The Tesla Motors Roadster - The Green super sportscar.

Range = 220 miles

Top speed = 125 mph

Other 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds.

Production states: Yes but just barely. Assembly line is up and running but very few cars currently being produced.

Discussion: The Tesla Roadster is probably one of the most well-known of the new crop of electric cars. It has been fully designed and it is currently being produced . . . but slowly. They have reportedly sold over 800 Roadsters. If you put a $60K deposit down, you will still have to wait a year for deliver.

The Roadster's greatest achievements is its long range of over 200 miles and its amazing acceleration made possible by the fact that electric motors have full torque at 0 rpm.

Tesla Motors is building itself as a car company with a trickle down approach . . . their first car will be this very expensive ($109K as of this posting) super sportscar. Their next car will be a high-end sports sedan around $60K to compete with high-end BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus, etc. After that, they plan to move to a car in the $30K range.

I'd love to get one but it is a bit out of my price range at this point in time.

More info:

Tesla Motors

Tesla Wikipedia page

Tesla's Wild Ride - A good article on the development of the Roadster by Fortune magazine.

The celebrity waiting list for Roadsters

Tesla also has a $60,000 sports sedan in development.

Highway-speed EV Intro

I live in California and I'm very annoyed by $5 gas. And what is worse is that money largely flows out of this country since we import the majority of our oil. And even worse, that money often flows to countries with religious extremism (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, etc.) or countries run by quasi-dictators and thugs (Venezuela, Nigera, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, etc.). And then there is smog and climate change too!

So, I want to switch to a non-oil powered vehicle. The main non-oil powered vehicle seems to be an electric vehicle although this blog will take look at other possibilities such as compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen fuel cell, and compressed air.

There are currently many electric cars available but most of them cannot go very fast. These types of cars are commonly called Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) or Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs). I am not interested in such vehicles since my driving common involves California freeways where people drive fast. Thus, I'm not interested in cars unless they can go at least 65 mph. I will consider hybrid vehicles as long as they can drive a decent distance on electric power only and at highway speeds.

With the requirement of 65mph, there are no production cars currently available for all intents and purposes. (Yeah, the Tesla is being produced but the first 800 or so cars that will be made are already sold.) But they are coming . . . many of them. From 2009 to 2012, we will see the electric car industry introduce over 10 new cars. An entire new industry is being born. This blog will examine the various contenders and track their progress.

The great race to introduce full highway speed electric vehicles has begun . . . may the best cars win!