Is Tesla for real?

Over the last several years I have been following what was a small Silicon Valley start up whose intent and purpose is to bring electric vehicles to the masses. In the past, many of these ventures have yielded vehicles that are extremely over priced with little or no hope of ever competing with today's automobiles. It was Tesla's duty to break the world free of the thought that electric cars could be nothing more than over priced or over sized golf-carts which could not be driven over 30 miles. I am often reminded of Chrysler's GEM cars when I think of why the public has such a hard time taking EV's seriously.

Tesla seemed to hit it out of the park on paper. While its $100,000 price tag seems high to most of us, this is an attractive price for a high performance roadster capable of reaching 60 mph in less than four seconds with the ability to travel over 240 miles on electricity alone. Building a car that has never been built before is hard and expensive work. This is the first company to seriously commit to using Li-Ion batteries (the advanced cells found in you laptop and cell phone) to power the wheels as previously it was thought it could never be done at an affordable price. Tesla knew that its car could soon replace the Prius as the "green" vehicle to be seen in and the high price tag was just what they needed to raise cash for future vehicle design.

With the first car in production, Tesla wasted little time teasing its future vehicle. The recently revealed Tesla Model S promises to deliver a maximum 300 mile range and achieve 60 mph in under six seconds. What's even better is that it looks fantastic, seats at least four adults, and will start at an estimated base price of $49,900 pending a tax credit worth $7,500 from Uncle Sam. Other notable technology includes "quick charge" which charges the battery to nearly capacity in about 45 minutes. This feature allows the Model S to carry the family on cross country road trips without stopping overnight for a re-charge.

It would seem this little EV company has a lot going for it these days. It has a hot little sports car on the market that can outrun most super cars and a large sedan due in 2011 that looks to appeal to both greenies and everyday drivers alike. The future does look bright for Tesla and they are not shy about telling the world the next step for the company. Following the Model S will be a smaller car with the same range capabilities and a target price of around $30,000. If Tesla can live up to these claims, the large auto giants of the world will have been shown up by a little EV company out of California. It seems I am not the only one to take notice as Daimler has rushed to get a piece of the action.