Imagine taking off from 0 to 60 faster than most Porsche’s, having a 200 mile / 300 kilometer range, and all the while costing less than $0.02/mile? Pardon my french, but fuck yea. That’s what the future of sports cars should be, and the fine folks at Tesla Motors are leading the way.

Tesla Roadster The recipe to make a Tesla is actually pretty simple:

+ Take one part sexy Lotus Elise chassis.

+ Mix in a bit of chassis modification and lengthening.

+ Add an electric powertrain and a two speed gearbox.

+ Mix.

And bam, you’ve got yourself one hell of a car.

What? Aren’t Electric Cars Supposed to be Ugly and Slow?

Yes, yes they are. That’s exactly what electric cars are supposed to be. That’s also why this one is so ejaculation worthy.

We’re talking about a car that makes 248 horsepower, has a 13,000 RPM redline, and makes 200 pound-feet of torque from 0 RPM. Yes, ZERO RPM. For a car that weighs a mere 2,700lbs (including fuel, haha), that amount of power and torque translate to some kickass numbers: 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 125 mph / 201 kmh. Oh. My. God.

Someone please pass me a towel. Okay, so I’m being a bit vulgar, but bear with me. This already amazing accomplishment gets even better.

Oh, and if you tell me this car is ugly I’m going to have to recommend that you get your eyes checked.

The REAL Beauty of the Tesla Roadster

Efficiency- that’s the real beauty of this machine. The Tesla’s engine is about 90% efficient during normal operation, and 80% efficient under full load. Compared to an internal combusion engine, which are around 20% efficient at best, and you can feel damn good about going real fast. The MPG equivilant for the Tesla is 135 miles to the friggin’ gallon. Why would anyone buy a hyper-compact or a Smart car when you can buy a full-on electric powerhouse that gets double or triple the mileage?

Since depleting petroleum reserves are a major world-wide concern, finding alternative fuel sources is obviously something that we’ll need to do whether we like it or not. Electricity, which can be cheaply generated by nuclear power, solar power, thermal power, and even water power, seems like an obvious substitute. If engineers are able to take the same technology from the Tesla and throw it into a more conventional vehicle we could literally be looking at the future of motoring.

I, for one, am pretty excited about it. I’ve got two pocket rockets (a 1991 Toyota MR2 and a 1995 Eagle Talon TSi AWD) that love to suck back gasoline, and while they’re a hell of a lot of fun to drive, I’d trade both of them up in a heartbeat for a Tesla Roadster, and I friggin’ love my MR2.

What the Press Are Saying About the Tesla Roadster

Good things. Check our Jay Leno’s video about the Tesla, or read it’s reviews here, here, and here.

Now, I personally haven’t been able to get into a Tesla and take it for a spin. Why? Well, for two reasons:

  1. It costs $98,000 USD. The price isn’t even a real big deal to me, it’s the next thing…
  2. You can only buy the Tesla in the good old US of A. I live in Canada. That kind of sucks. Though, I want y’all to know that if it ever came down to it, I’d move to Texas just to buy the damn roadster. I’m serious.

So there you have it folks, future of automotive enjoyment has been introduced, refined, and mass produced. It’s a damn good day to be a car enthusiest.

PS - Pardon any spelling errors. This was posted from my Wii.