Tesla Model S

First off, I want to point out very clearly that I do not have an agenda against electric cars. I would own one if there was one that functioned just as well as a gasoline powered car. That said, let's take a look at the best electric car in the world.

This is the Tesla Model S. It is an electric car. It is nice to look at.

Now, if you are a true, die-hard petrol-head, you may think that talking about a car with electric power instead of one that is gasoline powered is just something that you shouldn't do. Motor Trend, the American-biased American-based Grand Chancellor of all things fast and furious, named this car the 2013 Car of the Year though, so that must mean something, right? They are a reliable source for the masses, and surely they wouldn't want to mislead their motoring enthusiast readers. That's what it would seem on the surface.

In my opinion, the Model S won the award for Car of the Year, simply because it is an electric car, that performs much like any other sedan of its time, maybe even better than some, and it looks good. In fact, it looks great.  Do looks, comparability, and innovativeness alone warrant a Car of the Year Award though? Not to me. Here’s why.

In Motor Trend’s March 2013 article on the Model S, they say that the Model S is “not just a good electric car, it is a good car.” They may be right. Some of the specs and observations they make, at least paint a picture of a car that functions as a sporty sedan running off of electricity. Where I think you must start to raise some red flags though is when you look at what their claim is based off of. They are saying that the Model S is great, because someone charged it up, and rolled it on to a track, where their trained drivers and writers can ride around and take notes. It’s a little on the quick side and handles well. It’s comparable to other luxury sedans. It seats five adults and has good space for passengers and cargo. You know, that sort of uninteresting blathering that they tend to write into their articles. Usually, these sort of Motor Trend reviews can be useful to consumers and car buyers, but in this one they still fail to notice the most obvious flaw with the car. 

Their review is skewed because it does not take into account the fact that is possibly the most significant repercussion of owning an electric-engine car as your primary means of daily transportation.

The Model S has to be charged. Tesla claims you’ll get 62 miles per hour of charge if you use the “High Power Wall Connector”. You can use this method to charge more quickly only if you opt for the more expensive Dual-Charger setup. By my estimate, the High Power connector, which you would have in your home garage, would actually give you plenty enough charge to make your daily commute. So, if you put you Model S into the charger every night while you sleep, you can make it to work, some errands, and back home. I don't see that this is a huge deal, but I feel I must quote one of my colleagues, as he so bluntly pointed out, "What if you forget to plug it in one night? You won't be making that big meeting in the morning, that's for sure."

What if you're not just going on your drive to work though? What if you’re going on a road trip or a vacation, and you’ll be driving for an entire day. Inevitably, your car will at some point need reviving. Tesla says that you can get 31 miles per hour of charging if you use what they call a “Mobile Connector”. This connects to a type of outlet you’d find on any wall.

So, to refuel your car on petrol that takes 4 minutes, let’s say. And in that 4 minutes’ time, your car is now ready to go again. If you pull over and plug your Tesla Model S into its “Mobile Connector” for the same amount of time, you will be able to drive for 2 miles. 2 miles. The car that I drive is a comparable sedan, and in one short, gasoline fill-up, I can go for about 240 miles, highway. Using the mobile wall charger, The Tesla Model S would have to charge for 7 hours and 45 minutes before it could go the same distance.

Tesla says that in the near future they look to expand the amount of Supercharger Stations across the country, and in the next few years they’ll have a hundred stations in California. They have to cater to the affluent environmentalists out there. The Supercharger gives the Model S 300 miles per hour of charging. (If I can make a note here, that’s still only 20 miles of power in the amount of time it takes to top off a petrol tank.)

Tesla even does their best to mask the impracticality of the Model S in their incomprehensible spec sheet. If you're an electrical engineer or a Baby Einstein you can understand it, but for most anyone else, its just too much jargon, scientific descriptions, and electrical terminology. They say that they seek to provide an affordable luxury sedan, so that the common auto buyer has the Model S as an alternatively fueled option, but seriously can anyone understand this? http://www.teslamotors.com/models/specs

I won't go on too much about the projected battery life and the price of replacing your battery once it has died completely. In electric cars, the battery life has historically been about 7 to 10 years, maximum. The cost of replacing the battery is more than the cost of replacing the entire transmission in other similar sedans. I don't know if Tesla has worked extensively to extend the battery life expectancy, but I do know that it would be more than inconvenient to replace the transmission in any other new car every 10 years.

The bottom-line is that the Tesla Model S does have its short range functionality, and is comparable to most other sedans in many ways. However, it is severely limited by the amount of time it takes to recharge its battery, and the availability of capable charge sources.

I do love the Model S for its looks, and I admire the work that Tesla is doing. It is a good car. I hope that their electric car projects can continue to have the success and recognition they have bolstered recently. 

Marvel at it one last time.

I won’t be buying one though. At least not until you can recharge its battery in less than ten minutes. That’s just a huge limitation that I feel you can’t overlook – unless you’re a Motor Trend writer.

I want to hear some more you guys on the subject of electric cars. I am not the biggest fan yet, but I could be swayed. Elon Musk, go ahead and send me one and I'll let you know if I change my mind. Oh and Mitt Romney, if you're reading this, you couldn't have been more wrong about Tesla. The rest of you, comment below and tell me if I'm being obtuse here.