It's a time-honored formula: a sports sedan in the $50,000 range that can hit 60 mph in less than six seconds is a sweet spot for automakers. The BMW 5 Series, the Mercedes E Class, the Lexus GS430, and the Acura RL all play in this range, for example. But none of them are particularly green vehicles. Usually they struggle to average 20 miles per gallon, especially when a lot of city driving is involved.

If we're talking about an all-electric car like the Tesla Model S, though, that changes things. And as we found out last night at a private company event held in NYC (pictured), the car really works--even if its scheduled production date, some two and a half years away, seems frustratingly remote.




For the uninitiated, here's the back story: The 2012 Tesla Model S will be the American startup automaker's second car after the Tesla Roadster. The Model S is a plug-in electric vehicle like the Roadster, but it will cost just $49,900 (after federal tax credit). That's less than half of the $109,000 that Tesla charges for the two-seater. That's also assuming that the company can hold the line on pricing, which is a big if (more on that later). Tesla plans to build 20,000 in the first year, a huge jump over the thousand-odd Roadsters the company will have produced by the end of 2009.

Still, some may complain--as they first did with the Roadster--that the Model S will be another expensive toy that won't do much for the environment in such limited numbers. But they're missing the point. The same complaint that can be levied against all new automotive technologies, including the limited-production Honda FCX Clarity, the (hopefully) upcoming Chevy Volt, or any car with pricing north of a mainstream Toyota Prius or Honda Insight.

Keep in mind that there are two things at work here. First, there's a market for luxury cars in this price range. According to those buyers, the Model S could be a real deal given its style, amenities, and performance. The other thing is that as automakers begin to produce these cars en masse, they'll develop ways to bring the price point down further into the mainstream, much as how even garden-variety Honda Civics and Mazda 3s offer navigation systems and Bluetooth options that used to be the province of Lexus and Mercedes.

Getting back to the Model S, Tesla plans to sell the car with three battery pack choices. Each one will be more expensive than the last, with ranges of 165, 230, and 300 miles, respectively. Performance-wise, Tesla claims a 0-60 time of 5.6 seconds and top speed of 125 mph for the Model S. The company also specifies that the car will have the (somewhat dubious, given the low roofline) ability to seat seven passengers. In addition, the company already has over 700 pre-orders as of April 13th.

I'm pleased to report that if those customers get the same car I went for a ride in last night, they'll be thrilled with their purchase--assuming the company holds true to its other promises as well.



From the outside, no one will call the Model S pedestrian. Seeing one up close shows just how striking the car's sensuous lines are. The Aston Martin and Jaguar influence was unmistakable. If you squint, the Model S could also be a large Dodge sedan, or maybe what the elegant, final-generation Mazda 929 would have looked like today if it were still around. Either way, it's a very sharp looking car. That was true even under the brutal fluorescent lighting found in an indoor parking lot at Chelsea Piers by the Hudson River in Manhattan--Tesla's little secret proving ground for a night.

Inside, the 17-inch display in the center console dominates the view. It's almost double the size of just about every other navigation system screen on the market. The flagship BMW 7 Series, for example, was just redesigned for 2009 and starts at $80,300, but even that car sports a 10.2-inch LCD. In Tesla's case, the expansive screen displays a large Google Maps-style road view, plus numerous controls underneath toward the bottom of the display for ventilation, the stereo, and probably a Windows 7 console window if the company wanted. At launch time, the car will come preloaded with Google Maps, Pandora Radio, and full cellular broadband access.

Beyond that, there was plenty of room for four. However, I have my doubts about the seven-passenger bit. The fold-down seat looks to provide expansive storage and a flat load floor. I don't doubt Tesla's claim that you can fit a 50-inch plasma TV in there, although you'll only be able to carry one passenger at the same time. But given the car's swoopy roofline, any people riding in the third, rear-facing rumble seat should probably be somewhere south of nine years old--and a person relegated to the middle of the rear bench should also be of similar stature, at the very least.

But what's the thing like to ride in? Keep in mind that this was a quick--though flat-out--ride around a parking lot, so there is only so much we could decipher. At idle, the car is almost dead silent, as to be expected of an electric vehicle. It seemed to have a pretty wide turning circle, but it's also a fairly big car, so that was also unsurprising.

Based on a seat-of-the-pants evaluation, the manufacturer's quoted 5.6-second 0-60 time is credible. Think BMW 335d monster torque and steamroller delivery off the line, more than Maserati high-end surge. There's no question the Model S is fast. Plus, my ride was after over an hour of delivering similar gut-wrenching maneuvers in front of the press pool by various employees. The old, dreaded fear common to electric-powered vehicles--that performance will deteriorate as the battery depletes, rather than staying at 100 percent all the way to the end--seems to be MIA, at least in this example.



For comparison purposes (of course), I also went for a ride in a candy-apple-red production Tesla Roadster. While the Model S feels like a proper near-luxury sedan--maybe something Acura or maybe Jaguar would produce if they suddenly developed a fetish for incredibly large LCD panels--the Tesla Roadster is an all-out sports car due to its Lotus Elise-inspired underpinnings.

Here's one big clue the Roadster is a purebred: I fell in it. Vaulting my leg over the almost-a-foot-tall floor sill brought me back to hard-riding 1980s Corvettes in a flash. Then I landed in the seat with a thump hard enough to take the wind out of me momentarily. Once inside--and recovering--I was basically sitting on the pavement, looking out over the fenders in a Formula Vee racecar view of the road. If you have a passenger, I hope you like her--she'll be very close, indeed.

At speed, the Model S sedan was quick, with addictive thrust and near-silent operation. The Roadster, on the other hand, was brutal. That's actually the wrong word for it, because the car is so quiet--like an overgrown R/C car in terms of sound, especially with its two-speed, CVT-style acceleration. Yet when you stab on the go pedal, the car pins you to the passenger seat and holds you there. There's no sitting up in defiance of the immense thrust. 3.8 seconds to 60 mph will do that sort of thing to you.



Tesla has hit numerous snags over the past several years, including several CEO changes, problems with early transmissions, and pricing changes even for customers who already put down a deposit. But if these two cars are any indication, the company's outlook is bright.

If Tesla can continue to pump out Roadsters, bring the Model S to a production line virtually as is, and not play any more games with customer deposits and pricing adjustments, they could revolutionize the auto industry. That last point is key, given the pricing kerfuffle Tesla foisted on its customers with the Roadster. And if you ask us, the Model S's projected base price of $57,400 (minus the $7,500 tax credit) sounds awfully optimistic for a car of this caliber.

Even so, these aren't just vehicles for green tech fans, as if they were soft-riding Prius-copies with more horsepower and a recycling icon on the rear fender. While I'll reserve judgment on the Model S's handling prowess for once I get behind the wheel, the car is the real deal. Any auto enthusiast worth his blood and Bullit fetish could get addicted to either Tesla in a flash--and that's without using a single drop of gasoline or diesel. If this is the alternative-fueled future, sign me up.