Even I was surprised. In my rear view mirror I watched a Los Angeles Sheriff’s car pull out of the Chevron and turn on both its blue and red flashing lights to pursue me down Ventura Boulevard. It had only been hours since I eased out of the Tesla dealership in West Los Angeles and already I had a date with the police.
This was not the Burbank police who arrested Alexandra and Colette in 2005 for trying to stop EVs from being crushed. Nevertheless, I was a bit nervous as three officers approached. I had conducted a couple of acceleration ‘experiments’ during my drive from Santa Monica to Hollywood via Malibu, but it just seemed too soon to get pulled over.
“Your car is missing plates,” the officer said. I started to point out the registration taped to the window, but he interrupted. “This is the electric car?”
metro photos: M.Garfield
“Yes” I said. And with that he burst into a rave about the car to his fellow officers. “This is the Tesla that I told you about. It does zero to 60 in under 4 seconds, and it’s totally electric.”
Obviously this was not a bust. “How far has it been going on a charge?” (I didn’t know yet.)
“Does it really work competely without gasoline?” (Yes.) “Have you heard what Arnold or Clooney think of their cars?” (I’m guessing they are very happy.) “How much noise does it make.” (Just a whirrrr.) And finally, “Do you like it?” (Ahh…that would be yes.)
The car is lightning fast — an instant throwback to the purr of the EV1 electric car — only this time there is almost universal agreement that the car is damn sexy. Case in point? It’s the first time valets at the Roosevelt Hotel or any other hotel (demigods of the LA car scene) have ever asked me to leave an electric car parked up front. ”No need for a valet ticket — just leave it parked up here by the front entrance.”
Vin #23 photo: D. Folch
“And sir, no need to stand in line to get into the pool area — just go right in.” How long have I lived in Hollywood?! When I returned to the car an hour later, a crowd of people had gathered around. So much to talk about.
My first electric car, twelve years ago, turned me from a car-hater into a car-lover, and the Tesla only heats this up more. The Roadster is faster then anything on the road, including the young guy in a fuel cell SUV who improbably challenged me to a Saturday night race on Hollywood Blvd. Yes he was joking.
The Roadster is definitely a sports car — low to the ground, tight handling, and quick. You’ve got to pay attention to avoid SUVs, spine crunching pot holes, and drivers who let their cars drift into you as they stare.
One thing easy to avoid is the gas station. The flashing charger port on the car (insert phallic symbol here) makes the Star Wars light sabre look dull. And early results suggest a range of 175 to 200 miles, although I’ve never gotten close to running out of power. Specs are 4 hours for a “complete charge” but I’ve been getting what I need in about 45 minutes. Night time grid charging is cheapest (”$1 a gallon”) and the whole process will be even greener come the end of January when our roof (finally) gets solar panels.
The last two weeks have flown by in a second. 
Highlights have included giving the visionary LA Councilman Eric Garcetti a ride. Eric cameoed in Who Killed the Electric Car and has driven EVs for years so I let him drive it himself. His verdict: Awesome.
I’ve also had a bunch of great interviews including Croatian TV (yes, Nicola Tesla would be proud), and French journalists doing a story about “Revenge of the Electric Car.” Midlife crisis be damned, I’d rather have this Tesla than any Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus or Porsche. Those cars are just as expensive and far far more polluting. Complaints? None. I just wish everyone could have this experience for themselves and more plug-in cars start filling the roads everywhere.
36 Comments
LOL! That certainly sounds like a familiar story for EV owners. Those that do not have an EV also are very interested in the plug in and drive concept, the fact that these cars have no tail pipes, that they are zero emission and make SO little noise as to be almost silent!
Awesome Chris! Thanks for sharing this with us. I am very excited for you — and all the other owners out there that have taken possession. I speak to many naysayers on the show (mostly Tesla competitors, err… people who plan to one day sell electric cars) who doubt Tesla will deliver. So far so good. I am #826 with an expected delivery of July 2009. Delivery appears to be going well for Tesla so far, let’s hope they keep it up not only for my sake, but for their reputation and the reputation of the industry.
Bo Bennett
Host of the EVcast
Yo, Bo — You got that right!
Now Chris and all the other Tesla-ites are making new energy news as they leave the gas stations behind for good, and lead the charge full speed ahead forward to cleaner air and renewable energy.
There’s a signpost up ahead, …welcome to the Twilight Zone. (what, no gas, EVer again)?!!
Congratulations on your new car! How exciting!
Just found your blog after seeing your movie Who Killed the Electric Car yesterday, Thanksgiving day. This is the time everyone should know more about what happened to the EV of the nineties. On the eve of a possible automakers bailout people should want to hold them to higher standards of product and ethics. I feel like buying a bullhorn. Let’s clean this planet up!
Congratulations on the new ride. I wish I could afford one. I will have to wait for the Volt.
I don’t think the Volt will ever make it to production.
If you want a Plug-In Hybrid today, you could get a Prius ($25,000) and add the Hymotion battery ($10,000). http://www.hymotion.com
It would still be cheaper than a GM Volt that is estimated to be over $40,000 if it ever makes it to production.
The hymotion pack has extremely limited range. It is 5kWh, the volt is 16kWh, the two are not even comparable. I certainly hope we get cars out that have a big enough battery to actually use as a PHEV instead of just a hybrid hauling a heavy battery around.
Hello Chris, even if my converted 1994 saturn does 0-30 in 8 seconds and will not go faster than 60mph until I get a more expensive controller and/or switch to lighter li-ion batts, I get small crowds around me at parking lots, church, stores, etc… people have lots of questions and almost all of them say that we need more people doing this or that electric is the future of automobiles.
I will install a back-up alarm soon before I run into a pedestrian and its shopping cart when leaving the parking spots at the supermarkets on my ultra-quiet, low budget EV.
Enjoy your Tesla!!!
This is awesome.
It is important to remember, however, that while electric cars do help end our reliance on foreign energy, and they are cleaner at the tailpipe….
Electrical generation in the USA is still predominantly fossil fuel based (coal and natural gas). And the Bush administration has been doing everything they can to prevent cleaning those up, easing pollution restrictions and mining regulations.
So let’s not just trade one bad energy source for another.
While we are advocating for electric cars, we ALSO need to be pushing for cleaner and more renewable electricity generation.
Electric cars may not emit at the tailpipe but we all live downwind of some sort of powerplant or downstream from some sort of polluted water…
But electric cars are a huge, monumental actually, step in the right direction.
This post is great! It’s nice to read stuff like this and less posts like the one from the NYTimes writer that believes Tesla should not get the $400 million dollar loan it is asking for. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/business/30digi.html?_r=1
I’m looking foward to reading more from those who have taken delivery of the Tesla Roadster.
for more Tesla related news, articles, and forums..check out http://www.planettesla.com
Hey Chris – this is awesome! Really love your enthusiasm – it’s so important for the industry. Keep posting your thoughts and experiences. Clearly if the Valley Sheriffs love the car it’s making a big impression out there.
Great post. Keep it up. We love Tesla!
Great stuff Chris — Thanks for sharing. Real nice of you to give Eric Garcetti a demo. Like Felipe Fuentes, he’s one on the good ones.
– Ian
Well, I certainly don’t get that kind of reception in my Yellow Ford Ranger EV. I did get pulled over once by the cops, because my new LED taillight had failed. He didn’t even ask. The Ranger EV just looks too much like a regular Ranger, even though I put a big “ELECTRIC” decal on the windshield, and a license plate “ELETRUK”. I want an Aptera, THAT will draw crowds. But they won’t sell me one because I don’t live in California. Boo.
cool blog!
It’s great to hear about a Tesla in all day driving situations.
Must be super super exciting (not the part where you get pulled over). I’ve got to get one of those someday.
@Henry, You’re seriously going to compare a car to PayPal? Get over it.
Check out Environmental Motors in Glendale (part of Colonial Honda) – electric cars less than $20K ALL IN.
They have just been up north looking at a new range of vehicles.
Perfect for the city…
The Tesla Roadster has everything we will want in a car. Clean, zero emission and sex appeal. What we need now is more electric charging station so we can go cross country driving in this awesome car.
I do hope the Volt enters production and becomes a success. The more players there are in this market, the better our economy, our environment, and the entire EV market will be as a result. In the long run, though, pure electric cars like the Tesla really are where it’ll be at.
Congratulations on your Roadster, certainly the envy of many vehicle owners.
To the comment someone made about where our electricity comes from: How we are getting our electricity is irrelevant. Centralization of fuel-to-power conversion will reduce pollution and increase efficiency.
Consider if you had 100,000 1Kw Honda generators, or 1 100Mw Combined Cycle Gas Turbine that sends the electricity from the expansive & thermal forces generated to your home. The CT will get ~85% efficiency in energy conversion, the portable generator will get half that at best (because all the heat is energy loss and it is not practical to install the recapture systems on something that small).
It is for that reason I am not a great fan of Hybrids; they are still wasting your energy dollar.
Now ultimately if we want to reduce the carbon liberated into the atmosphere by power production we will have to build a lot more nuclear plants to make baseline load. Wind & solar are good supplements, I have solar panels on my roof that balance out about 85% of my power consumption at home. But note, at night I must draw from the grid (coal, gas but not likely nuclear here in Colorado).
Wind is sporadic in most places, and where you can find relative constant winds (Wyoming for instance) the distance to points of consumption make the line losses a net loss for mass power production (ie not profitable and thus not practical because who is going to do it for free). IE, if you use power in New York, it is coming from the Tri-state & surrounding area, not the midwest. There is also an issue of load balancing, wind power spikes & dies rapidly and that acts to destabilize the grid. It is very expensive to install the best buffer for this (flow-batteries) to the point if you were to use solely wind power you’d pay factors in higher energy costs (think, a second house payment).
Hydro is a great source, and given a large enough head water body can smooth seasonal flow variations to be a baseline source. The problem is there is only so much water falling so many vertical feet to derive the energy from. And then someone gets upset because a red feathered 3-eyed guppy can’t swim downstream to breed when you build the dam to create the head water supply. There is also tidal power, however this is still in R&D stage in most cases, and the dynamic force of ocean tides as well as corrosiveness of salt water are challenges that have not been overcome – you can build it, but it won’t last very long to recoup the cost. River hydro you can contain the force and apply it in a steady balanced manner to reduce the strain on equipment – why some hydros are passing their 100th year in operation.
For years there has been vigorous opposition to nuclear power. Most of it is based on ignorance. For one thing, when you burn coal, you drive off the light elements, leaving silicates & heavy metals behind. Guess what else is distilled down in that process? Radioactive isotopes that come up from the earth with the coal; coal & ash have more radiation exposure in their handling than nuclear workers are exposed to in a modern plant. The accidents that have happened were by shoddy implementation of nuclear plants and handling under Soviet Socialist rule. 3 Mile Island was a joke of an “accident” – some steam was vented off, not the reactor core. There is more radiation on the coal pile than was in that steam.
Even tho’ the entire CO2/AGW issue is bogus, a gravy-train ride for a huge new constituency, EVs are worthwhile. Driving down fuel costs and hydrocarbon waste products is adding significantly to quality of life and makes cheaper and more efficient use of energy overall. And that’s the lifeblood of any society.
“Chrysler’s first electric vehicles will be based on current vehicles. The carmaker hasn’t yet announced what the first model will be but, based on prototypes Chrysler revealed in September, it will likely be a minivan, a Jeep Wrangler 4X4 or a 2-seat sports car built in a Lotus body.”
Congrats Chris ! Hope you have many enjoyable years of Tesla roadster-ing ahead of you ! Since you are “plugged in” more than most to the EV world, could you comment on the eerie quote above from a CNN Money article. Chrysler’s VP of Advanced Vehicle Engineering dropped it in an interview and the last sentence appears to imply Chrysler might make a play to buy Tesla. How many other “2-seat sports cars built in a Lotus body” do you know of ? Detroit is just arrogant enough to buy up Tesla and destroy it in the same way they killed the EV1. Please say it isn’t so.
Dear Jim Mapes & everyone else- wind is best; and with 3 KM of wind turbines, we won’t need anything else to charge an EV in every single garage in America.
Wind, water and sun beat other energy alternatives, recent study finds.
The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford.
…
“Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options. The paper with his findings will be published in the next issue of Energy and Environmental Science but is available online now.,,,”
Indeed, a battery-powered U.S. vehicle fleet could be charged by 73,000 to 144,000 5-megawatt wind turbines, fewer than the 300,000 airplanes the U.S. produced during World War II and far easier to build. Additional turbines could provide electricity for other energy needs.
See http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2009/january7/power-010709.html
Go Tesla!!!! I’m thrilled for you. I’m so excited about the future of EVs!
I am extatic regarding the success of the Tesla Automobile.
I recently wrote a blog on the tesla site, and they removed it. It had to do with the engineer at tesla stating they would be opening a wind scoop in the front of the car to handle some air flow and other functioning that had to do with cooling the batteries. I recommended they open a scoop to drive a wind driven squirell cage that in turn drives a small alternator that generates enough AC back to the batteries to extend the charged life of the batteries. Having worked in the electrical field for years, I have worked with alternators and generators extensively. Anyone that tells me you need to recharge batteries with regenerative braking is just trying to add cost to the automobile. Instead of charging only when you break, you can charge all the time with the squirell cage alternator system.
After this was put on the Tesla site, they promptly removed it. I think they know about this type of system, however, want to charge more money for it in future models.
Wake up tesla! If you don’t do it, the after market will do it just like they do everything else.
I love your car, but your 240 miles to a charge stinks, when you can add amps to the battaries at any time your rotor is going around. Hook it to one of the wheels, and you have a constant flow of amps throughout the life of your driving experience. I have no idea how far you could go then.
rw
Witamy, co możemy powiedzieć firmie Tesla, jeśli przyjdzie do przełomu to nie będą baterie, lecz urządzenie, które rozkręci cały przemysł samochodowy, przemysł lotniczy czy energetyczny to będzie darmowa energia To nie steorn jego piętnaście minut dobiega końca to nie silnik magnetyczny, dlaczego jest nam tak trudno, powstała luka, rok 1973 a rok 2008 właśnie w tym czasie powinny być baterie w samochodach elektrycznych te samochody powinny już jeździć. Teraz ma nastąpić właśnie ta nowa energia, ale brakuje nam ciągłości przespaliśmy ten czas a dzisiaj już musimy wprowadzać właśnie te nowe źródła energetyczne żeby zmieścić się w czasie, o którym mówimy dzisiaj a świat i ludzie nie są gotowi do przyjęcia jej, myślimy, że ropa ma swe tajemnice wie, że zbliża się do półmetku NIK nie chce zrezygnować z przeszłości na rzecz nowej przyszłości
i’m impressed w/ everything tesla has to offer except having employees that can return messages regarding investment opportunities in the company!seems like tesla will only get bigger!anyone know?
Elon Musk became a Billionaire when after founding Paypal, he was bought out by Yahoo. If I had to guess, he will be courted by either another deep pockets West Coast concern or one of the Detroit Big Three desperate to get ahead of the other two in the race to 100% EV. I’m sure he has a price somewhere in the back of his mind. He already has another exciting hobby and NASA contract with his SpaceX venture to keep him busy.
I say that one of the conditions of the “Detroit Bailout” should have been the mass firing of the executive, and the mandatory replacement of them with Tesla staff. Imagine what Tesla could do with the resources.
Mr. Realtorron,
There’s no free ride. If you hook up an alternator and squirrel cage to a wind scoop or directly to the wheels, yes, it would generator power, but at the sacrifice of drag. There’s no free ride in life. As a kid, if you ever engaged one of those little bicycle generators that runs a headlight on your bike, you instantly would know this as you had to pedal harder to make the light shine. Introducing regenerative braking – Voila! Here you want drag (braking) and you are getting something useful (power) instead of something wasted in the brake pads (heat).
Cheers to Tesla whom I visited in LA last summer. There’s nothing like the experience of the Jetsons-like whir of an EV’s electric motor!
Ron (EV converter)
Awww, how cool is that car. Tesla needs to a coupe and a station wagon for northern European climate driving ASAP.
Hello Ron,
Yes I understand the principle of regenerative breaking, and everything you said, but even without the alternator system, you have drag from wind that slows the car. by redirecting some of that wind, you eliminate the drag on the car, and put that same drag against the squirell cage rotor, thus using the push or drag of the wind to turn the squirel cage.
rw
Sorry but any aeronautical engineer will tell you that redirecting wind by opening up a hole or port in a structure only increases drag. It does not eliminate it. Even without the squirrel cage inside a flow through opening will increase drag. The only time redirecting wind decreases drag is when the redirection aligns the flow of air across the body with the relative wind of the vehicle. A widely visible example of this are the vertical wing tips that you see on many of the airliners in service. That said, the real question on the squirrel cage is whether the amount of electricity generated by it over a period of time (or distance) exceeds the amount of additional electricity used to propel the car over the same amount of time (or distance) to offset the additional drag. If so, it will be a range extending feature. If not, it will reduce the range of the car.
I just saw your movie (nice job). I am so disgusted with GM. Why would ANYONE buy a VOLT or even another GM car. Our Government needs to let them die and go away.
The way they treat the consumers that support their company is ridiculous.
GM / FORD / DODGE could take a lesson from the Koreans, Stand behind what you build and sell. Americans want VALUE. Value is buying something you know isn’t going to fall apart and has a warranty to back up that value. Take all those bad transmissions, bad paint jobs, falling off parts and FIX them.
Step 2 in your bail out would be to build something we really want. A 3000 lb Chevy VOLT Or $50K Chevy retro Camaro isn’t it…
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I also plan to go energy efficient when my house is done – fully solar with a small wind turbine as a backup.
Too bad we dont have EVs here where I live.
The pricepoint is still at level which the public won’t accept.Were the NiMh battery available more people would be willing to pay for battery with proven longevity charachteristics.We’ll have to wait till 2014 till that option becomes viable.
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