Nought to 100 in under three seconds
‘‘Put your head against the headrest.’’
It’s a weird request to make of your front-seat passenger, but I do it, bracing myself against the seat. The car takes off. ‘‘Holy-’’ I’m glad of the warning. I’m sitting in the front seat of a Tesla Model S, one of the world’s fastest electric cars. Top speed - 250kmh. Driver Sigurd Magnusson is taking me for a spin and we’ve just gone from nought to 100kmh in 2.8 seconds.
It’s a lot of g-force and a lot of acceleration.
Magnusson has something else to show me.
‘‘You just pull this lever twice,’’ he says. He demonstrates, flicking a lever where your indicator would normally be and takes his hands off the wheel, holding them up. ‘‘See?’’ The car swerves slightly, corrects itself and just like that, we’re driving down State Highway 2 at 100kmh, hands free.
If he wanted to, Magnusson could be browsing the web or sipping a cup of coffee. Considering this is my first time in a driverless car, I’m rather glad he doesn’t. Instead, he flicks the indicator on. The car detects the road markers and smoothly makes a lane change by itself.
Before I know it, Magnusson takes back the wheel and we’ve swung round, heading back to Lower Hutt. My notepad lies
takes a ride in one of the world’s fastest electric cars.
almost forgotten on the seat next to me. ‘‘That was incredible!’’ I say. For what a Tesla is worth, it should be. This particular model sells for more than $120,000. Admittedly, most electric cars don’t have the power or features of the Tesla.
Magnusson doesn’t own the Tesla. He’s babysitting it for Charge Net NZ, using it as part of a drive to promote electric cars.
While we were cruising down the highway, still hands free, Magnusson explained electric car use in New Zealand was on the rise.
‘‘We’ve gone from under 1000 [electric] cars [in New Zealand] to over 2500 in the past 12 months.’’
It’s easy to see why. Electric cars are cheap to run, costing the equivalent of 30c a litre.
Along with a selection of other cars, the Tesla Model S will be at the Petone Fair next weekend.