As road revolutions go, 1966 was an excellent year. The Jensen FF introduced four-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes to cars, the original Range Rover made off-roading luxurious and the Lamborghini Miura ushered in the dawn of the mid-engined supercar. Since then? Well, let’s just say that recent automobile breakthroughs haven’t blazed as many new trails. Then, along came Tesla.
Co-founded in 2003 by internet entrepreneur, Elon Musk - who made his millions when his online payment service, PayPal, was sold to eBay in 2002 - Tesla began working on the Roadster in 2004 and went into production four years later. Last year, all 2,500 pre-ordered models it set out to build were done.
The Roadster isn’t the world’s only electric car. Nor is it the first. Cars were electric long before Mr. Musk. In fact, until the combustion engine finally got it right, most of the first cars ran on battery. Before the Roadster though, even enthusiasts found the idea of a bona fide electric sports car that could be driven everyday laughable. If anyone is laughing now, it must surely be Mr. Musk.
Perhaps you’re still sceptical. I was. But if you’ve ever experienced what it’s like to be shot down a road inside one of Tesla’s Roadsters, you’ll instantly understand the appeal of the electric sports cars. To all intents and purposes, it looks like a Lotus Elise – one of the finest handling cars in the world right now – no surprise given that Lotus supplied Tesla with the Roadster’s carbon fibre body.
Stronger than steel and, crucially for a performance car, incredibly light, the Roadster’s carbon fibre is only one of the things that makes it a marvel. Take its power output, for example. At only 248bhp that might sound a little measly but the beauty of an electric car is that this power is delivered in a single sensational blast. With no need to go through anything as hopelessly old fashioned as a traditional gearbox, the Roadster will hit the rip-roaring 100 km/h mark from standstill in four seconds, putting it squarely in Ferrari and Lamborghini territory. Admittedly, it does rather run out of puff at around 193 km/h but unless you’re a getaway driver or live in Germany, will you ever drive that fast? Since there are no gears to change, it’s power at full force from the moment you floor it.
The effect is astonishing. See that Ferrari rapidly approaching you in the rearview mirror? One flex of your right foot and it’s gone. And while every other supercar is churning CO2 out by the bucket-load, the Roadster produces zero emissions. I mean, it doesn’t even have an exhaust pipe. Still, the acceleration, as breathtaking as it may be, isn’t the only appeal of the diminutive car. Accompanying its brute force – and lashings of wind roar provided thanks to its rudimentary canvas roof section - is a distinctive whirring and whooshing that increases in pitch the faster you go. It sounds a little like being strapped inside a miniature spaceship and while car enthusiasts lament the lack of engine noise, the aural sensations here can – and do – more than make up for that. It’s a truly, ahem, electrifying experience.
When you factor in the environmental impact of generating the electricity used to charge the Roadster’s battery pack, its CO2 emissions equate to between 25 and 63 g/km. Running costs associated with its performance give an equivalent fuel consumption of just one litre every 100 km. To put this into perspective, a Porsche 911 (considered to be fairly green for a performance car) emits an average of 277 g/km CO2 and has a combined thirst of 10.3 litres per 100 km. If you charge an electric car, using solar powered charging stations, as an increasing number of owners are doing, then there’s absolutely no environmental impact whatsoever.
While production of the Roadster has run its course, Tesla is launching a new four-door car family saloon, the Model S, later this year. Promising shorter recharge times than the Roadster and even better build quality, if the S does what Tesla promises, a future of fun-filled, guilt-free motoring may be around the corner. Could it get any more revolutionary than that?
