Tesla killed my electric car....

Tell that to my 95lb wife!

I see many reviews that all say it handles poorly. They all say it's too heavy in the middle and tends to greatly oversteer. Did you do any research before making that statement? Did you see the heavily disputed Top Gear episode?

I think you are misinformed. Tesla is NOT behind in deliveries. They have a glut of vehicles at their dealerships. The only reason mine was ordered was b/c it had a special non-leather interior. You can walk in and drive one out today. Call them at 1.650.681.5100
and ask for their available inventory. The backlog is long since cleared out and they are needing to sell more cars. You can own one today if you want, and I wish you would! It is a LOT of fun to drive.

Really? Have you any references on this? Sounds great I just hope this is true. It would be the perfect circle and exactly what is needed.

 

Daniel I really wish that was correct but I don't think it is. According to Air Transport World (www.atwonline.com) the air freight network is so fluid that it immediately adjusts to changes in capacity needs. That was the point of the spoke-and-hub system which goes for both human-transport and cargo-transport. Also aircraft are not loaded with fuel until they know their takeoff weight.

These are not special airplanes only used to transport cars, they are regular cargo flights that - if there was not enough capacity - would not take off. To calculate the overall GHG savings, you'd need to take every Roadster produced and add them all together, then see how many flights you could have saved if they had all gone via sea.

Cargo flights are cancelled quite regularly if there isn't enough capacity. It isn't like a commercial flight where positioning is key. You can re-route parcels easily through various transit points. They don't get upset like a person would about being re-routed.

If you have data to show otherwise please post it. I would LOVE to be wrong on this. I have gone to extreme lengths to reduce air shipping where I work to a minimum. We reduced it ~80% over the past 3 years and I am proud of that.

 

Thank you for discussing this with me. I am very much enjoying and appreciating your point of view. I'd like to hypothesize one thing though - now that the point "electric cars can be cool" point has been proven, would the responsible consumer action be to wait for Tesla to make an eco-friendly vehicle and purchase that one, rather than contributing a possible 20,000lbs of GHG to our ecosystem by purchasing the current model?


Something to ponder.

 

You're arguing in an emotional manner when the rest of us on this post are actually engaging in conversation. In your original post you said "You are the only person or reviewer I have ever heard who said the handing was poor, yet alone very poor. The suspension is designed by Lotus!". Then when I questioned if you researched that claim, you replied back as above but you didn't say anything to support your assertion that I am the only person or reviewer you have ever (ever is a very strong word) heard who said the handling was poor.

Yes the Telsa is essentially a Lotus Elise with an electric engine so naturally the suspension is designed and built by Lotus. I have driven both and can say with confidence that the Elise handled much much better. I spent a day in a 2010 Roadster Sport and pushed it to it's limit (not on public roads). It understeered, dramatically so at it's limit.

I cited for you the "infamous" top gear episode

Now, remember that Tesla really dislikes calling their car "an Electric Lotus" and told me many times how different the two cars are. In reality though they are sisters.

Auto Rivals | 2010 Tesla Roadster vs 2010 Lotus Elise

Look how similar the two cars are in appearance, components and layout. If you are going to compare the Tesla Roadster to another "supercar" you should compare it to it's sister, the older Elise. The Elise cost around half (depending on how you equip both cars) - but remember that the actual sister Elise is no longer produced due to side airbag issues (it didn't meet the new DOT safety requirements and was updated, neither does the Tesla which is being sold under a waiver http://www.hybridcars.com/news/airbag-waiver-keeps-tesla-roadster-alive.html).

Anyway there are lots and lots of articles about the Tesla understeering. Some are written by very off-topic people such as this one Tesla Death Watch 30: "Violent Understeer" | The Truth About Cars

But others are more on-topic such as

"Cornering can also be dramatic in the Roadster Sport, but for the wrong reasons. Unlike Lotus cars using the same body and chassis, the Tesla Roadster Sport has a big, heavy battery pack sitting behind the passenger compartment, changing the weight distribution. During our short time with the car, we didn't get to test it thoroughly, but there seemed to be quite a bit of understeer

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/convertible/2010-tesla-roadster-sport/4505-10870_7-33857809.html#ixzz19EQKlAPm "

But the best reviews are written by people who own or regularly drive Teslas and even post their handling concerns on the Tesla chat site:​

Tesla handling fundamentals ​

Here is my advice based on experience with the Roadster and track driving in general:
​

In comparing the Tesla Roadster or Roadster Sport to other sports cars there are some basic fundamentals that define the handling characteristics of the Tesla that trace their roots back to a single thing: the Tesla is based on one of the most finely tuned/balanced chassis in the world but then adds about 800 pounds toward the back.​

As a result, you have a few things that you really can't get around. ​

1) The brakes, which are the same as the Elise/Exige, were designed to stop a car that was 30% lighter. As a result you will have a harder time stopping in high-speed stuff and the brakes will fade more etc. etc. ​

One might then conclude that the best after market mod would be a big brake kit for the Roadster, but there are some problems with this: most importantly, braking is ultimately limited by the traction available in your front tires, and the front tires are very narrow. In the case of the porsche comparo, the Roadster Sport has 195mm wide tires and the Porsche's are 20% wider at 235. The problem is worse if you don't have the sports package and your front tires are 175mm wide. Bigger brakes certainly wont help with the standard setup. They might do something with the added grip of the 195mm AO48s (I never drove that particular setup) but the other problem is that the front wheels of the Tesla are 16" in diameter so there isn't much room for bigger rotors/calipers.​

2) The lack of grip/contact patch in the front, combined with the weight in the rear, leads to a significant tendency to understeer (and the oversteer) in various situations. This is directly related to the above paragraph, and the only thing you can do about the understeer is put the wider, grippier AO48s up front, use the adjustable swaybars to tune out the understeer (I believe you should use the softer setting up front and stiffer in the rear but you should consult a tuner familiar with lotus chassis), and use camber adjusters. Camber shouldn't mess with efficiency (toe does) but dialing in camber will cause more wear in the inside track of the tire under normal driving which may cause you to replace the tires more frequently. Once you get the understeer under control be careful about oversteer!​

Still, all of these tweaks will help things but they cant overcome the basic imbalance of car's setup. The Tesla will not handle as well as top sports cars but will try to make it up with the great acceleration.​

Still, I would strongly recommend that anyone who likes to drive aggressively on the streets or on twisties (like Dr. Taras) should upgrade to the sports suspension and run the wider AO48s. The standard roadster is a bit scary at the limits!​

(PS - the other reason the Tesla will not shellac ICE sportscars on racetrack comparos is that acceleration drops off notably after 60/70 mph. So the more long sections of the track, the more the Tesla will be at a disadvantage. Tesla's should compare well at tracks like Infineon but compare more poorly at fast tracks like Laguna Seca. The undersized brakes will compound this problem)
​

Comparison: 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport vs 2011 Porsche Boxster

Or this owner:​

The rear weight bias will mean the rear will be twitchy near the limit. I'm guessing that's why Tesla ships with some rather extreme understeer. Frankly, I found the understeer as it comes from the factory so extreme that I actually consider it unsafe, at least for the way I drive the car. I have enough track experience to be able to balance the oversteer if it starts to come on. At least I think so. I've been told by a Tesla rep that the extreme torque of the electric drive, if driven with TC turned off, can induce sudden rear wheel spin and near instant oversteer (spin out). With the sway bar change, this danger will be increased. I'll play with this in a safe place to see what I experience.​

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/3441-Adjusting-the-adjustable-suspension​

I hope you will reconsider your original assertion and when comparing the Roadster to other "Supercars" please start with it's now retired beautiful sister As someone who has driven both I can say how the two performed in contrast to each other.​

Which one would I rather own? The Telsa of course which is why I ordered one in the first place. The fun-aspect of the electric motor was amazing and I hope you will have a chance to experience the acceleration-joy soon.​

 

Daniel I really enjoy your points, you are very knowledgeable and I again commend you for actions. I wanted the Tesla because I thought it was more eco friendly than it actually is, and because it is so much fun to drive. There were other reasons too, but the more I learned the more I realized it wasn't what I thought it was. I still was going to buy it, but now I feel releif that I didn't.

When I was talking about the large carbon imprint of the Telsa, I didn't take into account their European or overseas deliveries. Since those Roadsters are flown in from the UK, then perhaps flown back to the UK (or other destinations) for delivery, the imprint is much higher than I first stated. I will cross my fingers and hope that they aren't flying these Roadsters all around the globe

 

You bring up some very valid points. The one about the 0-60 time though is where I feel differently. A car shouldn't just be judged on one particular trait. If we focused on top speed then the 120mph limit would make the Tesla on par or lower than the new Honda hybrid sports cars. If we focused on handling other cars would win etc.. 0-60 is important but so is top speed, braking and handling when it comes to judging a sports car.

Otherwise I completely agree with you. However Lotus says they only air-ship their "time sensitive" deliveries unlike Tesla. So if you bought a sea-shipped 2011 Lotus (which they also say is now 16% more eco than last year), and then donated $50-70k to Carbonfund.org you'd have a heck of a car and be incredibly carbon positive for eternity Hope you understand that this is supposed to be humorous not something I actually think is a realistic action.

 

Yes it would be if the Roadster wasn't flown over using thousands of gallons of foreign oil. Is Lithium from South America?

We could just be trading one dependency for another. Ideally we need a new battery technology that can be made using domestic materials.

 

I made a suggestion to Elon Musk today, I think it is a viable way to solve the carbon creation concerns of the Roadster:

Thank you for taking the time to email me. I am sorry that things didn’t work out and I wish you nothing but success with your Tesla venture. I hope you don’t mind me making one suggestion though. Even if it is the same cost to send the vehicles by air from England as it is for Sea, it would be much more “eco-friendly” to send them by Sea. If your concern is delivery dates you could offer the customer two choices;

a) Express air delivery of your vehicle
b) Eco-delivery of your vehicle (takes an extra 30-45 days)

This way the consumer would have the choice, and it could help increase their overall satisfaction. Even if most people select option A, it moves the carbon-creation of that choice to them rather than having it be part of your company’s carbon creation.