TESLA #215 First impressions

Car arrived this morning. Via Fedex Auto. Seeing the car being delivered was an experience it felt like aliens were landing. The car is "very orange" I love the color. The driving is awesome. The feeling of torque a low speed amazing. It is a super-car.

So my father in law is here and we want to take the car for a drive. I have been driving it for a while but the car won't start now. I keep turning the "on key" but no noise comes on and we both think "damn, the car is dead".

We call road-side assistance, it is good to know that someone picks up the phone and offer to drive me to the shop. He thinks I live in Silicon Valley. I say I am in ATL he says "hah that would be difficult". I wait with some muzak. I finally realize 'wait, I have no engine, the car is not supposed to make any noise'. Tommy and I go back to car, I press the peddle the car takes off. I feel like a redneck. The silence is weird.

Then there are the smiles on people faces as I drive by. Never felt that way with the Porsche Turbo. Some people trail the car on the highway to take pictures, some make V signs. I am not used to that but could get used to it really quick. This is a cool car.









Comments

Unknown said…
I am super jealous. Now I have no excuse to come visit.
March 24, 2009 at 5:23:00 PM PDT
@SavioRodrigues said…
That's funny!

I heard that car manufacturers have to add a "swoosh" noise to the car so that pedestrians can hear the hybrids approaching -- turns out a few people have gotten hit by hybrids in subdivisions (i.e. low speeds, so battery power)
March 24, 2009 at 8:35:00 PM PDT
Max said…
No pictures ? Didn't happen then!
March 24, 2009 at 11:52:00 PM PDT
adt43wt342 said…
Ok, Ok here are the pictures

Thanks to Tommy.
March 25, 2009 at 7:04:00 AM PDT
Army No. Va. said…
congrats! are you coming by the old JBoss office this week? i'm working at home today and will be in tomorrow! :-) ...
March 25, 2009 at 9:26:00 AM PDT
Anonymous said…
M, super congrats on your orange rocket :-). Does it feel like it has more snap and oomph than ur turbo (996 or 997?) ? and plz be cautious w the weather in Atl and all that torque.

PS CK is superexcited to go/take for a ride, if he doesnt show it, he is bluffing :-)).
March 25, 2009 at 9:53:00 AM PDT
Anonymous said…
"What transpires in the next 2 seconds is the heart and soul, the essence and spirit, of the Roadster. This is the trick this one-trick pony does better than perhaps any sports car on Earth. We in the business call it "rolling acceleration."

At about 20 mph I nail the go pedal, and the power electronics module summons a ferocious torrent of amps, energizing the windings of the 375-volt AC-induction motor. Instantly -- I mean right now, like, what the heck hit me? -- the motor's 276 pound-feet of torque is converted to dumbfounding acceleration. Total number of moving parts: one.

Street lights streak past me like tracer bullets. My little mental circuits go snap-pop with the thrust. God has grabbed me by the jockstrap and fired me off his thumb, rubber band-style. Wow."

full story here:

http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-fi-neil6-2009feb06,0,5261426.story
March 26, 2009 at 5:22:00 AM PDT
adt43wt342 said…
Anon,

at low speed the "oomph" is way better than the turbo, it is stronger and longer (no speed change).

At highway speed however it was comparable to the Turbo.
March 26, 2009 at 6:50:00 AM PDT
Roy Russo said…
Sedan coming: http://jalopnik.com/5185534/tesla-model-s-sedan-concept-first-official-pictures
March 27, 2009 at 12:19:00 AM PDT
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thug vs Thug: Porsche 1, Hedge Funds: 0

The latest drama is fun. VW became the largest company in the world, in terms of market cap, ahead of EXXON on a little financial market coup d'etat orchestrated by Porsche. Apparently VW stocks was on the way down, I don't know the details but many Hedge Funds (HF) were short the position. Fine. The price goes down. Porsche starts buying the anonymous float (and probably some private too?), but the point is they build a 73% market share without many people noticing. In the US you would need disclosure after 10% or so. Point is, that many HF wake up and realize that their short position is about to lose a lot of money. So what do they do? those idiots? they short cover all together, which means they buy the stock to cover the short. The stock zooms up, by a full multiplier and overtakes EXXON. Porsche makes A KILLING in the process and has robbed the city robbers to the tune of "potentially $30B". Not bad for a days worth of work. PS: hey, psst Porsche! With t...
Read more

Madrid Blog--We get sued

Image
...for having children If you are a foreigner and move to Madrid, do not, necessarily expect a warm welcome. Yesterday, we, or rather Don Mark Fleury and Dona Natali Manson ***note to Building Association of Serrrano XX, before you lawyer up, do your research. My husband spells his name "Marc" with a "c." and my first name is spelled "Nathalie;" not to mention that my honest English stone mason forbears would cringe at the misspelling of their last name to confound with that of the notorious 20th century serial killer. received an official communication from the Juzgado de Primera Instancia de Madrid, from one Don Ramiro Blah Blah, President of the Building Association of Serrano XX, a building of exactly 12 units, half of which were owned at one time by his father in law, in which it is alleged 1) "Mark Fleury and Natali Manson" have four children 2) these children own bicycles 3)and roller skates 4) and scooters ( Nathalie comment: nope sorry ...
Read more

Houston, We have a central-bank-run!

Judging by the comments, it seems many of you share my interest in understanding the recent economic news, at least Juha does. So I will continue covering that. Yesterday, my brother Carlos, who works for BNP in Europe sent me this story: Apparently we are seeing a dumping of US related assets by what is speculated to be... the Chinese. . Forget the computer attacks, Asia's sovereign funds dumping US assets would have a real impact on the economy. Credit and liquidity crises are not new and, when they turn bad, they turn bad. In 1929, the liquidity scare sparked a bank run. Banks didn't have enough cash and were defaulting, accelerating the mad dash and "bank-run" to get your money out while there was still liquidity. Then, the real economy wound up with no credit, and we all know the sad story from there. 2007 isn't like 1929. It isn't an "end-consumer" bank run. You and I are not going to the corner bank to take our savings out. Our confidence ...
Read more