Who said the electric car is dead?

Whoever it was is sadly mistaken.
Ladies and gentlemen, after years of uncertainty, waiting lists and deposits, the dream might actually become a reality.
The first time I laid eyes on this machine was at its debut car show, the 2006 San Francisco International Auto Show. When I stepped off the escalator, my jaw dropped, and that was even before I knew what exactly I was looking at.
It was an electric car for people who care about more than the environment.
The Tesla roadster has an electric powertrain, which is an electric motor moved by a battery.
The battery is made up of lithium-ion cells measuring about 16mm wide and 65mm long. That might not sound very big, but imagine 6,831 of those cells, that's what the Tesla roadster is packing.
The batteries power an electric 3 phase, 4 pole AC induction motor, which can spin at about 13,000 RPM. It produces roughly 248 horsepower (or 185 kW) and can reach its top torque at any RPM.
According to the manufacturer, Tesla Motors, the roadster can go 0-60 mph in less than 4 seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph.
I asked to test drive a roadster, but apparently the Daily Forty-Niner isn't important enough for the guys at Tesla Motors, so I don't have my own recorded numbers to give you, but I can tell what some other people found.
Car and Driver claimed that on a slightly wet road, it took the Tesla from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds.
Motortrend did it in 4 seconds flat.
I'll never know what I would have gotten, but I like to think I could do it in 4 seconds or less.
The roadster is based on the Lotus Elise and even built in the same factory in England. It has a mid-rear engine with rear wheel drive.
The transmission is sequential. For those of you who don't know what that means, it's an electronic clutch (so there's no actual clutch pedal on the floor) and you either shift up or down. You can't choose the gear you want to go in to, you can only move up or down one at a time, usually using paddles behind the steering wheel.
Though people have been putting their names on waiting lists for years, production of the roadster is finally supposed to begin in March. Let's hope there aren't any more delays.
The roadster is priced at about $98,000, but think of what you'll save in gas.
In case you're wondering why it's called a Tesla roadster, or Tesla Motors, read the history books. The company is named for the Serbian electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, inventor and physicist Nikola Tesla.

Photo courtesy of http://flickr.com/photos/fogcat5/255000227/.
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