Electric Horseman

    “Make sure you take a long extension

 cord,” was the typical advice given to me

 by petrol-head mates when told I was

 driving the very first Tesla, delivered to a

 customer, for road use in Australia.  “You

 should be right, you’ve driven a golf

 buggy.”

     Those perceptions of electric vehicles

  are commonplace, even among

  enthusiasts, yet there I was pinned into

  the seatback of the Tesla Roadster

  Sport in a manner not experienced since

  testing the Porsche GT2. Nothing

  prepares you for the first rush of full

  acceleration from the Tesla.  It sits in

  complete silence, you start to floor the

  accelerator, but before it even reaches

  maximum travel you’re launched down

  the road as if from a giant slingshot. 

  0-100 km/h takes 3.7 seconds and the

  only sound accompanying you is a slight Batmobile whirring and some wind and tyre noise.  It is quite simply astonishing.  And incredibly addictive.