Living in Silicon Valley as I do, I've seen these cars for real. Even though last year's software engineers are now sweeping the streets, it's not that uncommon to see a hundred grand's worth of car sweeping by. Such is the nature of the dot com business and it's what makes the Valley what it is - the place to raise eight million bucks for a softcore porn site or a few hundred thousand for a web 2.0 startup with a bit tacked on for the company car. And this is not your father's company car, not by a long way. It goes like the proverbial bat out of hell and it runs on a thousand lithium batteries - that's one hell of an Energizer bunny right there.
From the front or the back it's every inch a sports roadster, though if you view both simultaneously it's a collision between a Lotus and a Ferrari. Which is not in itself a bad thing, it could have been the front of an FJ Cruiser and the rear of, well, an FJ Cruiser. But it's not, it's a sleek running shoe of a car and it's electric, and the darn thing does 0-60 faster than a motorbike. That's under four seconds, and the site tells us:
"The first time you drive the Tesla Roadster, prepare to be surprised. You're at freeway speed in seconds without even thinking about it."
Clearly, you have to be very, very careful driving this one out of the showroom.
As for the website, it's slick and black and it presents the vehicle competently. Though for a $100k car, it could do a lot better. Using YouTube to host your video clip is workable but not very polished, and I'd really hoped for one of those galleries where the big picture changes when you mouse over the little thumbnails. Ebay has that, you know. And there ought to have been one of those applets where you can get a 360 degree view if you waggle your mouse around.
Ah well, nobody's perfect. And there is a great deal of data on the site, and to be honest it's well presented and a good, educational read. The experience is much like leafing through a glossy brochure in the showroom, while the salesman goes off to make you an instant coffee and mentally calculate his commission.
The most memorable features of the product are that, as mentioned, the acceleration is phenomenal by gas-powered car standards; it will run up to 250 miles on a single charge from any wall socket, and it costs just 2 cents a mile in electricity. Plus, if you can resist the temptation to drive it every day and want to give it a rest for a while, you can put it into "storage mode" and leave it plugged in for as long as you like. Which makes it the only expensive toy that you don't have to take the battery out of if you aren't planning on using it for a while.
If the car can achieve sustained profitability it will be a landmark; it's not the first electric car to be seen on Californian roads, but it may be the first to claim acceptance from a previously cautious market. The Tesla is the hare to Toyota's tortoise, sorry, Prius, which is claimed to be only half as efficient as well as half as sexy. Or less. A lot less. Sadly, only the top dogs among us can run with this electric hare, but I wonder, would it still be so sexy for ten thousand as it is for a hundred? Perhaps exclusivity will be the key to its survival.