Equipped with an AC induction motor that's no larger than a watermelon, it does zero to 60 in about 4 seconds. But it's not just the acceleration that amazes. It's the way this car accelerates. Unlike a gasoline-powered car, which has very little torque at low RPMs, the Tesla reaches 100 percent torque from the instant it starts forward. You don't wait even a moment for that acceleration to kick in. It kicks in immediately. The effect is like nothing you've ever experienced.
And that's not the half of it. Even as it reaches the performance of leading sports cars, emissions are non-existent—when I say 100 percent electric, I mean 100 percent electric—and according to the company, the car gets the equivalent of 135 miles to the gallon. Translation: If you charge your car at night, during off-peak hours, when it makes the most sense to charge it, you're paying as little as one cent per mile.
The Tesla has yet to be independently tested—the final version doesn't roll off the assembly line until the fall—and what you may save powering the car is certainly offset by the initial $92,000 price tag. But it's hard not to admire the Tesla simply as a feat of engineering.
Got to give the writer credit for a gift of understatement in that last paragraph there. Go, take a look. It does look cool.
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