Swiftlydoesit

The world’s first zero-emissions sports car has arrived

May 16th, 2008

The rising price of fuel seems to have given car producers a kick up the backside as they are all now eager to exploit this and launch new electric cars. Nissan announced this week that they plan to have electric cars available for sale in America and Japan by 2010.

Hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius are already well established in the UK now. The Prius was first introduced to the Japanese market in 1997 and was the first mass produced hybrid vehicle. In 2001 it was launched in Europe and has become a popular car to those more environmentally friendly drivers. As well as being kinder to the environment, hybrid cars are cheaper to tax and receive dicounted car insurance with most insurance companies. The three major problems that I can see with hybrid cars is that they aren’t all that eye catching, they are expensive for the car that you get and of course they still use petrol.

A solution to these problems appears to lie in a new electric car, the Tesla Roadster. The man behind this is Elon Musk, who founded PayPal in 1999 and sold it to eBay for $1.5 billion at the age of 31. The Tesla Roadster does 0-60 in just under four seconds, enough to rival any sports car and it looks great too, not surprising as it has been based on the Lotus Elise. It is in huge demand in the states with movie stars like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon being among the first to order the £45,000 car.

It is powered by 6,831 lithium-ion batteries - reported by Sky News as being the equivalent of almost 7,000 mobile phone batteries. It’s battery has a lifespan of 100,000 miles it can do up to 200 miles at a time and takes just 3 hours to charge up. This is considerably better than the lead-acid batteries which have been used previously in eco-cars which have a lifespan of only 3 years, cost £1,300 to replace and take 8 hours to fully charge. From the reviews that I have read it is wonderfully quiet, great to handle and, at 1p a mile, it is very economical too.

And the designers haven’t just stopped there. As well as being kinder on the environment when being driven, all its component parts can be recycled or reconditioned - how clever is that!

I can honestly see this design taking off in the future. At £45,000 it is still expensive for the average person but if the government backs the mass manufacture I am sure that this price will gradually come down as technologies advance. I for one would love to be doing my bit for the environment but in style.

Entry Filed under: green issues, cars