Can electric cars be electric?
Updated on 25 June 2009
As new electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, goes on sale Benjamin Cohen gets behind the wheel to find out whether petrol-free cars are the new must-have.
Going on sale at today at just under £100,000 the Tesla Roadster is not cheap but it is pretty amazing. Imagine a sports car that really looks the part but makes next to no sound.
The car needs just three hours charging to deliver 244 miles of driving and it accelerates to 60 miles per hour in just under four seconds.
The speed is quite phenomenal and the first few times I hit the accelerator I felt a little sick. Imagine driving a car that speeds up with no interruption or jolts as fast as a roller coaster.
Tesla's CEO is Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and he is behind a true Silicon Valley start up. In Just six years they have developed an electric car that has wowed California but is assembled in Norfolk.
While the car itself is out of most people's (including my) price range, the technology inside it will start to be seen on the mass market soon.
On Tuesday, the US Government lent the company $465m to build an electric saloon car together with a new battery to power it. This will be on the market at close to £30,000 and boast seven seats and a 300 mile-per-charge range.
The company is also working on an electric engine for a new range of Smart cars.
But what Tesla has already proved is that electric vehicles do not have to be milk floats or, as car analyst Jay Nagley said to me, "look like something your uncle knocked together in his shed."
Electric cars suddenly are sexy.
