Continuing our Tesla Model S UK test drive with the very knowledgable Mark. We get into the nitty gritty of really trying to use an EV as an only car here in England. Something that was mostly unrealistic until now.
Tag: Tesla
I love this car, but I do go a bit gaga when I get near it. The kind of gaga where you find yourself spending £80k you don’t actually have. Bring in someone with a proper head for what works and what doesn’t when it comes to EV’s and cars in general – aka Lizzy, my wife.
Many thanks to Mark, the European Sales man for Tesla who really know his onions!
This is part one. I’ll continue it episodically.
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Ticket that Tesla
Having chased these halfway across the UK and the US, I was pleasantly surprised to see a Tesla parked in the road next to my office right here in London’s West End. Us EV drivers enjoy free parking in Westminster. I see the Tesla’s already catching out the good old parking wardens who had slapped it with a ticket. Just shows you should make your cars much uglier Tesla!
httpv://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QwiS4t8TMlI&feature=email
Jorg, my Tango owning friend has posted this great video of a drag race between a Tango and a Tesla EV. Not any old cars, but the fastest production electric vehicles in the world. Check out these times;
“In this race, the Tango got 92.15mph in 14.480 seconds, beating its 14.7 “dial” handicap and thus losing the competition; the Tesla got 101.23mph in 14.666 seconds, slower than its 14.5 “dial” handicap and allowing it to proceed to the next round. (Two rounds later, the Tango’s driver got behind the wheel of the Tesla and also beat its “dial” handicap… and thus lost!)”
On my visit to their showroom in Menlo park, I got a chance to go out in a Tesla and talk to one of their (impressive) sales people. I’ve been seeing these cars stationary for a while now on stands at various motor shows, and I was beginning to think it didn’t move. Well, no worries, it does!  Keep an eye out for that flying Tango too. Here’s the first part. Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast The Tango tango Tesla Motors Tesla
Whilst in The Tango, we stopped by the Tesla showroom. Yeah, right….and then I woke up….Actually, I wasn’t dreaming.
Here’s a look around the Tesla Showroom in Menlo park. I got a go in one too and I’ll be posting that soon. I know Tesla have been having trouble recently (along with everyone else in the credit crisis), but hats off to them. To walk into a proper electric car showroom with no sign of an internal combustion engine is a real accomplishment, and something I was beginning to think would never actually happen.
Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast The Tango tango Tesla Motors Tesla
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Opel Flextreme
A look at the Opel Flextreme – Europe’s version of the Chevy Volt. 40 mile range on the battery and a small engine purely for recharging purposes. They say we’ll have it by 2010. Gosh, that’s only 2 years away. Doubt we’ll even have the Smart ED and Subaru R1e by then, but there’s always hope….
I’m back to posting some of my remaining BMS footage. I have a ton of content to cutdown and upload (including a trip in a Tango and a Tesla. Yeeeeehaaaa!).
Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast flexstreme Chevy Volt Tango Smart tesla Tesla Motors Subaru R1e EV
Darryl Siry. Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing, and Service at Tesla Motors. Nice bloke. I got the chance to have a chat with him in the EV Village at the British Motor Show. Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast tesla Tesla Motors Darryl Siry EV
Good News. Tesla are coming to The UK Motor Show this year. It’ll be on show in the ‘EV Village’ where there will be around twenty battery electric vehicles. Joining it will be the new Super Light from Nice (pictured) aswell as GWiz, Elektromotive (those great charging posts) and a new manufacturer known as Quiet Cars….
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The Tesla (Part 4)
Tesla’s test and validation manager discusses driving the car in the arctic circle. Tesla, please, just listen, we need this car in the UK, it’s our only hope, don’t send it over the pond, please Tesla, please….Click on the image to view video (4.4meg QT)
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The Tesla (Part III)
Here’s where I get to meet Brian from Tesla. Brian was great – he took the time to really show me the car. The video would have benefitted from some editing (birthday parties going on around us etc..) but seeing as it’s not every day you get to meet Tesla’s test and validation manager I thought I’d leave it all in. Click on the image to view video (18meg QT).
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The Tesla (Part II)
So here’s the second part of the Tesla showcase, where I got to see the car in more detail and took a look at the motor. Click on the image to view video (8.8 meg QT)
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The Tesla (Part 1)
Thanks to autoblog green I had a tip off that the Tesla was going to be on show for a limited number of hours today at the "green wheels motorshow" in Norwich, where the car is built. The show has been organised by Cred and carbon connections, very useful departments of the University of East Anglia. Time to take the afternoon off and leg it up to Norwich. I got a really good chance to cover the car extensively, and meet the people behind it. I’ll be posting episodic clips so that my bandwidth doesn’t go too mental and I can show plenty of detail. Click on the image to view video (10meg QT)
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast tesla autoblog green carbon connections Cred