TESLA MODEL S: REALLY BRILLIANT OR REALLY DUMB? IT DEPENDS ON WHAT WAS WANTED

摘要

LET'S GET ONE THING clear at the beginning. The Tesla Model S sedan is an extremely radical vehicle, even if it doesn't particularly look like it. It is one of only two specifically designed battery-electric cars on the market today and the only one created from the ground up as an electric, as the Leaf uses many existing Nissan components under its unique skin. To me, silly little pods like the Renault Twizy and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV don't count as cars. The Chevrolet Volt, brilliant as it is, supplements the battery pack with a petroleum-fueled engine, as does the Fisker Karma. In my view, cars that have been designed first as internal-combustion vehicles and then retrofitted with batteries - Ford, Honda, et al. - are not true electric cars. They are attempts to pander to the current Zeitgeist.