Electric car firm Tesla a winner

Electric sports car maker sells out its first round of cars
August 15, 2006 11:35 AM PDT

Will people $100,000 to plunk down on an electric sports car? Yes, says Tesla Motors.
Tesla, which has created an all-electric sports car, has already booked deposits for its first 100 cars, according to Martin Eberhard, Tesla's CEO. The $100,000 deposits guarantee that the buyers will get the cars, which will come out next year.
"All 100 are gone," he said.

The company unveiled its Tesla Roadster on July 19 in a glitzy event in Santa Monica. At the time, around 37 people had already plunked down deposits. Many early buyers, such as Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Ebay co-founder Jeff Skoll, are investors in Tesla. So far, only a few cars have been fully completed.

The Tesla Roadster goes from zero to sixty in about four seconds, about as fast as a Ferrari. But, unlike a Ferrari, it doesn't make a vrooming noise or smell like gas. It sort of makes an eerie hum, like those cars in the 70s cult classic Death Race 2000.

They are fun to ride in. See the video here.

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From the excellent Cnet News ** = TG