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July 20, 2006
The fantastic Tesla Motors Roadster plug-in battery EV was unveiled Wednesday night (July 19, 2006) in Santa Monica. This particular EV based upon a Lotus sports car chassis can accelerate to 60mph in 4 seconds, can exceed 130mph, and has a 250 mile range. Tesla's teaming with Lotus is a genius marriage. Lotus is the world's leader in vehicle chassis engineering generally using powerplants from other manufacturers (Isuzu, Range Rover, Toyota) in their vehicles. Tesla brings to the table their intense passion and accumulated engineering expertise in electric drivetrains. They are building upon (and combining) all the pioneering work accomplished by the inventors of the Impact-EV1, AC Propulsion's invaluable EV developmental efforts, and recent battery technologies driven mainly by the computer and cellphone industries. The venture is complimentary to both companies. As with many new technologies, frequently the revolutionary innovations occur outside of the established leaders (big auto manufacturers in this case). To think Tesla Motors was started in Silicon Valley brings ideas of it being a new "dot com" of automobile revolution. In hindsight this makes a lot of sense. EVs are heavily dependent on electrical and electronic engineering expertise and computer control. Silicon Valley gave birth to most of the enabling technology that will result in a proliferation of EVs in our (hopefully) near future. EVs are just like any other computer product created by companies from Silicon Valley. They are the next Apple iPods! Wishing the GMs and Hondas of this world would bring us EVs was maybe incorrect. The forward looking companies that will liberate us from the gas pump and help us live healthier and more efficient lives are the newly nascent companies like Tesla Motors. Bravo!
