I saw a Tesla Roadster on the road!

I saw one yesterday near Palo Alto too! It was that orange color. It was zipping along like mad. Actually if it wasn't a Tesla, I probably would have been annoyed at the driver's driving style. I thought maybe it was just having fun as it tore down the exit ramp but then turns out, the guy just made a mistake and got off on the wrong exit.

This weekend, when I went over to the Tesla showroom in Menlo Park, CA to check out the Tesla Model S, there were actually a TON of Roadsters around.  Now, it doesn't really count as being on the road, but it was pretty cool.  There were a good 35-40 or so, I'd say, including Martin Eberhard's.

 

 

Now THAT is a sweet picture.

Ooooh nice.  I like the green ones

I was driving south on highway 280 last weekend (in the SF Bay Area) and got to follow a beautiful Tesla for quite a number of miles actually until he (the driver...who actually I noticed was breaking California law by talking on his cell phone without a headset) got off the highway.  It wasn't Martin Eberhard's car (which is custom painted a light grey with two orange racing stripes...which you can see here) but it was similarly styled.  It was black with red (well...maybe more of a maroon) racing stripes.

 

Luckily my boyfriend was driving and I had my camera on hand.  I wasn't really bold enough to take a full on side photo when we were driving next to it...but here are two that I got:

 

 

 

I've been doing a little sleuthing into who the car belongs to.  Here's one picture I found in the Tesla Motors Club forum with a sign saying it's a customer car...

 

And according to the Tesla Founder's blog (or rather the comments section of one of the posts), Martin said, "When I had my car in for service, I saw another Founders Series car (sold to one of Tesla’s investors) with stripes - this one black with red stripes. Frankly, mine looks better  I am quite amused to see Tesla’s investors copying my striping pattern though."

 

Just for kicks....here's Martin's for a comparison:

 

 

I have to admit, I do like the stripes!  I'm not sure which I like better though.  The gray/orange or the black/red.

 

I like Martin's but that black and red one is pretty sweet for sure.

 

I saw a Tesla on the road the other day and took a janky photo on my cell phone. It was a green one. This one had the carpool stickers on it too:

 

Here's another Tesla Roadster I saw last week Thursday (probably pretty near the section of the road Deej saw the green one on....I think maybe two exits before where Deej was):

 

 

I was driving down 280 toward Palo Alto.  Both myself and the Tesla (female driver) got off on Alpine Road.  She headed up toward Portola Valley.

Well geez, apparently highway 280 is a Tesla hotspot!

Saw a Lotus elise last night.  At first I thought it might be a Tesla but I pulled up behind it and it was just an Elise. I did see an orange Tesla in Palo Alto the other day. Can't wait to start seeing the Model S around.

Honestly...I'm not totally sure I like the Lotus.  I know the Tesla was based on the Lotus Elise.  And perhaps it could be because I know what's under the hood but I just much prefer the way the Tesla looks.  The Elise is a little bug-like for me.  Or kind of like a Transformer....

In any case, one more Tesla but this time driving north on 280.  It's really quite the hotspot for these puppies:

I watched a new commercial for the TNT show Leverage and at the end Timothy Hutton jumps into a red Telsa Roadster and drives off. The only they did wrong was include the sound effects for a race car taking off. They should have used silence instead. :) 

I tried to find the video online of the commercial but couldn't.

Parker

In August 2009 Motor Trend has an article "Smart Move; Daimler buys 10% of Tesla""  Interesting - maybe a Teslart  

Ok, so it's not a Tesla Roadster and it does 0 to 60 in 7 seconds instead of 4, but it's soft whine is just as fine. I just had to stick this in as a reality check for those earning under $16,000 per year (bookmark this posting for when you lose your job, hotshot!). This is our 1979 Porsche 924 converted to run on batteries. We used sealed lead-acid gels purchased off-the-shelf locally. The range is only 50 miles at 55mph, but that goes up to 103 miles if we average 30 mph and down to 15 miles at 90 mph. Good enough for commuting around here. The total cost was under $10,000. It charges from the solar panels you see in our icon, or from grid power if we're away from home. If we want to travel further or with more than a 450 lb. load, we use our recycled 2001 Prius. If we travel less than 30 miles round-trip, and the weather is nice, we use our electric/human hybrid trikes with trailers for up to 150 lbs. load.

 The Mercedes Gull Wing coming back? Autopia link http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/mercedes-confirms-electric-gullwing/

Not all that powerful - only 4 seconds zero to 60 with 525 hp (392 kW)

Be fun to see the new version and even more fun to drive.

No mention on cost yet - seems to be looking like 2015 delivery dates.

Okay, so maybe not practical for very many people...but it sure is a nice looking car.  I was walking in San Francisco the other day and saw this one on the street.

I like the license plate!

Such an awesome car - and what an inspiring story of a company that will likely have such an impact in the future! 

My wife & I saw a Tesla about a month ago, going into Rehoboth Beach Delaware. What caught my eye was the rear bodywork wasn't latched and was out of alignment. I tried to get up next to the guy to tell him, (hoping he would pull over to fix it, and I would have helped, of course), but traffic didn't allow that to happen. It was a Silver color. Nice!

Yeah, one of my customers drove up in his Tesla. That is one sweet little car. But I want an electric sport bike.

There are 3 Teslas (Orange, Navy, and Red) and 2 Lotuses (Green and another one I forget) in the area.

Does that bike exist?  Looks a little like the Electric Motorsport GPR-S.

Wow, that's a number in your area. Very cool. I have to say, even though the Tesla body is based on the Lotus Elise, there's something about the Lotus I don't like.