IT’S red, accelerates from zero to 100km/h in less than four seconds and has a range of 360 kilometres — but uses no petrol.
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The Tesla Motors Roadster, worth more than $200,000, pulled into Albury yesterday on its way from Melbourne to Port Douglas.
The Oz Goes Electric Tour is aimed at increasing electric car awareness and demonstrating the Roadster has the range to tackle the three-week, 3000-kilometre trip.
“Our car was built purely on the sports car premise, it’s got a very, very fast acceleration time and a long range,” Tesla national sales and marketing manager Jay McCormack said.
“It doesn’t present as an electric car, it presents purely as a sports car.”
The vehicle turned heads in Albury yesterday, but you won’t hear it coming.
The Roadster is almost completely silent and Mr McCormack likened driving it to the feeling you get when riding a roller coaster.
“It’s unlike any other experience, the feeling you get inside is like a roller coaster,” he said.
“I spent four hours in Wangaratta and I was a bit hoarse at the end, there were people right, left and centre.”
The handmade, carbon-fibre Roadster costs just $9 to fully charge, and can be charged from a regular power point.
“This trip will cost us approximately $170, if you drove a petrol car that far it would be six times that amount,” he said.
When completely flat, the Roadster batteries take about 15 hours to fully recharge from a regular power point.
That time can be slashed to six hours at a specialised charge station, available for private purchase and already at some Australian hotels.
The vehicle launched in Australia in January.
“It’s not just specifically an electric vehicle for our clients, that’s one very important part but the other is being able to go faster than most super cars in the world, but have zero emissions and be in control of the way they fuel their car,” Mr McCormack said.
“Regardless of where you are with an electric vehicle there are always avenues to charge your car.”
Mr McCormack said the Tesla had more than three times the range of other electric cars on the Australian market.