Can An Electric Sports Car Hold Up Against the Porsche 911?
The smart, alluring Tesla Roadster is a embodiment of Hollywood glamour and Silicon Valley technology. It could easily be envisioned racing down an ocean-side California road, putting forth an image of beauty and brains combined, thanks to its inventive San Francisco company. The compact two-seater has been in production since February of 2008. It’s built on an extruded aluminum, resin-bonded chassis, supplied by Lotus, with carbonfibre. It features an electric motor and lithium ion battery pack: all eye-catching distinctiveness and engineering.
Electric cars are important for the environment, we know this — but what role does this two-seater sports car play in a low-emissions future? As a sports car, it’s expected to invigorate. So, the question is, can an innovative electric car hold up against traditional sports cars for drivers who revel in the throttle and clutch and power of exhaust and the rumble of the engine? That’s up to the driver, but the Tesla Roadster certainly tries.
Its electric drivetrain is sleek and its 375-volt three-phase AC induction motor manages 215kW and 400Nm despite its minuscule size and light weight. Unlike petrol, which wastes energy up to 70 percent en route the crankshaft, The Roadster is incredibly efficient: 88 percent efficient instead of inefficient. Part of its efficiency lies in the fact that its motor doesn’t need a water cooling system. Au contraire; its motor can go from — zero revs to 14,000rpm, which means it also doesn’t require six or more forward gears, just a single-ratio one and no reverse, only an electronic switch for two of three power wires. Its battery pack is 450kg with 6831 small cells, without competition in the industry. All it needs for a regular charge is for its on-board charger to be plugged into a 15-amp domestic power point. It can also do a quick-charge using a high-power wall connector that only takes four hours or less. Seems easy to use, just like the rest of The Roadster.
And it drives well overall — granted, the rocket to speed isn’t exactly showy. The launch is clean. The nose doesn’t lift too much. It’s a quiet ride; the wind flying by and the motion of the Yokohama A048 tyres accounts for most of the noise while The Roadster zooms down the road. It even does its best on wheelspin: a climax of 687 amps to lay down a 4.2 sec boost to 100km/h and a 1.19sec quarter at 166km/h. It hardly seems that fast with its silent speeds.
When the Tesla takes to ‘standard’ mode, hitting the road fully charged, no regenerative braking needs to kicks in — it doesn’t need to; but as the battery level eventually falls, the ‘motor-braking’ effect activates, efficiently slowing the car in a way that makes brakes almost unnecessary.
It all feels so simple. And that’s satisfying; it’s a car that works for you, with you. The Tesla Roadster definitely succeeds in being efficient, and all while making it easy on the driver — the complicated, high-tech electronics are tucked away inside the power module. From the chassis responses to the unassisted steering, it’s direct. With its smooth, powerful torque (delivered through a ‘torque pedal’ instead of an accelerator), in some ways, it is a fundamental sports car.
Again: how does it stand up? It’s not perfect. Its non-electronic counterpart, the Porsche 911, has absorption the Roadster is missing. It’s a bumpy ride, navigated by a somewhat unwieldy, small steering wheel; when made to corner hard, its elegance starts to lack. It’s temperamental when you need to corner fast. The lack of engine noise is strange, for a sports car; the ‘sports’ part feels spookily missing. It’s not the absence of exhaust that takes away from the sports car experience — it’s the absence of noise. Then there’s the paranoia about the battery running out before you make it back. The 911 suffers no such risk as it blazes down the highway. It gives more of the indulgent rush that’s expected of a sports car, prompted by every use of the clutch, gearlever and throttle. It moves smoother and the assisted steering is lighter and easier. Ultimately, the performance levels are similar, but the Porsche 911 is more satisfying.
In environmental standards, of course, the Tesla Roadster blows the Porsche Roadster out of the water, so it depends on a buyer’s priorities. It costs $1750 a year less to fuel than the 911, but beware the empty battery warning while on the road. It would be great to be both friendly to the environment and the thrill of a traditional sports car in one sleek package, but the Roadster isn’t quite the answer. The technology is more thrilling than the ride.
