compensate for the battery pack). The front headlight clusters evoke the same beady-eyed menace found in the Porsche Carrera GT. The Tesla Roadster is no Toyota Prius.
"Let me show you around the car," says Tesla product manager Aaron Platshon, as he proceeds to pop open doors and hoods. This will have to be endured, though the desire to get behind the wheel and romp with this petroleum-snubbing demon makes the gizmo tour a bit tough to take.
Beneath the carbon-fiber deck lid (for that matter, every panel is carbon fiber) and arrayed in a horizontal rectangle just forward of the rear wheels are the 6,831 lithium batteries that power the car. Each charge is good for around 220 miles. Recharging takes about three-and-a-half hours, says Platshon. And what of battery life, the bane of all electric technology, from cell phones to laptops? "We estimate that people should get around 500 charge cycles, or around 100,000 miles, before needing new batteries." No word yet on just what that maintenance issue will cost.
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