Author Topic: First Drive: 2013 Tesla Model S (Read 2188 times)

Autos_Editor · « **on:** January 15, 2013, 06:31:31 am »

The must-have gadget of the year is a technical marvel. Does pretty well as a car, too.

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JohnM · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2013, 06:51:52 am »

Sounds like a great car from all reports. Stats on midrange acceleration would be interesting.

Tesla seems to be charging around $500 per kiloWatt hour for the battery upgrades. This is extremely cheap compared to everything I've looked at.

Definitely a step forward in automotive design. For a non-car company startup to produce something this well finished and refined is a huge achievement.

Cheers,
John M.

sailor723 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2013, 06:54:00 am »

Pretty amazing car. Now all they need to do is figure out how to pour electrons into the tank as quickly as you can pump gasoline.

tpl · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2013, 07:07:24 am »

Or keep the car and put a proper motor in it 'cos it is a pretty car. Maybe a 911 turbo engine in the back.

Snowman · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2013, 07:49:41 am »

Nice car but its just a novelty item for people with copious amounts of disposable income. Can't see Telsa making it in the long run.

wing · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2013, 07:55:10 am »

I thought this car came in at a much lower price?

EDIT: Okay now I see it does start at $67k. Apparently three people at my office have one on order.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

OliverD · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2013, 08:50:38 am »

While I'm not really interested in electric or hybrid vehicles the Model S looks so damn good that I'd buy it for the styling alone (if I had the means).

dragonfly · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:18:58 am »

Before this article, I thought this was, as some of the guys on here have mentioned...more or less a rich guys toy....But now, I think differently...It's an early experiment in what will, I'm sure, ultimately become the normal , average, automobile...This transition may take a few years, but I feel it is the future...Now all the car nuts (myself included) will be yakking about the voltage, wattage, ohmage, electrawhateverages of their motors (not engines)...Nice article...When you mentioned how extraordinary the power was, I could almost feel it..Nicely put! Thanks
Jack

ChaosphereIX · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:21:30 am »

one of my dream cars. A luxury sedan that can hang with an M5 in the 1/4, have zero emissions, uses no gas, and looks this good...wow. Range anxiety is a thing of the past really with a batter of this size. Do you drive 500km every day? If I am driving longer than that, I will rent a car thank you and save the mileage. In the meantime a Volt or the new Cadillac ELR will tide me over until I sell my books and get tenure to afford this thing...This car is the future, and is even fun to drive - our Volts have just a fraction of the torque this thing has, and they are really fun to drive, so I assume it is pretty amazing.

redman · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:31:48 am »

Quote from: Snowman on January 15, 2013, 07:49:41 am

Nice car but its just a novelty item for people with copious amounts of disposable income. Can't see Telsa making it in the long run.

Really, both MB and Toyota have licensed some form of Tesla's tech for upcoming vehicles. I think they'll be around if only as a supplier to the industry.
If they were to have a common car, it may change there future.

aaronk · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:47:16 am »

Arguably the most innovative car on the road today, and Motor Trend's COTY. This is a big step for the electric car because if nothing else it proves that they don't have to be ugly and/or boring. I'm looking forward to seeing the trickle-down to more affordable EV's.

ChaosphereIX · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:51:38 am »

Quote from: aaronk on January 15, 2013, 09:47:16 am

Arguably the most innovative car on the road today, and Motor Trend's COTY. This is a big step for the electric car because if nothing else it proves that they don't have to be ugly and/or boring. I'm looking forward to seeing the trickle-down to more affordable EV's.

I know the Volt/ELR are not true electric-only cars, but I would hardly call them ugly or boring for being eco cars...the Leaf/i-Mitsubishi thing certainly are, however.

Snowman · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:55:30 am »

Quote from: redman on January 15, 2013, 09:31:48 am

Quote from: Snowman on January 15, 2013, 07:49:41 am
Nice car but its just a novelty item for people with copious amounts of disposable income. Can't see Telsa making it in the long run.

Really, both MB and Toyota have licensed some form of Tesla's tech for upcoming vehicles. I think they'll be around if only as a supplier to the industry.
If they were to have a common car, it may change there future.

I will clarify: Not in Canada or any other predominantly cold climate country. Heating and defrosting eat up batteries.

mixmanmash · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:59:04 am »

Quote from: Snowman on January 15, 2013, 09:55:30 am

Quote from: redman on January 15, 2013, 09:31:48 am
Quote from: Snowman on January 15, 2013, 07:49:41 am
Nice car but its just a novelty item for people with copious amounts of disposable income. Can't see Telsa making it in the long run.

Really, both MB and Toyota have licensed some form of Tesla's tech for upcoming vehicles. I think they'll be around if only as a supplier to the industry.
If they were to have a common car, it may change there future.

I will clarify: Not in Canada or any other predominantly cold climate country. Heating and defrosting eat up batteries.

Believe it or not, Air Conditioning eats up more. And operating at higher ambient temps is harder on batteries. I had this discussion with an engineer on the Volt team.

ChaosphereIX · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2013, 10:07:54 am »

yes heat kills, not cold. Easier to warm up a working batter than cool one down, so it is more efficient. Not an expert, but that is the way it goes with exotic coolin in computers, there must be an overlap somewhere...

Northernridge · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2013, 10:12:20 am »

Maybe electric cars will become mainstream one day but I am indifferent to the prospect of owning one. I would like to try a performance-oriented version like the Tesla out of curiosity and then let others be the early adopters. At best I will be a laggard into the segment.

As for the Tesla, it looks good but if it had a conventional gas engine there wouldn't be much to talk about...and the over-sized iPad centre stack is a gimmick.

The whole thing feels like a bit of an automotive side show.

wing · « **Reply #16 on:** January 15, 2013, 10:13:08 am »

Yeah except you can live without ac for the most part. You die if you freeze Lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

whaddaiknow · « **Reply #17 on:** January 15, 2013, 10:13:54 am »

I can definitely see myself in one of these cars. The starting price is approaching the common affordability level and with a 100km EV range in normal driving conditions (no hypermiling), I would be compelled to give one a serious look.

Snowman · « **Reply #18 on:** January 15, 2013, 10:15:56 am »

Great! more fuel for me...sweet, sweet, fuel

canuckystan · « **Reply #19 on:** January 15, 2013, 11:01:07 am »

Who can argue that these cars are the future? I can see Tesla offering a sport sedan in future, along with the other car makers.

With all that torque, I wonder if would be feasible to attach a manual transmission to one (not the paddles, an actual stick). That would be fun!