Overview & Reviews

While Martin Sheen and others ponder Who Killed the Electric Car? a group of Silicon Valley millionaires is trying to answer the next question: Who will resurrect the electric car? Tesla Motors is the result, a manufacturer of vehicles than run 100 percent on electricity.

The company gets its name from Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, who went toe-to-toe with Thomas Edison (and won) to prove whether AC or DC was the preferred method of transporting electricity over great distances. In the same light, Tesla Motors is trying to prove that electricity is not only capable of transporting automobiles great distances but also that electric cars can be fun to drive.

The company is the brainchild of Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning and PayPal founder Elon Musk. The founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are also investors. This fresh blood from Silicon Valley is further evidence that Tesla is an entirely different type of car company.

Tesla went about creating its first vehicle with the theory that nobody wanted electric cars because nobody had created an electric car worth buying. So they sought to correct the many perceived electric-car problems like range, recharging times, styling and performance. The company's first product, the Tesla Roadster, is capable of going about 250 miles between charges, which is a drastic improvement from the GM EV1's 60-90-mile range. A complete recharge is accomplished in less than 2 hours. (The EV1 took 5.) Recharging is accomplished via regenerative braking, a home recharging unit and an optional portable recharger.

As for styling and performance, Tesla chose a $100,000 sports car to enter the market as a way to establish "performance DNA" that would trickle down to less expensive models. Based on the Lotus Elise, the British-built Tesla Roadster is lightweight and svelte, capable of keeping up with other sports cars in its price bracket. Tesla promises 0-60-mph times around 4 seconds and a top speed of more than 130 mph. Throw in handling indicative of its Lotus roots and it should be obvious that the Roadster is one heck of a sports car.

Tesla announced in February 2007 that it would be making a new sport sedan known as the WhiteStar, built at a new factory in New Mexico. The company plans on producing 10,000 units each year at a cost between $50,000 and $65,000 per car. Like the Roadster, it should have a range of about 250 miles, but with battery technology improving, that number could rise.

With growing international attention, including Tesla Roadsters ferrying stars to high-profile events like the Oscars and the rising interest in alternative fuels to combat global warming, this young electric car company could soon be a big name in the automotive industry.

User Reviews:

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  Ouch... Be careful here. - 2013 Tesla Model S
  By twosmalltowns - April 21 - 5:25 am

  Ive been driving an S off & on for a few weeks (company got one as part of investor PR.) There are several concerns/problems: car is very heavy, and this will soon be a problem for suspension and tires on the bumpy, pot-holed roads. Secondly, the interior while "different" and kinda cool, is a bit cheap in some ways; the large touchscreen control center is Dangerous: having no buttons/knobs means you are staring at the screen and not on the road.) Most importantly, Tesla is a stock play, not a car company. All the hype is carefully orchestrated to build market cap. Be careful - and assume that they are smarter than you. Because they probably are.

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  Overpriced gadget - 2017 Tesla Model S
  By Dan F - June 3 - 1:45 am

  This car was so different from anything else I drove in the past that I had to have it. It accelerates effortlessly. Its quiet. Its comfortable. It feels like a spaceship inside. It has that wow factor. But after only a few weeks of driving it, a lot of the novelty has worn off and now Im not sure it was worth the hefty price. Tesla has done an outstanding job of taking all of the gas savings you get from an electric car and all of the government tax incentives and including them in the MSRP. So you end up paying all of those savings upfront to Tesla. You also need to plan to pay for an EV charger in your home or somehow have one available. I also quickly learned that the 259 EPA rated range doesnt apply if you want to have fun driving the car. You are also only supposed to charge the car to 90% or lower unless you want to ruin the battery long term. How does it drive? The acceleration is really fun, but its a very heavy large car that drives like one. The handling and steering are unimpressive compared to a BMW or Porsche that you can buy in this price range. Dont get me wrong. Its a great car. But you are paying a kings ransom for it and if I had to do it over again I would spend more time considering the alternatives rather than being awestruck by my initial Tesla test drive. Keep in mind also that Tesla can introduce a massive change to your car the day after you take delivery so resale value in a few years or even after a few weeks will be terrible.