Visiting A Tesla Garage Tomorrow

[TimSportsTourer]

On hols at the moment, in sunny California - somewhat surprising home of the Toyota Prius. There are millions of them - I reckon 3% of the cars I see are Priuses. At one point, 4 out 7 cars that passed me were Priuses. Anyway, tomorrow, I plan to visit the local Tesla dealer. They have a long line of cars outside, and I hope I can persuade them at least to take me for a drive. Should be quite interesting, I reckon, and more fun than a Prius. I'll let you know how I get on, unless I fail completely, in which case, you'll never hear from me again on the subject!

 

Anyone on here every been in one?

[jonathan eco man]

not been in one ..but please let us know how you get on ...i've sold prius ..they are great for towns etc ..even at 80 mph on the motor way if you ease off the gas ..the engine will switch to battery mode ...cant be thrown around like the elise though !..all that weight makes for interetsing handling round corners....

[andywolf]

I will be interested to find out what it is like to drive in comparison to the Elise

[G]

remeber to take some pictures too tim

[TimSportsTourer]

So I've been, I've been in one, and I have lots of pics. However, I don't have time now to tell the story. Tomorrow, all being well. However, I can sum the car up in the word, "Thrilling!". Does that help?

[G]

cool tim, i cant wait to read this write up

 

So I've been, I've been in one, and I have lots of pics. However, I don't have time now to tell the story. Tomorrow, all being well. However, I can sum the car up in the word, "Thrilling!". Does that help?

[TimSportsTourer]

So here's the story. I'd seen the Tesla dealer from the train window as I passed on the way home from San Francisco the other day. As we arrived at the Tesla showroom, first impressions were of a significant dealership - not surprising, since it turns out this is the main production facility. When you think about it, Lotus is a boutique car manufacturer who make bits of car on the side for Tesla, so they are obviously a small outfit. The size of the publicity surrounding the car belies the small size of the operation. I hope it continues to grow. Outrageously, parked right outside below the big Tesla sign was a beautiful new federated Elise. You guys should recognise cars like this:

 

 

There was a big row of Tesla cars parked by the side of the building.

 

 

 

This is what it's all about:

 

 

The car itself is almost, but not quite, just like an Elise. It feels instantly familiar, but everything is just a little different. In fact, there are apparently only 6% of components in common with the Elise. From the outside, it looks like this.

 

 

 

 

They have a chassis in the showroom, and again, it looks almost, but not quite, familiar.

 

 

 

 

Apparently, it's a few inches longer than the Elise, but the big difference is where you'd expect an IC engine to sit. The big black box, from top to bottom of the car, is the battery pack. There's a tray across the top at the rear containing all the high-power electronics, and the motor and gearbox are visible below this tray, motor on the right, gearbox on the left.

 

When you put the clamshells (and a few other components) on the car, it looks more like this from the rear.

 

 

There's no boot - it's a "trunk". Apart from that, the shape is a lot more accessible than the Elise, and there's a cutout in the bottom of the boot for the roof to fit in, which makes a lot of sense. The roof, by the way, appears identical to a short-tail Elise roof, complete with bows and everything. I'm not sure how the boot size compares, but it doesn't seem much different. You probably want to store a wire in the boot so you can charge the thing up, too.

 

 

This one plugs into the feeble 110V supply here, and would take up to 30 hours (apparently) to charge from empty. In the UK, this would take 8 hours at 230V, and a three-phase (?) connection charging at 72 amps would take much less time again. I know my house has a three-phase main, since it used to have lots of mains storage heaters, so I'm guessing that other people will have this too, though the standard is (I think) a 60 amp fuse for a domestic dwelling in the UK.

 

Under the front, there are some other gubbins.

 

 

The radiator provides cooling for a cooling circuit just like we are used to, but for the batteries and power electronics, as well as for the air conditioning. You'll notice a brake servo on the left hand side - apparently the brakes are conventionally servo driven, with an electrically supplied vacuum.

 

The bonnet is much lighter than it looks - it, like all the body panels, is made from carbon fibre, I think, so there is some weight saving there. You don't need an allen key to open it either - there are buttons inside to release front and back covers.

 

Inside, the car is again, almost but not quite, like an Elise.

 

 

Subtle differences start as you try to get in. There's a zapper to disarm the alarm and unlock the doors, and then there's a button to press on the door to unlatch it - no old-fashioned handle to pull. There are heated seats, a proper fan heater, air con, ABS, and all that stuff I never had on my car. They say they've lowered the door sill by 2", but I couldn't notice that though my wife did. The seats are Elise like - with a rubber bulb to adjust the lumbar pad, and no rake adjustment on the passenger seat. As for this last bit, I think the car would be improved by the two-step foot rest in the Elise passenger seat. The fit and finish are Elise like, or slightly better, perhaps.

 

There's a strange gear selector - reverse, forward and park, only two pedals, and a handbrake where you'd expect it. The steering is direct, like an Elise.

 

When you select drive, it is set up to work like an automatic car. You get a creep forwards, so you need to keep your foot on the brake. When you take your foot off the accelerator, you get engine braking, which uses a KERS system like the F1 cars to recharge the battery as the motor is used as a generator. If you can keep your foot off the brake, you get better mileage from the battery. The brakes are Elise like, I think, but servo-assisted.

 

There's no key - to start it, you put your PIN into a little 4" (maybe) touch-screen video screen low on the left. This is also used to tell you stuff about the remaining range, charge of the battery, and driving mode selection. There's a different PIN for "valet mode" so the chap parking your car for you doesn't get the full beans. You can choose from three modes, I think. Normal driving gives you access to the full power of the engine. There's an extended range option which reduces the maximum power available slightly, but will add maybe 40 or 50 miles to your range. There's also a "performance" mode which allows you the full power, obviously, but also heats the battery to 40°C to enable it to deliver more power when you press the accelerator. Warnings (and low battery warnings, for instance) appear on the Stack display as usual, but it is normally completely blank, which I'm not used to.

 

I didn't drive the contraption - the salesman ran me round the block, and if you think back to how thrilling your first passenger ride in an Elise was, particularly if it included the second cam in a Toyota engine, then it was amazing just like that was, only MUCH BETTER!

 

When the thing springs into life, the lights light up, and there's a faint whine from behind your head of high-frequency electronics - I can't imagine what's really making the noise. When you press the accelerator (you can't really call it the 'loud pedal'), the tone of the whine goes up with speed linearly, obviously. There's no gear changing to do, and it revs to a redline at an amazing 14k revs. The acceleration throws you back into your seat. You need to sit with your head against the headrest, because it hurts quite soon if you don't. The torque is huge, and available across the whole rev range. If you are at 40 and press the go pedal, you are thrown back as you accelerate to 70 or 80. There's a quiet whine, and a rush of wind noise, but no engine noise. I can only describe is as a beautiful sensation, and viscerally exciting, with far more acceleration potential than any other car I've ever been in. You know how people quote a particular car will do 0-60 in so many seconds? Well that usually assumes you can change gear like a racing driver, which I can't. Here, with no gears, you will always get that full potential, and it won't ease off before you do. It's quite stunning. Braking seems excellent too. This is just as well, since the car weighs in at about 1.25 tons, so significantly more than we are used to.

 

Now the million dollar question is, "How well does it corner?" and I can't answer this. After all, my test drive was on American streets in Palo Alto, and they don't have any bends at all. I was told that it was worse than an Elise, but pretty good in the grand scheme of things. At a recent track day, one of the salesmen said he wasn't overtaken by any of the Ferraris or Porche 998s there, and overtook a F340. I guess it's not terrible, then. On the other hand, I learned what probably happened to Clarkson et al on Top Gear. Apparently, the motor is only air cooled, so after about two laps, the engine gets too hot, and power is reduced until it cools. So it's never going to be a trackday weapon, but should be just fine on the open road. I've not heard that you can overheat the motor there.

 

The battery life is expected to be about 7 years. It's the most expensive part of the car at about $30k, but if you pre-pay for a new one when you buy the car, you get it for just $12k, and take delivery in seven years time.

 

Running costs should be low - there's no petrol or oil to buy, but the first annual service they plan to take apart and lubricate the gearbox, so this may cost $1500. That's more than I've read in the press - worryingly so. They've not done any annual services yet, since the venture is too new, so things may change and evolve quite quickly, once the car beds in, and they learn what actually needs to be fixed.

 

Here's a picture of the factory through the glass wall of the showroom. There's no oil to add and no sooty fumes, so it's pristine. You can see that the workforce is small and relaxed, though!

 

 

All in all, it's a practical and marvellous machine. It's at least as usable as an Elise, and probable more so, because of the luxury bits like electric windows and heated seats. If you use it as a daily tug to work, and for trips of 200 miles or less, it's great. Just great! The acceleration is completely addictive, and the low running cost and clean running attractive too. If you want to head across the Channel through the tunnel for a weekend away, which I did with my Elise, it's not so good, since you are limited to a bit over 200 miles per day, and that assumes that your hotel would let you plug in. It's not ideal. However, compared with a Gee Whiz or a milk float, this is something very different, and actually, I really hope this is the future of motoring. If they survive long enough to build their new-planned family car for $57k due in 2011, it will look something like this buck, and should be rather special too. They already have 700 deposits for it, apparently. Good luck to them! This was a really great way to spend an hour or two of my holiday, and I wish them the very best of luck in a challenging time for car manufacturers. They plan to open their London dealership later this year. I hope we can make it a success - I think they really deserve to succeed.

 

[lummo]

Great write-up Tim!

 

Guy

[jonathan eco man]

Great write up Tim ..thanks

[andywolf]

Nice one. That is a great write up.

[TimSportsTourer]

Thanks guys - believe me, the pleasure is all mine!

Cheers.

[G]

that looks a brilliant write up tim, i will have a sit down tonight and have a read

[CHOPPA]

Top write up.

 

I climbed over one at Goodwood last year. Chap on the stand said it was quite an unsual experience driving one, because of the speed yet almost complete silence.

 

Not for me though. Not yet anyway, I still need the pops, bangs and rumble from a well fabricated stainless steel exhaust system to add to the experience.

 

Would love to have a go in one though

[Bramble111s]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up!

A good read.

[TimSportsTourer]

Top write up.

 

I climbed over one at Goodwood last year. Chap on the stand said it was quite an unsual experience driving one, because of the speed yet almost complete silence.

 

Not for me though. Not yet anyway, I still need the pops, bangs and rumble from a well fabricated stainless steel exhaust system to add to the experience.

 

Would love to have a go in one though

 

 

 

This is something I find interesting, because the Tesla really isn't silent, though it's obviously quiet. I've been noticing this as there are so many Priuses on the road here. Electric cars aren't silent - there is tyre and wind noise, and modern cars (at least at town speeds) seem dominated by these, and engine noise is only a part of it. I can't tell it's a Prius passing compared with any other modern small car. I once learned to fly gliders - they aren't quiet either, though there isn't the noise of an engine, a 70-80 mph wind noise is quite significant. I've seen Teslas pass on the road, and they are no more silent. Of course, the noise is very directly coupled to road speed, and so you don't get an engine roar before you release the clutch, for example. You don't get that clue in advance that the acceleration is going to be brutal. There is some quite subtle psychology going on here which I don't understand. I do see where you are coming from, Choppa, and I might have agreed with you. However, when I got out of the Tesla after a very short spin, I was grinning from ear to ear and properly thrilled, just like I remember my first ride in an Elise. I recommend you try it. I don't pretend to understand all the subtleties of how the excitement is created, but there's something in this machine that really works. It is certainly different, but not necessarily worse. As I said, interesting...