2008 Tesla Roadster - Car News
A new electric toy

 

saw it on "future cars" very cool and very fast BUT very $$$$$

 

Yeah I saw the sticker 92,000. Yikes. Not your everyday 20k economy car.

 

i'm glad this is getting more widespread, pushing the performance side was a smart move as those of us who actually care about performance are typically of more influence than people in the strictly green camp. i've heard rumors of all electric racing making some noise and if the battery packaging becomes off the shelf and affordable and black box controllers get tweaked by tuners like engine management currently does, there is definately some potential for fun to be had with conversions.

 

Yeah and with electric prices going UP UP UP what's the dollar per mile compared to a gas engine getting say 27-30 MPG @ 2.50 a gallon?

 

it would be interesting to see a form of electric racing emerge.

the event would need to be long like 250-500 miles.
both ovals and road courses.

mind you they wouldn't make much noise so that would be a touch odd.

 

have you seen the video a few years back of the t-zero drag racing, went up against some interesting competition and except from the occasional chirp of the tires it was silent, i'm not sure how that would play with a crowd.

 

Damn though, the electric cables would have to be quite long to make a full 500

 

NBC news hottie Natalie Morales had a piece on the Tesla last fall. They were blazing around So. Cal with it, what a machine (0-60 in something like 3 seconds if I recall...) She even got to drive it. Looked like a ton of fun. Only downfall I think the silence of the engine would sap some of the entertainment out of it.

ABC also showed the car over the weekend for a couple of seconds (during the weather segments Sat.) the lines a perfect, the proportions are just right. The car is pretty much sold out, they said it was the hottest thing in Shallow-wood at the moment and all the stars are buying them up as fast as they can build em.

 

I've been following this project for a while. I really hope it catches on. Zero emissions with true sports car performance would help change the way we thnik about driving clean cars.

Regretably, Tesla just downgraded the expected performnce. Zero to sixty is now 4 seconds (still pretty quick) and range is now 200 miles/charge. they had to drop both specs because they needed to add weight on various components for comfort, safety and reliability. The ones running now are very much test beds. I'm anxious to see how the real ones run next fall.