Tesla Roadster vs Shell – The fastest, the furthest and everything in between

June 4, 2009 by admin
Filed under Transportation

Shell fuel helps Ferrari drive 320 km/h on an F1 circuit. But can Shell help a car drive over 3300 km across Europe on just one litre of fuel? Shell’s reputation in Formula 1 precedes them but they don’t just focus on race inspired fuel for performance cars, they also focus on the fuel efficiency market which often stirs up some debate. I know how much I love fast cars but with growing concern over environemntal impacts my conscience often leaves me perplexed about the future of the sportscar market.

In a similar manner, the Tesla Roadster, winner of Time magazine’s ‘Best Inventions of 2006′, is capable of rapid acceleration whilst reaching levels of fuel efficiency once thought to be unobtainable from a high performance car.

The Roadster can travel 244 miles (393 km) on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery pack, and can accelerate from 0–60 mph in 3.9 seconds. The Roadster was developed by Tesla Motors with design help from Lotus Cars in certain areas. Lotus supplied the basic chassis development technology from its Lotus Elise, with which the Tesla engineers designed a new chassis. Barney Hatt at Lotus’s design studio developed the styling with input from Tesla.

Tesla’s designers chose to construct the body panels using resin transfer molded carbon fiber composite to minimize weight; this choice makes the Roadster one of the least expensive cars with an entirely carbon fiber skin. This is an echo of Lotus’s light weight philosophy in car design.

So, will Tesla owners still endure fast car small manhood remarks? Or will the ‘tree-hugging’ approach to fast driving render them immune?

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