Tesla - A New Mile Stone in the History of Cars

Advertising is something that I truly dislike, but what we saw in Melbourne recently is an exception to the rule. I am talking about the future of cars, the electric revolution that will turn the car industry on its head over the next decade. Tesla Motors, an innovative American car manufacturer had a show car on display at Chadstone Shopping Centre. It was their luxurious Model S with two electric motors and a Lithium-Ion Battery that gives the car a range comparable with other standard cars. That was quite impressive, but little did I know that this was just the beginning. In my opinion, it is the first electric car that is not only better but way ahead of all conventional cars.

Getting to like Tesla's top model.

First Impressions: On the outside the Tesla Model S looks like a luxurious family sports sedan with Alloy wheels, electric sun roof and retractable door handles. It lacks the typical large caliber exhaust tailpipes that we know from other powerful cars, and once you look under the bonnet it becomes obvious that this is a very different car: Where we would expect a complicated looking combustion engine with pipes and hoses everywhere, and things that we cannot really identify, the Tesla has nothing but a carpeted void; -A storage area similar to that of the old VW Beetle.

The front luggage compartment reminds me of my 911 Porsche

Looking at the other end there is no engine either, but a huge boot that becomes even bigger when the rear seats are folded. There is obviously no shortage of storage space, but where is the engine you might ask? The car is basically built of two major components: A floor base and the cabin that sits on top of it. Lucky there was the floor base on display so I quickly figured out that the electric motors together with a single speed transmission are small enough to fit between the floor base and the cabin.

What’s inside: The first thing I noticed was an unusually flat spacious floor, and a luxurious interior with a pleasant design, leather seats, leather steering wheel, etc. A Linux based computer with a large touch screen dominates the area where one would expect heater controls and the radio. This touch screen is the main control panel for all functions of the car such as entertainment, climate control, suspension, power steering settings etc. The centre console could do with some improvements as it is only shallow, hard to reach for people with short arms, and lacks storage space and compartments.

Switches, knobs and levers have become obsolete.

The instrument panel is a well designed computer screen that shows detailed information. Speed, energy flow and travel range are easy to read at a glance but I also noticed a graph and a map that I would rather not try to interpret while driving. Needless to say that everything opens and shuts electrically and of course the seats remember your favorite setting.

Room for improvement

But it  gets better! The car can park itself, safely change lanes on a freeway and it will try to avoid collisions by applying the brakes e.g. when a kangaroo jumps in front of the car. Even those tragic driveway accidents where little children have been run over in driveways only because the driver couldn’t see them will be part of the past with this car. The car will simply not run over obstacles. There are future plans to have the software improved to a point where you can simply call the car from your mobile phone and it comes to pick you up (and perhaps drive you home from the pub). Let's face it, the technology has been around for long enough now; It's cheap and it’s time to make some use of it.

Selfie - The car parks itself when it comes home

Driving a Tesla Model S P85D: After a 20-minute induction I realised that driving an electric car will be very different from what I am used to. A stalk on the steering column features three basic functions: Park, Drive, Reverse and there is also the typical indicator /light and cruise control. The software incorporates a creep function that reminds of an automatic transmission where the car creeps forward when the brakes are released. Now it was time to drive it. There is no need to start a motor, so I just set it to ‘Drive’ and in absolute silence the car started to creep forward as I released the brakes. Once on the road, it didn’t take long for me to really like this car. It is very easy to drive. The performance with instant and continuously strong torque was something I had never experienced before in my 33 years of driving all sorts of cars (which includes two Porsche 911). Inside it was dead silent apart from the occasional scream coming from the back seats when I put my foot on the accelerator, to see what it feels like to reach 100km/h in 3.2 seconds. (The Ferrari F430 needs more time for that: 3.65 seconds; And does it only with an ear busting noise and a smoke trail behind it). Overtaking manoeuvres are incredibly fast – it feels like the car almost jumps to where you want to be. The weight distribution with the batteries located in the floor gives the car great stability when cornering and it follows abrupt steering movements very precisely.

Super compact and powerful - 691hp

The incredible power is very easy to control with a smooth ride on a straight run and jaw dropping acceleration whenever you want to put the backrests to the test. The only way to get all this power onto the road is through the all-wheel drive system that boosts three electric motors; one in the front and two in the back. The power applied to each motor is constantly adjusted to maintain traction. The brake system recovers the energy and puts most of it back into the battery. This can be felt when the brakes are released and deceleration continues until you put the foot back onto the accelerator. I am sure that the computer has a dedicated setting to customise this effect. To sum it all up, the Tesla S P85D is a quiet achiever. It is more powerful and a lot quieter and cleaner than most super cars and it’s the best car I have ever driven!

A lot of thought went into the speedo/energy flow meter.

Service Cost: In short, there isn’t much to be serviced, although I can imagine that this brand new concept that is still in its infancy will have a few hiccups. Most of these can probably be ironed out with automatic software updates that are uploaded via the Internet. Even if you never take the car to a service centre you won’t lose the 8 year warranty on the drive train and battery. Since the car has a regenerative brake system the brakes could easily last for 100,000km and more. It’s a different story with tyres as they can wear quickly depending on how much you enjoy the power. And of course the suspension parts will wear over time just like they do in any other car.

Smaller, simpler and way ahead of combustion engines and transmissions

Range: The range is somewhere between 400 and 500km (probably closer to 400km).

Charging the Batteries: We simply pull up at the service station to refuel our standard cars, but it’s a different story with electric cars. Just think of a cordless drill. The time it takes to charge the battery depends on the type of charger, the power available and the state of the battery. While personally I would charge the car whenever there is a nearby power point, (e.g. in my garage), other drivers may do longer trips and require charging the car at a charging station.

A new kind of 'pump' for service stations.

A worldwide network of charging stations is being built but to be realistic, it will be a long time before we can travel around Australia in an electric car. After driving 400km you will want a rest anyway. Provided a supercharging station is nearby, the car can be recharged, and after a sandwich and a short nap you’re right to travel on. If you make it home, simply plug it in and it will be fully charged again the next morning. If you just drive the car to work and around town (as most drivers do) then it’s probably best to charge it once or twice a week at home over night.

Economy: My BMW needs 8-9 Liters of petrol to every 100km. At the current price of $1.35 a 400km trip costs roughly $46 in fuel and $16 in service = $62.
Charging the batteries of a Tesla Model S at $0.15 per kW will cost around $15, given that I don’t have solar panels on my house. All up the Tesla would save me 75% on my fuel bill. With an annual mileage of 10,000 km the Tesla would cost me $375 (compared to $1,550 for my BMW).

The Price Tag: Price Range stretches from USD 60,000 to USD 105,000. Unfortunately the exchange rate is not working in our favor here in Australia. Plus we will be up for a luxury car tax when we go for a model that’s worth more than A$75,375. The ATO is not too keen on helping clean up the world. But there is an exemption from Stamp Duty for those lucky few who happen to live in the ACT. And if you live in Victoria you save $100 annually on registration fee, which gives you an extra 4 or 5 trips on their toll roads.

Resale Value: Nobody knows... For piece of mind Tesla offers to buy the car back after 3 years for 50% of the base price. Hopefully you get a bit more for it elsewhere. I’m not sure what to think about it, but it is an interesting concept.

Implications of Superior Electric Cars: The Tesla Model S is clearly way ahead of any conventional car. As a spacious 4-door sedan it outperforms super cars like Ferrari, Maserati, and Porsche to name a few. You simply cannot walk away from a car like that without being impressed. My prediction is that we will see a revolution over the next 5-10 years like we saw it with CDs over vinyl records, LCD TV-sets and digital cameras. Once a product is superior to what we know, it will take over the market and the price comes down as production numbers grow. Small electric cars may well be available for less than $15,000 once they are mass produced. We will soon look back at those rattly, noisy, and smelly cars that we have now and we will feel really good about a cleaner future. We will move away from wars over oil and we may even be able to turn climate change around. The good things that come with electric cars are obvious: Cleaner, quieter, faster and safer cars. Beyond that there will be the need for better and cleaner electricity grids, more output from power stations and a complete new network of fast charging stations that will slowly replace petrol pumps; Here is a unique prospect to invest in renewable energy and get a guaranteed return! So there will be new opportunities and new goals.
On the other hand, we will see many motor mechanics become redundant, gear box and engine assembly lines being closed and many suppliers of engine parts will have to change their business strategies. Progress has always put people out of work but it has also created new opportunities and it has always lifted everyone’s living standards.

Think about it: The effects of burning oil at an ever increasing rate of currently 13.5 million cubic meters, or 5400 Olympic size swimming pools per day cannot be what we want to leave for our children and grand children. It is unsustainable and everybody knows it. Electric cars will increase the demand for electricity. That in turn clears the path for newer, cleaner and more sustainable power generation. The longer we wait for politicians to sort out their popularity contests the harder it is for us to sort out the threats to our future. It takes leaders who believe that our gift of human intelligence shouldn’t stop at the first source of money but take us way beyond the horizon. It takes people like Elon Musk who don’t waste time talking, but who actually make a difference to the world, people who show the way by example and clear the path to a better life for coming generations. If things go his way, then our children may one day thank him for doing what he’s good at: Turning dreams into reality.  

Man with a plan - Elon Musk

Please note: I have borrowed some images from Tesla's website and wikipedia.org to compile this page.