If the thought police of the EU were in DC following Sandy the Blogger, they would have seen me at the Tesla electric car showing on K Street in DC. (Yes, I was on K Street and I even mentioned Ron Paul!) Tesla is the company that is about to mass produce an electric car. Here is their website: Tesla (Of course Nicola Tesla was the visionary inventor who worked with electricity! He is one of my favorite inventors!)
DISCLAIMERS: I am a stockholder in Tesla (100 shares!) and I have a relative who has placed a refundable deposit on a Tesla Model S. The blog nor I takes any position on whether anyone should invest in or buy a Tesla. Tesla is somewhat subsidized by the $7500 federal tax credit for green technology. If Ron Paul is elected and I were appointed say, Secretary of Education, I may get to buy a Tesla if the Lord and my wife agree! But the Paul administration will probably try to get rid of the entire income tax system including the subsidy for electric cars!
But, it is a fascinating automobile to see. The Model S is a four door sedan with trunk space in the front – AND the back too (have you ever wanted to place the kids in the trunk! Well you can – legally with car seats etc – in a Tesla Model S.) because the electric battery lies along the entire length of the car from the four wheels underneath the chassis. It is beautiful with a bit of a European/art deco accent. The inside is a bit clunky.
There will be questions: Will it be so quiet as to endanger the blind? Will it endanger the driver and/or passengers (or first responders) trapped in it due to high voltage? How long will the battery last? Resale value? The Tesla Model S is a pricey endeavor – starts (after the $7500 subsidy from the Federal government) at $49,900 and the battery will go 160 miles or so without a new charge. Basically I am told by a non-Tesla deep background source you top it off every night when you turn in. But long distances are not feasible. (There is a 300 mile version for $20,ooo more!) They have a radical service promise: They come to you for a $1 a mile with a minimum fee of $100.
One more question – I suggested to the Tesla salesperson: Come bring the Model S to Richmond! Virginia has a Secretary of Technology (started by Governor Jim Gilmore), a mayor (when he is not busy with the Occupy Richmond next door!) and many local and state officials (not to mention well-heeled people [not this blogger by the way!]) who might be interested in an electric car! Bring the Model S to the River City!
Is Tesla the wave of the future? Will it succeed? Ask Preston Tucker – he was an automobile visionary but could not pull it off for his generation but many of this ideas DID come into the cars we use today. I suspect we will have electric cars and they will be affordable. But they may not be Teslas. Let’s starve the oil nations and use US coal with millions of electric cars! But Sandy the Blogger will have to be hired for several campaigns and/or causes (or be appointed that aforesaid Secretary of Education for President Paul) before he’ll bring home a Tesla Model S!
Article written by: Elwood "Sandy" Sanders
About Elwood Sanders
Elwood "Sandy" Sanders is a Hanover attorney who is an Appellate Procedure Consultant for Lantagne Legal Printing and has written ten scholarly legal articles. Sandy was also Virginia's first Appellate Defender and also helped bring curling in VA! (None of these titles imply any endorsement of Sanders’ views)
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