The Tesla Model S

Dec 30 2013

Canada’s best selling electric car.

– the Model S received the highest Consumer Reports score ever, 99/100

– Tesla paid back its government loan this year, 9 years early

– in 8 of the wealthiest cities in the US, it outsold everyone, including BMW, Mercedes and Audi. It became the new status symbol car.

It was THE car of 2013, really.

Specs (top model, “Performance” 85 kW-h)

416 hp & 443 lb-ft

0 – 100 in 4.2 sec

210 km/h top speed

They’re built in Fremont, California, in the recently purchased old GM factory. Which is huge, huge; Tesla only takes up 20% . The automaker is projected to double their output in 2014, to 40,000+ cars. It’s also rumoured that Tesla will account for 40% of the world’s Panasonic batteries next year. This amazes me.

Non-car nerds: this is actually the automaker’s second car. Here’s their first: the Roadster.

Auto-manufactures: – the planet is collectively drooling over this interior, why has no one copied this yet?

Personally, this interior is not for me.

When writing a review, I highlight if a vehicle can be ordered without a screen, so an interior dominated by a 17″ screen is opposite of that.

The best feature in the car. Bucket seats!

Jalopnik has a great ‘Tesla in 2013’ story.

This was the Tesla Toronto grand opening,
the 13th Tesla dealership worldwide

Tesla’s are sold straight from the manufacturer to the consumer, either online or via one of their dealerships. This new sales model is causing anger and lawsuits from traditional dealerships in the States.

Here’s the blog tag – Tesla.

An Electric Car from 1919

Dec 4 2012

That’s 93 years old.

Use the levers to steer.

… almost a century ago, an engine powered by electricity, and that can store electricity, strong enough to propel a car with 4 people…

Is your eyebrow raised, too?

I’m Mobile Again

Oct 17 2011

Thanks for the wheels, Chevrolet!

It’s their just-released Sonic – their hyrid car. Which has much more pep and pickup than you’d expect.

And Chevy knows me well, they gave me a manual car YA buddy, it’s great to be shifting again and making the engine rawwwwar out of the corners.

Here’s the interior.

Nice and simple, not too many bells and whistles, which I don’t like and think are superfluous.

If I were to buy a new car I’ll be saying no thanks to things like backing-up cameras and GPS. I can back up just fine with my eyes, and I don’t wish to be tracked.

I was at Chevrolet’s event in Dundas Square last week, they launched three new cars day… the Sonic, Orlando and their electric car, the Volt.

It was also a big day in internet history too, they streamed live all day to the homepage of YouTube, and for a minute I was on it, neat eh! Casie and I were interviewed about driving the the Volt. Unfortunately neither of us have footage of it, lesigh.