Electric Car goes 0-60 in 4 seconds

In my infinite boredom yesterday, I stumbled upon this car company based in San Carlos, CA (not too far from where I used to live) called Tesla Motors. So far, they have a roadster in the works that is 100% electric, has a range of 250 miles on a single charge, and goes 0-60 in 4 seconds. [Source: Tesla Motors] But that's exactly what you would expect, being a sister company of Lotus. With amazing design that subtly reminds you of the Lotus Elise, and screams sports car, you would have no clue that it was electric until you started it up. It has a top speed of about 130 mph, and when it's going fast it sounds like a jet engine. It has 240 hp, and only costs a penny per mile to drive. It only has two gears; first gear goes up to about 65 miles per hour, and second takes over from there. There is no reverse gear, instead the motor just spins backward. So, theoretically, you could go 130 mph in reverse. And, if you have the charger installed in your garage, the car is fully charged in about three hours. [Source: CNET Slideshow: Tesla Roadster]

Impressive, huh? The only downside is that it's not cheap; with extreme technological advances in lithium-ion batteries that the company had to develop, as well as the performance parts, it is targeted to cost about $89,000 for the first model, but the company hopes to make enough profits from those sales that it can invest in a cheaper, more family-friendly model that would cost about half that price. [Source: Tesla Motors blog]

Definitely a company to keep your eye on, both for new cars to be released and for investment purposes.