I was excited to read an article about the Tesla Roadster today. It’s essentially a Lotus Elise, but with subtle differences – the most significant being that it runs on electricity, not petrol. I think this is important because electric cars will not appeal to full-on car enthusiasts and petrolheads until there is an electric car they think is sexy; an object of desire like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, or slightly further down the scale, a Lotus.
There is a significant chunk of the population who will not take electric cars seriously until Jeremy Clarkson drives one and has his face rearranged due to G-forces, and I’m hoping this car is it. Obviously, I’m still in favour of reducing the number of cars on the road and the pollution they produce, but there will still be people who do not want to give up their own personal motor, either for practical or frivolous reasons, so the sooner they can and, most importantly, want to turn electric the better.
I initially thought that electric cars simply shifted the production of pollution to one centralised place – the power station – and that the same amount of pollution was created. However, I recently read that it is more efficient to have one large engine releasing the energy from whichever source you’re using and distributing it to where it’s needed than to have thousands or millions of smaller car engines making the conversion at the point of use. This means electric cars benefit the environment through being more efficient even before renewable energy reaches the point at which it can service the majority of our electrical needs.
I’m also really excited because I do enjoy driving, I enjoy moving fast, and to be able to do so with a clear conscience would be a marvellous thing. And it’s named after a cool crazy scientist, and it’s essentially a Lotus, and you can get it in racing green!
Links:
Wikipedia entry on the Tesla Roadster.
Tesla Motors official site.
24/08/2006
There was an article about this in the Los Angeles Times recently. According to the article, it’ll be available in the US for $85,000 by 2007.
I’m sure if you’re so inclined, a bank will be more than willing to work with you to finance one.
http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-tesla26jul26,1,5883637.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
26/08/2006
the big impact this will have is in increasing the ‘cool’ factor in electric cars, and dispelling the idea that because it’s electric it won’t go fast. Even Clarkson will have to shut up if it’s genuinely quick. i like driving too, which is the main thing wrecking our below average carbon footprint and therrefore smugness :) i’ve got a mitsubishi lancer atm, which is lovely, if not as quick as my old car, a daewoo espero, mainly because the mitsi’s an estate. matt’s just got a suzuki buleimic (balero) which is also nice to drive, if a little sluggish to get going from junctions etc.. it feels like a deisel to start with, but a service should sort that out. He feels it’s an improvement over Dad’s old volvo he was driving since for the last four months he had to clim in from the passenger side after the handle fell off the driver’s door :)
26/08/2006
Apparently 0-60mph happens in 4.0 seconds.
Apparently there’s an electric version of the Ariel Atom which does 0-60 in 3 secs!
30/08/2006
That’s an immense improvement over my old skoda. 0-30 in 3 minutes.