Drivers Republic - Tesla Roadster

[radu0gheorghe]

It's the Nth time I watch this video. It's amazing how this guy manages to be childish and reasonable at the same time. He makes such a good blend and that's why people love him. And of course I agree that this is the future. I'm so convinced by that - I don't know where to start. Let's just say that I'd love to breathe cleaner air in my town and I like the idea of driving something efficient and smart.

[MaZEEZaM]

Perhaps we could invent a new type of road rage, "GET OFF THE ROAD YOU NOISY POLLUTER!!" :D lol just imagine peak hour traffic without all the engine noises, it would be far less stressful.

[MaZEEZaM]

this is a seriously nice car, and it is an every day runner, its not got enough distance at this stage to go on long road trips, but its enough to do your every day driving and park it at home and plug it in over night. they are also planning on having charging stations where you can fully charge your battery in 45 mins, or swich batter in less time than filling up with fuel. check out the new Tesla Sedan, longer range and Luxury:D serious nice car.

[EVILSPAWN1000]

The Tesla is a furure collectors car.As a flop. Bio ethanol/E 85,that`s the way 2 go.The Koenigsegg Agera performs BEST on E85,producing 1036 bhp and emission like a Prius.The Lotus Exige 260,another E85 supercar.260 bhp.The Tesla couldn`t even handle the hammerhead.It went straight ahead bcoz it weighs more than a semi,and has low resistance tyres,wich r only good 4 1 thing:To roll as far as possible.Never mind the handling..... Dead end!

[MaZEEZaM]

@EVILSPAWN1000 Ethanol based fuels are not a sustainable option because they take up far to much food growing land to be able to create enough fuel for cars and still feed people.

[GR3B3N]

@MaZEEZaM lol there's so much unused land out there, that can be meliorated

[MaZEEZaM]

@EVILSPAWN1000 Ethanol has one major flaw, it takes way to much land to grow for fuel, competing with food growing than is possible to meet current fuel needs let alone future needs.

[EVILSPAWN1000]

@MaZEEZaM Yeah,deep down i know u r right.I just DON`T wanna think of electic cars as the future:-( I`m in denial.

[MaZEEZaM]

@EVILSPAWN1000 lol no worries, sorry for the multi comment, when i wrote it the first one it looked like it disappeared. You can make fuel from crushing coconuts to run in Diesel engines, perhaps you could venture down that road if you live in a hot area :D

[FreestyleBrain]

I love how Chris is fascinated by this new technology, but so as Iam. As an "old" 25ish year old petrol head I always loved internal combustion cars and still do, but I can't lie about my absolutly new fascination with electric propulsion!

[petbedding01]

"Mid-batteried" RWD welcome to the future haha!

[Fons1958]

All trees and plants take CO2 uit of the air and give us back oxygen...so what we need to do IS TAKE OUR HANDS OFF THE RAINFOREST and NATURE !!!

[imgonnafuckuup1]

I think it's really cool chris harris understands this car. unlike say, um, jeremy clarkson.

[bonnie90402]

@Tsparkdriver - when stating that electric cars make more pollution than petrol cars (or ICE cars), you also need to factor in the cost of obtaining the oil, transportation to refineries, transport to gas stations, etc. Studies by others that 'have studied energetics' bear out that if we're talking coal-generated electricity, the electric car still comes in as about 25% more efficient than an ICE car, when considering the entire cost of delivering energy.

[bonnie90402]

@Tsparkdriver - when stating that electric cars make more pollution than petrol cars (or ICE cars), you also need to factor in the cost of obtaining the oil, transportation to refineries, transport to gas stations, etc. Studies by others that 'have studied energetics' bear out that if we're talking coal-generated electricity, the electric car still comes in as about 25% more efficient than an ICE car, when considering the entire cost of delivery energy.

[MemphisSilver]

I would hate it in traffic driving around diesel cars and truck`s and buses! :D

[dailyforman]

that's like fuck a rubber women

[Tsparkdriver]

you burn coal to get electricity, I study Energetics and that's how it is. Electric cars make more pollution the petrol cars.

[picinomundo]

@Tsparkdriver I wonder where you live. xD

[Tsparkdriver]

@picinomundo I was referring to the global situation.

Here is the percentage of electricity gained from coal per country:

Germany 46%, USA 49%, China 79%, Poland 92%.

And what does it matter where I live? You can read it on my profile. If you live in a rich country it doesn't automatically make you smarter then someone else.

[fawnication]

when batteries last a decade, charging takes 5mins & car costs under $10,000 I want one...

[Zamboro]

@fawnication

They already last ten years. Charging takes as little as 10 minutes on some models, and there are electric cars like the Think City for under $20,000.

What you're asking for, all in the same product, is unreasonable. Like demanding a unicorn.

[fawnication]

@Zamboro according to what I've seen lithium ion technology lasts a couple of hundred thousand k's at the most .. very expensive to get new ones .. none of their models can be charged in under a few hours .. not demanding a unicorn just something better than all aspects of a current car ;D

[Thereminator101]

@Some people are blind to positive change...their more comfortable surrounded by exaggerated pessimism.A sad way to view the world future really.

[GoldenSilence333]

Man... if I had the money to buy a car like that, I'd definitely invest in solar panels on my roof

[tnguyen318]

I wonder why they don't build electric cars like normal cars, perhaps even sporty like this Tesla Roadster? Excellent work!

[VRJensen1]

The highest recorded profits ever in the US was reported by EXXON Mobil in 2008 of 45.2 Billion Dollars...which covers the period of $4.50 per gallon. We americans spend 600 - 700 Billion dollars on gasoline per year just driving ourselves from point B to point B and the US Govt gets roughly 40 Cents per gallon and a increase in mileage of 20% would cost the govt over 15 Billion per year......I think it comes down to gasoline profits.

[tnguyen318]

Is it profits or revenue? Actual income earned by investors are different. Actual income earned by the major share holder (CEO) is different.

[wesmantooth777]

i like the whining noise in cars :( and its an auto boo!

[VRJensen1]

Dude 1Cent per mile and faster 0-60 than your Ferrari, porsche, viper, etc etc etc. What's not to love?

[Tmoney9994]

what would be very impressive if they put a solar panel on the car.

[Dantakurasaki]

Is this car worth a damn to own yes or no

[justcallmegod2]

the problem is that electricity in america is mostly generated through cole burning factories, which makes that if all cars in america would now run on batteries, they would actually produce more co2 than nowadays.. If we want to build electric cars, we have to first research and finetune more reusable energy sources

[VRJensen1]

Sorry Man you're info has been spun by Big Oil. even when using the Dirtiest of Dirty Coal power to produce the go in an EV, it is still over 3 times as clean as burning Gasoline...300% cleaner man...and not all electricity comes from coal....some comes from nuclear, wind, geothermal, natural gas, your own solar panels maybe, or hydro electric

[AlternativeUses]

good review. would love to experience full torque at 0 rpm. can't wait until the future arrives

[SixOfN1ne]

Nikola Tesla FTW!

[gmracing15]

LOL! just because it's electric DOES NOT MEAN THIS THING IS GREEN FRENDLY, the amount of material required to build this thing and the fact most of the components are NOT recyclable (compared to a normal gas car) what would be the point then. He brags about the performance of the thing but fails to mention the laughable top speed 125mph and it can not mainain the performance through it's charge.(less battery charge less performance) is tech brillaint yes, but not green or practical.

[Davethemusicmaid]

@gmracing15 you naive fool....

:D

[gmracing15]

@Davethemusicmaid try me!!! an see who really is naive

[Nickings07]

Over all I see this vehicle as a great step towards personal transport of the future, the production of less noise is a small price to pay for some and is a bonus to others, saying that, the car generally seems to have good performance but is clearly not for daily commutes unless they plan to introduce public charge points for the vehicle.

[malgacho]

Beautiful car + awesome review by a hottie. Well done.

[mott1s]

I think that one cool factor in a fast car is the noise and if the car cannot produce it then it is missing something important. Maybe a speaker with growling slr noise synced to your gas pedal would do the trick? :D

[Orangewind]

The Fisker Karma has a speaker system that allows the car to have sound when driven for "safety."

..............................­..............................­............

"The Karma will feature speakers - both inside and out - that will simulate a sound "like something between a Formula One car and a jet plane." The feature is being implemented for pedestrian safety and added novelty." - Left Lane News

[mott1s]

that is ridiculous! :D

If this already weighs too much adding heavy speakers is the most stupid thing you can think of. I'm thinking this isn't the car that will outpower the current petrolcars (well, atleast supercar-wise).

[Orangewind]

I'm not sure if anyone outside of the company has tested it yet, so it would be interesting to know if the speaker system was all set up at the time of the testing. The speaker system was showed on the car at the viewing at the auto-show but maybe there was more that needed to be added...not sure.

I read they claim that it gets 67 MPG and is better than the Prius in that regard.

[sydneyfc]

Also electric cars like this would never work on a mass scale and would still have increasing green house effects. When you charge the car with electricity.. where do you think the electricity comes from exactly? From factories which are pumping out a shit load of pollutants into the atmosphere.. Good car =S

[fred10538]

Not ALL electricity comes from coal/ or oil. Some electricity comes for hydro-electric dams and nuclear power plants. It all depends where you are.

[ThaWhistle]

@fred10538

regardless, the efficiency of just about all powerplants using fossil fuels is siginificantly higher than internal combustion engines in terms of potential energy-> electric energy conversion. The MPG equivalent for the Roadster averages around 100.

[fred10538]

@ThaWhistle If that's true (that powerplants are more efficient than internal combustion engines gas/diesel - I'm sure they are) then simply replacing all cars with electrics, means both clean air AND energy savings starting from the first day. (manufacturing of internal combustion engines probably takes significantly more energy than manufacturing of electric motors too!)

[Tsparkdriver]

@fred10538 But MOST of it does. I study that, and you can twist it how you want you come to the same conclusion.

[vinceat852]

@fred10538 furthermore, the chemical energy --> kinetic energy conversion ratio is better than using petrol/diesel.

[1robco1]

Even if the car was powered by 100% coal generated power, the car would still produce 10% less green house emissions than a conventional, and stupid, internal combustion engine

[stumann500]

hydroelectricity.

[HubertusC]

Just make sure you have solarpanels on the roof of your house, problem solved :)

[sydneyfc]

We need sound on these cars.. We don't wanna drive around in Prius'.. The legendary sounds of V8's, Flat Six's, V10's, V12's etc will all be lost.

[pabauza]

It's good to see a petrol head like Chris Harris complimenting the Tesla. He's right other ways of motoring must be conceived and the Tesla is the begining.

[TTTopGun]

The Tesla Model S has many features that are more advanced than those in the roadstar hopefully they will find their way into future versions of Roadster such as the improved range and the touch screens. Perhaps eventually active wheel technology which should open the cars to 1000+ mile range on one charge.

[uscparty]

This car seems very comparable to a porsche 911 in both price, performance, and looks, but without destroying the environment. Where do I sign up.

[GeneralDevestation]

The Porsche 911 has a top speed of 190 MPH. The Tesla is limited to 125.

You clearly have drank the kool-aid if you blame yourself for "destroying the environment" by using gas-powered cars. Are you a vegetarian too? Because if not, you're doing even more damage to the environment by eating beef. That's a fact.... if you believe in that global warming crapola, that is.

Give me a Z06 and I'll destroy this POS every time. And my loud engine will warn people to GTFO of my way.

[uscparty]

For all those times that I want to drive over 125 mph on the streets I'll have to remember that. The last time I checked an ICE car emitted more pollutants then a cow and what I'm concerned with is being able to take a jog without getting asthma. The Z06 is sweet I would like to see one race a Roadster S, they both claim 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. In a drag the Z06, on a course the Tesla. Open your mind man it won't be long til vettes are electric. People who rode horses used to mock cars too.

[XxXKyuuketsukiXxX]

Hmmm. You appear not to believe in what is, granted, poorly named Global Warming. A more proper term would be Global Climate Change, and it does indeed exist, good sir. Less ozone, hotter sun, melting ice, more water, more clouds, colder weather, heavy snow, ect. It all follows, to an extent, that nice and neat little pattern. It gets hot, then it gets really cold. We are heating the earth up, it just happens not to always have hot effects everywhere.

[victav]

eh... I still think that Honda's FCX Clarity is a much more impressive car.... as long as the thing is powered by batteries its rubbish.... They add too much weight and the range they provide is also rubbish, with the FCX, the technology is there, the infrastructure isn't, but once it is, it will revolutionize personal transport...

[victav]

Also, he talks about the need to not pollute and still have fun. Well, us petrolheads are a minority, most people think of a car as nothing more than a way to get from point A to point B, so let them drive the electric stuff, they don't care one way or the other... once the general population drives electric as a whole, the question of pollution is taken care of, leaving us petrolheads free to drive our gas guzzlers.

[TheBishopSSR]

"eaving us petrolheads free to drive our gas guzzlers" - yeah, just like horse lovers still ride horses ;) Except electric car will be so much powerful and fast and fun that the only reason for driving a gas car will be to be able to obnoxiously attract attention to yourself through generating ugly fart-like engine noises.

[ahpadt]

Driving is about much more than just the speed you are talking about.

[Saiien3]

@TheBishopSSR LOL thats a good one!

[stopcrazypp]

I wouldn't say the tech is totally there. The costs are too high. You can buy a couple of Teslas for the same price of the Clarity. Cost estimates for the Clarity are ~$500k-millions.

I wouldn't say the range is rubbish either for EVs. Tesla's next car is a sedan with up to 300 mile range. And if you are talking about performance, none of the hydrogen cars perform as well as EVs.

[TheBishopSSR]

How is Honda FCX more impressive? By costing $2,000,000 per prototype to produce? By not being available to public for anything other than lease? By having less speed and range than Tesla Roadster? By having a tank of explosive gas under your behind at all times? By having to drive it to one of 157 hydrogen stations IN THE WORLD to fuel it? I really fail to see anything impressive about that car except its looks, but looks come cheap these days.

[dodger1x]

+ it takes 4 times(++) more electricity to make hydrogen than the energy you get from hydrogen. .So hydrogen is infact just a really bad battery.

[ekuwa69]

Great video and a great car.