Tuesday 8 September 2015

Tesla - the future of motoring?



There are relatively few business people I am especially interested in. But now and again I come across someone who is different enough to gain my attention and I will happily read whatever I can about them. One such person is Elon Musk. Having read his recent biography, I don’t believe he is a very nice person, I think he is quite reckless and perhaps irresponsible. However, there is no doubting his vision and driven determination to achieve his goals.

Musk founded Space X, a private company, employee owned, that builds space rockets. Built from scratch in less than 15 years, this amazing business works for NASA and is developing reusable rocket technology. Its ultimate goal is to enable people to live on other planets.

Elon Musk is perhaps better known for his involvement in Tesla, a public company making 100% electric cars. No backup engines here, its all electric with amazing battery performance to mitigate the range anxiety associated with similar vehicles. Musk did not found Tesla but he was instrumental in its development and it is his vision that has driven the company into achieving many milestones and ultimately being profitable.

So, when I learned that a team from Tesla was going to be offering test drives at a hotel nearby I jumped at the chance. My BMW 7 series is now seven years old and it is a hard act to follow. Mine was a company press car, loaded with features and toys, many of which I am now quite attached to. Despite the very low mileage I will need to change in the next year or two. The forthcoming new Beamer looks pretty amazing but I am open to suggestions as to where to go next. The prospect of never filling up with diesel or petrol again (one of my pet hates) and not needing to take the car in for a service, other than once every year or two, is quite attractive.

Currently you can buy a Tesla Model S. There are other cars on the way - an SUV and a lower cost model -  but this is the only one you can have for now. It looks sleek, a bit like a Jag but sportier and the key is a small model of the car itself. I say the key but you just keep this little car in your pocket. As you approach your Tesla, the door handles - which until now have been flush with the door - pop out, allowing you to open the door. 

Inside the dashboard is minimal. There are only two buttons: one is the hazard indicator which apparently is a legal requirement; the other is a button to open the glovebox which offers a bit of symmetry rather than just having one button. Other than that there is a display screen behind the steering wheel and then what looks like a giant iPad on speed in the middle of the car.

Tapping the brake pedal then wakes the car up and the display shows a speedometer. There is no starting noise and no engine sound. Then you are ready to go. The car is simple to drive. A stick shift gives you P/D or R - so basically parked, forward and reverse. Foot down and the car takes off. Initially I drove slowly but once I got the hang of the car I put my foot down. The power was simply unbelievable with solid handing too.

Of the two cars available for a test drive, I was in the most basic lower powered model with rear wheel drive. This had a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds. You cannot imagine that you are in an electric vehicle, the performance is stellar. The other model on site, a P85D with all wheel drive, does 0-60 in 3.1 seconds and if that is not enough you can get to 2.8 seconds with the Ludicrous Speed Upgrade - but that will set you back another £8,300. 

As well as driving like a powerful petrol sports car, the cars are loaded with tech toys. My test drive included the Autopilot (£2,100). This works much like my BMW intuitive cruise control by latching onto the car in front and following it. I use this feature a lot on my car. However, the Tesla will also change lanes, can stay in lane with automatic steering (although I didn’t test this feature) and according to the website will park itself too. Apparently if you are on private property, the car can also drive itself round to the door to collect you!

The 17 inch flat screen in the centre basically controls everything and has numerous menus and views, all customisable. Generally it shows a large map which gets data from GPS as well as Google - so you should always know where you are. It shows where traffic is bad and will obviously work as a satellite navigation system, also showing the directions on the dashboard.

I could change the steering from soft to hard, I also had the variable suspension (£2100) which had different options. If the suspension is raised to get onto a particular driveway, the car remembers this and will automatically do the same every time that location is visited. 

As there is no engine in the conventional sense, there are two boots, one at the front and one at the back. Both are large, the rear boot can accommodate two child seats as an option. And as there are no gears, the acceleration is also very smooth and very fast!

So what about that range anxiety? The stated range is 275 miles on the basic model up to 330 miles with the upgraded battery. This would be OK for me most days unless going on a long journey. There is a growing network of chargers and the Tesla chargers are free to use. Their superchargers will fill up the battery in around 1 hour. Home charging takes all night and you can monitor progress on your smartphone. So potentially, no running costs at all if charged on the public network.

As you sleep the car software may update adding features  that were not there before, such as the latest update which added automatic emergency braking. 

So overall, this car is pretty impressive. So what doesn’t it have compared to my own car and what would I miss? Tesla seats are quite good but mine are more adjustable, good if you suffer with a bad back. I have cameras on the front wheel arches which are great in blind junctions. Also, my back wheels turn the opposite way to the front ones at low speeds giving a very tight turning circle, the Tesla is a big car and would benefit from this. Cooled seats - possibly I could live without. The one thing I would really miss other than my soft closing doors is the Heads-Up Display which projects speed, sat-nav and other information onto the windscreen. I am really surprised Tesla does not have this as it is so useful, so safe and really looks to a future when you can keep your eyes on the road and not elsewhere.

You can get a Tesla for just under £50k, but you are going to want the all-wheel drive and an extended battery as well as some of the other options which are more like essentials. I think £70-80k is more like it, and you could easily get to nearer £100k without trying too hard. This is well into 7 Series territory and I suppose if it costs as much as a serious luxury car, then it should have all of the bells and whistles and not just some of them.



I’m still a Musk fan, I’m a Tesla fan too. He really has reinvented motoring and built up a car company from virtually nothing. This achievement cannot be underestimated. For me the car is a very attractive proposition. I’m just sitting tight until the features catch up with BMW which I sincerely hope they do. I would love to drive one of these cars without letting go of the clever technology I already use each day. 

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