Tesla breaks record for going the distance
Simon Hacket and Emilis Prelgauskas at their 313-mile mark in Coober Pedy, South Australia.
(Credit: Hackett)A record for a Tesla Roadster driven on a single charge was set at 313 miles (501 km) in Australia on Tuesday.
Tesla Roadster owner Simon Hackett and his friend Emilis Prelgauskas drove his electric sports car from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, to Coober Pedy, South Australia, as part of an alternative-fuel vehicle rally called the Global Green Challenge.
The Tesla's electric-charge port door was sealed shut at the start of the 313-mile journey and the trip was filmed for a documentary, as well as monitored by contest officials. The Tesla's lithium ion battery, which the company assures owners will last over 200 miles between charges under normal driving circumstances, had 3 miles to spare when the team reached its destination in Coober Pedy, according to Hackett's chronicles of the race experience on his company blog. (Hackett happens to also be the founder and managing director of Internode, an Australian national broadband and Internet services company.)
Hackett said in his blog the achievement is actually a record for any production electric car, not just a Tesla Roadster, which is why his team was so careful to record it. To squeeze as much distance out of the Tesla's battery as they could, Hackett and Prelgauskas tried to drive at a consistent speed of 55 kph (roughly 34 mph) for a large portion of the almost 12-hour journey.
"The security seal was applied to the charge port door when we started the journey. As this is being done as part of the Global Green Challenge, we have a full set of official verifiers here who will attest to the results and to achieving the outcome. We were followed along the journey by our support crew and a documentary film crew--so we have it on film," said Hackett.
While Tesla Motors is not an official sponsor of the contest or Hackett, the company has shown support by spreading the news of Hackett's success. It's not hard to imagine why as Tesla poises for a major retail expansion.
The stunt may certainly speak to consumers who likely drive nowhere near 313 miles in a single day, but are still reluctant to hem themselves in with a car restricted to a limited number of miles between recharges.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
Also, it's rated for 220 miles (I think) and went 311. Considering most electric vehicle designers are excited about 80-100 miles, I hardly think complaining that it costs what a sports car would cost really has any validity when they have one that performs really really well, and goes more than 3 times that distance on a charge.
They already announced and showed prototypes of their upcoming luxury sedan (Model S) based on the same technology (except with longer range), and it's a little over half the price. Then of course you'll complain that it costs more than a Civic (ignoring how it compares to other cars in ITS class).
It's called progress. If people simply stopped simply because the first iteration of a new technology wasn't immediately better in every single way than what was already there, then you wouldn't be reading this, because there would not be an internet, or computers, or cars, or even moveable type. In fact, you'd likely be illiterate. But feel free to dismiss it if it makes you feel better.
People will buy these... no doubt. Its a niche market.. but so is Lambo, Porsche, Corvette.... etc.
http://wilshipley.com/blog/2008/09/tesla-v-supercharged-lotus-elise.html
You'll be surprised that the Tesla Roadster has a lot lower average speed compared to other EV's out there using the same parameters: total (including recharging and travel) time per mile, total electricity (wall to wheel, watt hours) per mile.
Of course, none of the publications currently out there is going to show these real world numbers for all the EV's currently out there.
In other words this is a piece of ***** scam being trotted out as propaganda more than worthwhile technology.
You are right, if you are stepping on it at every stop sign or mashing around the track, you won't make it more than 80 miles. What about when your driving your Lambo hard? Well, you'll probably need a $1000+ tune up for every track day and the Roadster can be driven hard every day without much maintenance at all. Hmmm, you're totally right, AGAIN.
Keep to your CRX, buddy.
As meski.oz pointed out, running with full acceleration and braking on an old runway is in no way normal driving conditions. Even the 34mph average speed they did in the outback beats the average speed of many city centres.
By the way, I live in Alice Springs, I am familiar with the Stuart Highway and the road is not totally flat.
BTW why does the Elise bit never get mentioned, it is always made to sound like they designed the car, not converted an existing one to electricity...??
So yes it is an Elise but pretty much rengineered from the frame up.
Take a look at the GMC Acadia AKA Saturn Outlook AKA Chevy Traverse AKA...
- by zattinho October 29, 2009 10:00 AM PDT
- I don't think I've ever met a person or seen a negative comment from someone who has ACTUALLY driven the Tesla Roadster, only the whiny doubters that complain for the sake of complaining make these comments. It's usually some 19 yr old with a modified 91' Honda CRX who wishes he could afford a sports car... iuntil then he will drop more money on a body kit than his car is actually worth.
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(17 Comments)The Roadster Sport goes 0-60 in 3.7, which is faster than most $300,000 supercars.
The Roadster is twice as energy efficient as a Prius, and you can be entirely zero emissions if you have a solar array or pull from a renewable energy source.
The car has a carbon fiber body, the only other cars that have a carbon fiber body are F1 racing cars and the Porsche GT, a half million dollar car.
Lotus is the contract manufacturer for Tesla, which is great because they build one hell of a chassis. Have you ever seen the slalom figures on an Elise? exactly. Pair that with 'blow your mind' torque and you have a bonafide sports car.