Chris Paine's Tesla Roadster arrives in LA
We imagine just about anyone whose heart is still beating would be excited about their Tesla Roadster arriving factory fresh and being mere hours away from pure driving bliss. Perhaps none more so than the filmmaker whose first electric auto, an EV1 that he drove and cherished for 5 years, needlessly met its end in a cruel car crushing catastrophe. Yes, Chris Paine, the man behind the "Who Killed the Electric Car" documentary, will officially be handed the keys to his 4-wheeled silver hotness at Tesla's L.A. showroom on Thursday at noon. It's been two years since his film's producer, Dean Devlin, challenged him to put an order in for one of the cars and despite having only seen 3 seconds of footage of the Roadster at that time, the deal was done. Luckily, Paine wasn't so excited that he couldn't stop to blog on his movie sequel's website "Revenge of the Electric Car" about his plastic-wrapped electric sports car arriving. We suspect once the car is delivered, he may have better things to do for a while. In an interesting turn of events, the man handing over the keys is Bob Sexton, the mechanic who used to rotate the tires on his old EV1.
[Source: Revenge of the Electric Car]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ziv 7:09PM (11/12/2008)
I thought his movie was a classic case of agit-prop, the EV-1 was way too expensive to sell enough to even come close to breaking even with gas prices where they were. Any EV without a range extender is a second car for the vast majority of people. The only mistake GM made was crunching them, but that was a doozie.
He does have good taste, though! That is a hot car... Much better looking than Eberhard's.
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why not the LS2LS7? 8:44PM (11/12/2008)
Agreed. Some of the footage was great to see, but in the end he delivered exactly the message he wanted to deliver, regardless of the facts.
He should find some time to do stuff after he gets the car, as unless you feel like fragging your battery pack, you really need to take at least 3 hours off between drives to recharge it.
Chris M 10:11PM (11/12/2008)
How long it takes to recharge depends on how much charge has been used, and the power available. If he drives less than 65 miles and uses the 240 volt 70 amp charger, it will take less than an hour to recharge.
why not the LS2LS7? 12:28PM (11/13/2008)
Chris M. Read the articles on here, there are various charge rates. The fast recharge rates are to be used sparingly, as they are more wearing on the battery pack. Even the 3 hour rate (same rate you and I quote) isn't supposed to be used every day.
gorr 9:13PM (11/12/2008)
He should make a ride between los angeles to vegas
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ziv 9:42PM (11/12/2008)
Great idea, Gorr. Unfortunately a 278 mile trip to Vegas in a Tesla requires a very long lunch break while your car re-charges, or a tow truck.
Grin.
But I think you know that.
EREV's are the answer for the next 7 or 8 years. Maybe by 2016 BEV's will be good enough to work well without a range extender. Maybe not.
Whatever it takes, we need our cars to be powered primarily by domestically produced electricity asap.
Peak oil is coming, this recession will delay it, but it will be here in a few years.
Kris 11:48AM (12/02/2008)
Electric car transported in a 5 mpg semi truck = irony?
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John Rowell 1:53AM (11/14/2008)
I get solar panels delivered by semi truck too. That's the irony of life. Eventually there will be electric semis, but the few miles in the semi truck are of course far outweighed by the thousands of miles of electric driving the vehicle will experience.
John Rowell 1:55AM (11/14/2008)
Yeah, he definitely has the "Tesla grin" :D lol
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