Omigod: A vivid two minutes in the ultra-fast Tesla Model S
Tesla's new sedan makes its New York debut with green celebs like 'Who Killed the Electric Car's Chris Paine, and MNN was riding in the backseat.
Testing the Tesla at Chelsea Piers. (Credit: Jim Motavalli)
- The car is oh-my-god fast, but not quite as big an assault on the senses as the Tesla Roadster.
- The interior is beautifully finished. Techies will love to play with the enormous 17-inch LCD infotainment screen, which has 3G cellphone-type Internet access, iTunes-like music storage and sorting, and all kinds of other things.
- The two rear-facing jump seats that are supposed to give this relatively compact sedan seven-seater capacity were not in evidence. The battery drivetrain means there’s storage both under the hood and in the long but shallow trunk. “More room than a station wagon,” Tesla claims.
- It’s really pretty in person. The “pusher” had incredible iridescent pearl paint that can also boast of being water-based and environmentally friendly. Other green features include 100 percent recycled PET carpeting and chrome-free, vegetable-tanned Italian leather (but vegetarians will still object).
- Don’t battery cars just transfer their pollution from tailpipe to power plant smokestack? Not so, says CEO Elon Musk. He claims the Model S, even if its electricity is 100 percent coal-derived, produces less carbon dioxide per mile than a Toyota Prius.
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Comments
The problem with this Tesla, as with all tesla, is that they are technologically obsolete. They use, oh, around 9,0000 batteries that are first generation antique lithium batteries designed for laptops, not automobiles. But put some lipstick on that range-resticted little impractical piece of sheetmetal an the young and the foolish part with their cash. I wonder if any of those enebriated partygoers who wrote a check realize the vast price differences die to larger battery options. The base.... More
Wow, "Nothing like ..." author ... I see that you have researched (or would that be resarchde) your facts well. Unfortunately, blogs and comment sections fail to deliver sarcasm as well as one would like.
A fair number of references fell into the alcohol, sports, or dumb comment range. Well done, Mr. Anonymous.
I have put my $5K down, and am one of the 700+. It is advance planning, I rarely drink, and am certainly not in show business or professional sports.
There are.... More
Would have been a good video aside from that Ferrari idling like a ship in port in teh background drowning out the silence of the EV.
90,000 antique batteries is it? I've got a better idea, why don't Tesla just close down and wait for the Japanese to finish building their large format prismatic li-ion battery factories in a year or so or better yet, build their own $Billion battery factory ... that should satisfy intellectual giants like yourself..
I'm sure you're driving around.... More
