Buck's of Woodside | Tall Tales

0 to 60 in under 4 seconds
250 mile range
Top speed, 130mph.
Base price $89,000
Fuel cost nearly zero.
Cool factor 10

Martin Marc and some guy carrying a box

Before you get all hot ‘n stuff and tell me that there is all sorts of fuel expense for charging up an electric car such as coal burning to generate power I say -- waaaait a minute! Personally, I throw away lots of electrical power and have for years because my house is solar electric and I'm not on the grid being 2 miles from the wire. True, we do have to top the batteries up with water so my electric car could be said to run on water (sort of). OK, OK, full disclaimer. We have to change batteries every ten years and charging a car does stress the batteries but this is so trivial compared to filling my car every 2 days with $60 worth of hi-test (which has to be sucked up, refined, shipped, then burned) as to be trivial. So am I buying the car? No. I'm not because the first model is a bit too small for my Amazing Hulk frame. I am waiting for the sedan which definitely has my name on it.

But let us roll back the old time machine to when I first got to know the founders, Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard. I had seen them around as they were already successful local businessmen but it was when they first showed up in a little yellow sports car called the tZero that I got to know them. Marc took me for a zip down Whiskey Hill Rd. in what was not much more than a yellow paint job wrapped around about a thousand laptop batteries. The acceleration was blistering but the car was very basic. After I got out I thought: nice, but aren't electric cars sort of 1995? Well this car attracted some investors who could see into the future better than I could and the Tesla Roadster is the result.

Martin and Marc actually think that they can change the world and they have made believers out of Elon Musk (co-founder of Paypay and the founder of SpaceX) who has come aboard as chairman, as well as VantagePoint Venture Partners. Some 60 million has been raised plus millions more in orders for the first 100 cars. Other investors and car buyers include names like Jurvetson, Page, Brin, Skoll and his pal Clooney.

Did you know that the Federal Government put several billion into developing the Humvee which lead to the relatively cheap Hummer? For Tesla the government is contributing zip. But with the powerful board and the enthusiastic investors, Tesla is equipped for a solid private enterprise run at the market.

Is an all electric car the answer? What about the EV1, General Motors attempt to revolutionize travel? Did a cabal crush the car like the auto industry mangled LA's rapid transit system in the 1930's? Well, I once borrowed an EV1 from George Schultz and drove it around for a few days. It was a quick little sucker and but it looked like an Edsel which had swallowed a pumpkin. It went about 60 miles between charges and on a hot day the AC puffed like an asthmatic Eskimo. No wonder GM killed the car. It was a mercy killing.

Would buying an all electric high performance sports car be a way of showing off or would it make a difference to the environment? The answer is yes you would be showing off, just like I'm showing off by being solar powered at home but who says you can't be cool and relevant at the same time. Haven't you ever tax deducted something that was fun and really was a valid deduction? Sure you have. Who said it can't be fun. Sure a Prius is a big leap forward with 50mpg, why not shoot for 100. Step up to a Tesla and you will be both good and cool and just a little bit hot.

Our dependence on oil is pathetic. We would cut our oil consumption by 50% in 24 hours if we could not import any and life would go on much as it had except we might opt to go to Santa Barbara instead of Tahiti (tragic maybe but I like Santa Barbara). If we doubled vehicle passengers, wore Jimmy Carter sweaters inside, sweated a little more and put up with a 1940's lifestyle we would be instantly energy independent. I'll do it if you will. It's called a war footing and since we are actually at war and it is growing, something has to be done. Our government is doing essentially nothing except trying to pry open some parks for drilling. But some folks are not waiting for our Uncle to come to the rescue by creating a sexy fast sports car and putting them into mass production. Tesla plans to eventually morph the production line to build a range of models with the goal of changing the world. One answer to our energy problem is to let GM fold and reopen the plants to manufacture solar systems to generate power for all things electric. We could actually get ahead of the problem of $150 a barrel oil rather than behind the problem in which case draconian measures will be necessary because we simply would not collectively make an effort. Make no mistake gasoline is going to double before the end of the decade. The average American spends $4,000 a year on all things petroleum based and if we keep burning it instead of making restaurant Naugahyde we are asking for a whuppin in the woodshed.

The Tesla Roadster