TESLA...from "car & driver" mag. ...
What it is: A four-door electric sedan that will change everything. Unless it doesn’t.
Why it matters: With its enchanting Roadster model, Tesla proved it could deliver an electric, but that’s a tin toy compared with the Model S, and it’s also based on a Lotus. The Model S will be by far the most sophisticated and luxurious electric vehicle on the currently barren electric stage if it debuts on time in late 2011.
Powertrain: A larger variation of the Roadster’s 375-volt AC electric motor, powered by a range of standard and optional battery packs delivering ranges from 160 miles in the base pack to 300 miles courtesy of an 8000-cell lithium-ion monster.
Competition: Fisker Karma.
What might go wrong: Claims of a 300-mile range, seven-passenger seating, 0-to-60-mph sprints of 5.6 seconds, a 45-minute recharge time, and a base price below $60,000 before government tax incentives—which would be hard to deliver, even if you’re Toyota. Or God. And Tesla is neither.
Estimated arrival and cost: Thanks to a nearly half-billion-dollar government loan, the Model S actually may arrive in the final minutes of 2011 with a price tag of $57,400, less a $7500 federal tax credit.
"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight
