What’s Green, Sexy, and Does 0-60 in 3.7 Seconds?

“And the sign says ‘Buy my sports car ‘cause you’re a tree-hugging hippie with money…’”
Actually, the song “Signs” doesn’t really go like that.  Not even Tesla’s version of “Signs” goes like that. Tesla, the car company, not the band, makes sports cars that are environmentally friendly, but I don’t think this is exactly what they’re trying to say.

So Eddie, you ask, why would any tree-hugging hippie want to buy a sports car?  Aren’t those things horrible for the environment?  Well Sasquatch (can I call you Sissy?), if you finally want to upgrade your canola-oil modified Volkswagon Bus to something that says “I’m not a sissy AND I have a smaller carbon footprint,” well—your day has dawned!

Tesla, the Palo Alto based electric car company, rolled its first car off the lot in 2008.  Not surprisingly, I saw my first Tesla Roadster in Berkeley, CA soon after.  I remember the day well.  I was walking up Shattuck Avenue and saw this red sexy blur parked on the street and thought, “Who the heck would ever park their Lotus Elise on the street like that?”  As I walked past, one of my brain cells told the other that something was afoot.  Upon closer inspection, the red blur was a Tesla Roadster.  This thing is sexy and knows it.  Standing still it looked like it was going 90 without breaking a sweat.  Aesthetics are, of course, subjective.  So let’s take a look at some specs.

Where’s the tailpipe?

The whole idea behind Tesla is to redefine “environmentally friendly car” by making one that is all electric and goes really, REALLY fast.  At 2,723 lbs to 295 lbs-ft of torque and 288 horsepower, this thing can go 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds (Roadster Sport model).  Top speed? How about 125 miles per hour.  Not bad… not bad at all.  Because of the way that the car is designed with a single speed gearbox, the engine only has to respond to your foot.  No clutch to use and no shift lag.  Reverse is achieved by simply running the engine backwards.  Because it is an electric car that you plug into your wall socket to recharge, it doesn’t burn fuel to run.  This means that the car itself does not have any emissions (screams of glee from the driver notwithstanding).

So what’s the catch?

Well—have you ever bought a package of batteries for your camera?  Kind of expensive, no? Batteries are not very dense in energy.  A gram of alkaline batteries can contain up to about 0.15 watt-hours of energy versus the 10 watt-hours of energy available in a gram of gasoline (according to the popular book “Physics for Future Presidents”).  So to get the same amount of available energy in gasoline, you need a LOT more batteries.  In fact, much of the weight of an electric vehicle is simply the weight of the batteries.  The Roadster uses a Lithium-ion cell battery pack which is lighter in weight than other battery types, can be charged without loss of memory (you don’t have to run the batteries down), and is the most dense battery type available.  But this is not cheap.  Let’s crunch some numbers:

Tesla claims their pack can hold 56 kWh of energy and is good for 7 years or 100,000 miles.  For the sake of math, let’s say you are paying $0.10/kWh of energy in California (it’s more like $0.11, but I like round numbers).  That’s $5.60 to “fill up” your pack.  You get 250-ish miles out of a full battery which, in gasoline terms, would equal about 125 “miles to the gallon” (being a little generous on the cost of gasoline).  Pretty freaking awesome.

The drag, however, comes when the batteries need replacing.  Batteries do not last forever and their capacity will dwindle over time.  When this happens you have to buy new batteries. Computer batteries, which are also Li-ion, are very expensive to replace.  Since the technology in the Tesla is similar, one could assume that your cost will be comparable.  According to edmonds.com, Tesla’s battery pack would cost $36,000 to replace if you needed a new one right now.  At $0.36 per mile, your cost per mile is five times that of a 40mpg hybrid vehicle ($0.075/mile).  You can prepay Tesla for a new pack at $12,000, banking that the cost of a new pack in 7 years won’t be less, at which point you would be getting about $0.08/mile.  These numbers don’t factor in what you pay the electric company for the electricity you are putting into your Tesla each time you “fill ‘er up,” but as noted, it is a nominal charge.

The one thing owners will have to get used to is the range of a full charge.  If you added up your commute mileage you would probably notice that it is well within the 245 mile range.  Heck, add your trips to yoga class on top of that and you’ll STILL likely be in range.  Again, these batteries are Li-ion which allows you to recharge them without having to run them down first.  But if you take a Sunday drive along the coast or take a longer trip to visit friends around the state you will have to plan accordingly.

Another catch: a Tesla will cost you.  As of right now, considering a $7,500 green vehicle rebate, the Tesla Roadster starts at $100,000.  I won’t get into the insurance costs, tires, maintenance, etc, but these will be spendy as well.

Bottom line

If you want to treat yourself and prove that you are the most badass environmentally friendly person out there, get a Tesla.  For now, early adopters and investors will have to help the company out so that they can continue to develop to the point where their vehicles are affordable for the rest of us.

Image credit: Tesla Motors

Edward Burns has worked in wireless retail sales for nine years, including seven years in management.  He left wireless to get his English degree at U.C. Berkeley, but still loves to keep up with the happenings of wireless equipment.  He is a gadget freak, builds his own computers, and is an early adopter of new technologies.