The Good News: Tesla Motors has Now Produced 1,000 Roadsters. This is a Giant Leap for Electric Cars and a Milestone in the Industry. We Commend them for Bringing to Market the First Electric Car that Impresses the Consumer.

The Bad News: For the past 5 Years ElectricCars.com has Been attempting to Review the Tesla Roaster and Test Drive it for an Extended Period. TESLA HAS REFUSED TO EVEN LET US DRIVE THE CAR! Recently, Tesla has Not even Been Returning Our Emails and Phone Calls!

THIS IS A DANGER SIGN!

 

posting rewrite: July 2011

You know I was raised in Cupertino California. I played on the grounds of Hewlett Packard, Intel and saw a little apple company explode. My band practiced off Whipple in R.W.C. I started ElectricCars.com in 1996 when electric vehicles were drawings in Popular Mechanics magazine. I was laughed at by well educated rich kids who argued with about "why gas cars were better" at coffee shops around Stanford and Los Gatos.

When I found out around 2006 a company called Tesla was going to start an electric car business in my home town I was very excited... I called them, emailed them for months... no response. I tried again later with still not even a call back... Hmm...

We had Been in the Electric Car Business for 15 Years at the time of this posting. I knew the EV Manufacturers of the early 2000's tended to get "Big Heads". ( GM Did until 2008 when the begged for money from the public to stay afloat) I had met several execs at these companies who spent hours telling me "they were the one and only"... Corbin, Think, pre bailout GM, Zap etc. I call this the "Only Horse in Town" syndrome... Some Ev makers thinks they are the only electric car maker and they tend to get "e-snobbish".

Tesla had Been Getting So Much Media Attention they Probably Figured "They Didn't Need Some Pip Squeak Electric Something Website". But, wow, I own frikkin ElectriCars.com... if you are selling Air Conditioners, don't piss off the guy who owns AirConditioners.com !!!

 

We saw Tesla Promoting their Car All Over TV, Radio, Car Shows and Magazines, They were taking MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in Investment Money... AND TAKING $25,000 DEPOSITS FROM ELECTRIC CAR CUSTOMERS We felt it was Time to Let Some Real EV Professionals Handle the Car. So we asked to review the car in 2008, 2009. No response.

FLASH TO 2010 TESLA WAS NOW SELLING STOCK... Still no response for reviews. What were they afraid of? They did allow some amateurs to review their cars, and even a couple auto magazines THAT THEY WERE PAYING FOR ADVERTISING. Not real objective.

THEN in 2011 TESLA RECEIVED HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE U.S. STIMULUS FUNDS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES. Despite the cold shoulder treatment we had always promoted the Tesla Roadster fairly. On some level I am sure we helped them in this EV community. But, we came to the conclusion someone at Tesla had something against us.

So, in the good ole American tradition we will forgive and forget... There are now HUNDREDS of electric cars coming to market. The amazing EV's coming online soon from Europe and Asia will give Tesla a run for their money. I feel Tesla made it because they were one of the firsts to come to market... We'll see if they survive in the new competitive world of electric cars.

Oh, and they should have never torn down the Circle star.... "musical Kharma".

 

 

Previous posting from 2009:

CONSIDER THIS BEFORE YOU PURCHASE A TESLA ROADSTER:
So Far, Tesla has Only Allowed EV NOVICES Drive and Review their Cars.

Case in Point AUTOWEEK MAGAZINE. The Writer Admitted it was "The First Electric Car He Ever Drove". He then Went on to make Typical Novice Comments and Observations about the Car: Fast Acceleration, Charge Times, How People Looked at Him on the Road, you know... FLUFF!!!

He Then Commented on How He Changed His Mind about Electric Cars and how "They're Going to Make It"... Really?, What Mind Blowing Forward Thinking!

IS IT POSSIBLE TESLA IS AFRAID TO LET PEOPLE WHO REALLY KNOW ABOUT ELECTRIC CARS DRIVE AND REVIEW THEIR CARS??? ARE THEY THE BAKER WHO DOESN'T LET OTHER BAKERS TASTE THEIR COOKIES?

 


They Gave a Roadster to Tom Hanks... Because He's Funny we Guess?

They Gave a Roadster to George Cluney... Yea, He's a Tech Savvy Guy?

They Let Jay Leno Have One... But He's Got Hundreds of Cars and No Time to Drive It!

They Let the Muscle Car Guy on the Speed Channel Cruise the Roadster for a Day...
He Chased a Deer and Burnt Rubber... That was a Real Technical Review! HA!

We're Pretty Sure Elan Musk has Let Some of his Stanford Buddies Drive it?

Also Let Some People at Starbucks and Fry's take it For a Spin... Bravo!

ALL THESE PEOPLE WERE IMPRESSED WE'RE SURE!

But, Do They Know What a Deep Seated Reverberating "Clunk" in an Electric Motor Means?

Is Jay Leno going to drive the car 210 miles to find the true range per charge?
Tesla's 2009 claim was 200+ miles We heard it's more like 140
which would still be good - for a $50,000 electric car.. not a $108,000 car!

are these celebs going to monitor their electric meters? Do they even know where they are?

Did NASA let Johnny Carson fly a Space Shuttle because he was so dammed popular? no.




WE GET NO RESPECT:

The First Company Who Ignored our Review Request was Corbin Motors, You Know the Turkeys Who Built the "Sparrow". A One seater 70 Mile Per Hour Fiberglass Death Trap. We Met with them at Their Big Fancy 40 Thousand Square Foot Factory in Hollister California in 1998...

They Proceeded to Spend 2 Hours Telling us "How Good their Car Was" and "How they were the Only Car in the Market" and "How They Didn't Need to be on ElectricCars.com" Two Years Later, Corbin Disappeared Allegedly without Refunding a Bunch of People's Deposits... Seems there were Some "Minor Problems" with the Car! Nah, You're Kidding? They Should have Let George Cluney Evaluate Corbin's DC Verses AC Controller Decision!

Chrysler Also tried to Pass Off Some "Minor Issues" with their GEM Car onto Their Customers You Know those $9,000 Glorified Golf Carts In that Case We Heard So Many Complaints from Our Viewers We Requested a Demo Car... Refused (go figure!) So, We Went Out and Bought a GEM... Yup.... We Exposed the Problem and the Problem was Solved in 3 Days. Chrysler Never Let Us Review any of their Cars... Look where They are Today!

Right Now, There are About 25 Highway Speed Electric Cars Coming to Market... We're Going to Review them All... One Way or Another. Being "ElectricCars.com" the Website Most People Type into their Web Browser We tend to Hear all the Positive and Negative Comments...

 

OH YEA, DID WE MENTION TESLA IS GOING TO BE GIVEN
ABOUT $450 MILLION U.S. INCENTIVE TAX DOLLARS
YOU KNOW YOUR MONEY YOU PAID FROM YOUR WAGES

 


Hey Tesla,

We're Still Very Supportive of Your Vehicles. We Want to Show the Public - Our Over 2 Million Viewers - How Great Your Cars are. It's Time to Let EV Professionals Take the Roadster for and Extended Drive and Live with this Car for Months and LET THE PUBLIC REALLY KNOW THE POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF DRIVING A CAR THAT COSTS MORE THAN SOME PEOPLE'S HOMES!

No Ten Minute "Media Test Drives"... We Want the Car in Hand Long Enough to Find the Real Issues.

STRIKE THAT- WE WANT A ROADSTER PERMANENTLY NOW. SORRY, THE HUNDREDTH UNRETURNED MESSAGE WAS IT.


We Want to Drive it Day to Day in Real World Conditions FOR YEARS. Including Snow, Rain, Ice... Our Location is a Perfect Testing Ground. We're in Reno ( Carson City - Car World USA ) - We Have 7,000 Foot Climbs to Tahoe, Intensive Nevada Desert Heat, City, Country and "Ugly" Driving Conditions.

Heck, If the Roadster Makes the Brutal Climb to Virginia City - Passing the Brothels, Silver Mines and Vertical Nine Percent Uphill "Virginia Pass" Motor Killer We'll Honor it for Passing one of the most "God Aweful Road Tests Anywhere ".

We Want to Feel How the Transmission Reacts at 6 am on a 11 Degree Day... Does the Tesla Rattle after Hitting 10,000 Pot Holes?... We're Gonna Find Out! This Aint No "Rich Kid Toy Track" in Sonoma.

This is Not Going to be Some Stupid "Drive it Around and See how Many Girls Smile" Road Test. If the Car is as Good as Tesla is Saying it Is, it Should Perform Well... Right? Oh, and We're not Gonna Have a Flat Bed Trailer Following us "Just in Case"... If it Doesn't Get Us Back Home... Well, Imagine the Photo Ops!!!

If the Car Performs Well, As We Suspect We'll Placard it On our Mainscreen Opening Page (As We've Done FOR FREE FOR YEARS) and Continue to Give it the Worldwide Exposure it Deserves. If it has Issues, We'll Communicate Directly with your Technical Staff as We've Done with other Auto "Giants".


You Actually Came within 5 Miles of Our Location in Reno to "Show Off your Car" a While Back... Guess the 20 People at the Tahoe Art Show were Easier to Impress?

 

We're the Center of the Electric Car World. Constantly on the Phone with All the Major Manufacturers in the U.S.A. China, Europe etc... We've Conveyed Feedback and What the Public Wants, Shaped Car Designs, Contributed to Automakers Marketing Strategies, Influenced Government Officials to Support EV's, Even, Possibly Been Quoted by the Our President on Occasion ( who is Finally "Supporting Electric Car Technologies" )

GETTING NO CALL BACKS FROM AN AUTO MAKER HAS ALWAYS BEEN A DANGER SIGN.

Tesla Owners : Send us the real scoop on owning and driving a $110,000 electric car... We'll make sure the EV world can make educated decisions based on REAL DATA, not Tesla promo.

Customers: Before you Purchase a Tesla We Suggest You Do an Extensive Long Term test Drive Over Several Weeks. Sure Most Electric Cars are Zippy When they are New... BUT MOST ELECTRIC CARS DON'T COST $110,000. And you Can't Judge by Demo Cars at Tesla's Dealers...

 


EITHER WAY. IT'S TIME TO PUT YOUR CAR IN THE ELECTRICCARS.COM SPOTLIGHT
You'll Find Our Phone Number in Your "Ignore File"

 

Hey Fisker, GM, Toyota... You're Next!