Tesla Roadster Sport: Review

Electric cars have recently become popular. Whether the reason for their sudden interest being for environmental conservation, for their cool-factor, or for their power and efficiency, their sales have shot up in the past couple years.

There are many things an electric car can do that a traditional internal combustion engine car can't do as well or at all. First because it is run with batteries, the car is able to get full power to the wheels instantly, while the traditional engine will take a while to run up the power curve. Next, it only costs around $4 to refuel the car, and because you don't need to have oil changes or exhaust work, you save money on typical maintenance. In around four states you can get a %100 waiver on sales, luxury, and use taxes. In many areas you are also able to get free parking, free charging, and the use of special privilege lanes such as carpool.

Unfortunately not everything is positive about how electric cars run and how they are produced. Because batteries weigh so much, you are not able to put that many into the car. Tesla says that with the standard non sport version on the Roadster, you can get a 288 mile range, but it has a more tested range of closer to 100 miles. This means that you will have to recharge more often, and with recharging stations being few and far apart in some areas careful planning of each trip will be needed. Also, not only will you charges be frequent, they will take close to 30 hours with 120V power or 8+ hours with 240 industrial power. To add onto your refueling costs, you must add the cost of battery replacement. Every seven years the batteries require to be switched out for a fresh new pair, so if you want to own your car for more than seven years,you can say goodbye to $36,000 dollars per battery change. The next thing to remember is your environmental effect. You have to remember where batteries come from, battery factories. Battery factories are possibly the worst kind of factory for the environment that we have in modern day cities.

Yes, Teslas are not only cool, but an interesting advance in technology, but unfortunately once you look past the surface, you find out they are also harmful to both the environment and your pocket.