Menlo Park City Council members already brimming with excitement about Tesla Motors setting up a showroom on El Camino Real got a chance to ride in the automaker’s trendy all-electric Roadster sports car last week.
The reviews were extremely positive.
“I want one. I could get used to this,” said Mayor Kelly Fergusson, after stepping out of the passenger’s seat of one the Redwood City-based automaker’s 20 prototype cars. “The acceleration is exhilarating, no question.”
Tesla is planning to build a showroom at 300 El Camino Real, the site of the old Chevrolet dealership adjacent to the Stanford Park Hotel. Cars will be sold and serviced at the site, and the showroom could open as early as March 1, 2008, said John Hamilton, a Tesla spokesperson.
Mayor Fergusson, council members John Boyle and Andy Cohen, and an Almanac reporter got brief rides in a Roadster as part of a Nov. 30 presentation by Tesla at the future showroom site.
“It’s simultaneously a really neat and weird experience, because you’re moving, but you don’t hear anything,” said Councilman Boyle, noting the absence of engine noise while riding in the $100,000 car.
“You don’t need to have the roar of the engine to really have power,” Mr. Hamilton said. “This car is about no longer depending on a single source of energy.”
The Roadster runs entirely on a rechargeable battery, which creates no emissions, and “instant acceleration,” Mr. Hamilton said. The car can travel from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds, and can hit top speeds of 125 mph, he said.
The battery takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes to charge using the 220V home charger, and the car can travel for about 245 miles on a single charge, according to Tesla.
Roadsters are scheduled to hit the road early next year, but Mr. Hamilton said the cars will be in such high demand and low supply, that Tesla likely won’t have any extra cars to put on display in Menlo Park.
“We’re going to get 600 cars out next year to the people who have already ordered them,” he said. “After that, we still have a waiting list of 174 people to get to. If all the cars are getting sold, a showroom with no cars is a good problem to have.”
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