Tesla motors are good at crushing stereotypes. They did it back in 2007 when the Tesla Roadster was unleashed on the general population. It was fast, sexy, efficient and the new plaything for those web 2.0 millionaires. It also generated enough interest that many EV enthusiasts contemplated pawning everything from their grandmother and their dog to their limited edition Star Wars box set to get one. Me included. Although I must admit at this point that it wasn’t any of the above… it was my mortgage. Okay, only for a split second, but it was there.
So, imagine my absolute joy when I opened up my mail this morning. It contained in it some news that the team of Tesla Roadsters taking place in the 2009 Rallye Monte Carlo d’Energies Alternatives finished the rally on a single charge, with over 40 indicated miles remaining on the car’s energy gauge. The course length? 241 miles.
Photo by Nikki Bloomfield of www.aminorjourney.com
More after the jump, along with details of how the Top Gear team have egg on their faces
Yes, that’s right. You heard me correctly. Two hundred and forty one miles. That’s enough for me to drive from my home in Bristol to London AND back again. Admittedly, the Tesla feat of amazingly large range wasn’t at motorway speeds but a more common 60 mph for major roads and 30 mph for smaller ones. Which quite happily, and quite honestly, translates to the average speed of about 25 mph for the duration of the trip. If you asked me what my PHEV’s average speed was over those 805 miles I did on a tank, I’d have to say about 25mph. And no, I don’t drive slowly. The average speed, like that of the Tesla on this rally, was hammered by towns. And you can’t do anything about towns….
For those of you who were as livid as I was back in the spring when the BBC’s Top Gear programme faked the fact that one of their two Tesla test cars had ran out of juice well before the 100 mile barrier was up you’ll be pleased to know that the same model of car Jeremy Clarkson claimed would do ‘about 80 miles’ on a charge before requiring a ten million hour recharge was one of the vehicles which went so very far. Let’s look at the proof, shall we?
Photo of the Top Gear Show’s crucifixion of the Tesla.
Okay, so that is the car which Jeremy and his pals though needed pushing into the garage. They probably thought it was out of energy after it didn’t make the customary “Brum! Brum!” sound. Poor love.
And here is another Tesla, proving that it can do well over the manufactuer’s stated 250 miles on a charge… Oh wait… It’s like… the same make and model!
Photo from LeBlogAuto
I think I smell a rat. It’s got curly hair and has probably sniffed too many petrol fumes over the years to make any sense at all. Perhaps I should also send this article to the Telegraph newspaper. After all, they do have the impression that all electric cars are built for fictional children’s book characters.
(As a side, I don’t think either the Tesla or the G-Wiz looks like Noddy’s Car. I think a Morris minor – another fine example of a great car, probably bears the most resemblance, and only when it’s roof is cut clean off!)
But for now the naysayers of the world will have to find another vehicle to pour their EV hate on. The Telsa has proved that, with some sensible road-legal driving (unlike those hooligans at Top Gear) the Tesla can go far further than most of us need to do in a day. I think 280 miles is quite enough, thank you. 280 miles in a day would require at least four hours of driving in the UK. I don’t think many prospective Tesla owners would do that kind of traveling on a regular basis. And at 280 miles, that’s about half the range of a Prius with a full tank of petrol, or approaching what most regular cars will don on 3/4 of a tank. No, I think you’ve proved your point, chaps. Tesla is a viable vehicle. Now if only you can bring the price down and get rid of those niggling delays that people have been experiencing…
Well done Tesla. It’s an awesome way to stick it to the man…