Four Teslas under the Christmas tree sounds like a gearhead's episode of Sesame Street, but it's just what we've found on YouTube. Grapevine murmurings and viral video of Roadsters hitting the dragstrip are emerging online, even though it seems like only yesterday when the balls-to-the-wall EV went into production.
James Morrison of Seattle owns a Roadster Sport that's done the quarter mile in under 13 seconds. He tells Wired.com that owning an EV capable of zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds means "you can go green and electric and still have a hell of a lot of fun. You don’t need to drive a punishment car."
Then again, the $109,000 price tag may have some begging to differ.
Morrison, owner of one of the four Teslas featured in drag-race videos posted at Tesla Motor Club, recounted the experience of Tesla Motors "busting their butts" to deliver his Roadster Sport – the higher-performance model of the pioneering EV – on a tight schedule. Impressively, Morrison's Tesla was delivered on a Thursday night, then driven 180 miles from Seattle to Portland, Oregon. Morrison hit the strip at the Wayland Invitational EV drag races within 21 hours of receiving his car. Yes, that's the same Wayland known for "White Zombie," the 1972 Datsun EV laying down 11.4-second quarter-mile runs.
Morrison's bone-stock Roadster Sport currently holds the quarter-mile Tesla record of an astonishing 12.643 seconds at 102.89 mph.
The Roadster has an ideal range of about 240 miles. When toggled into "Performance" mode, the Tesla allows for a more spirited, less efficient driving style that lends itself quite well to the strip. Even with the pedal to the metal, a drag run equates to only four to five "ideal range miles” or about 1 kilowatt-hour, Morrison says. That's a steal considering the one- to two-gallon consumption of a gas-powered hot rod. To put that into dollars and cents, quite literally, that equates to eight to 16 cents for one Tesla run versus $5 to $26 for a fossil-fueled run.
Morrison is an avid member of Tesla Motors Club and keeps tabs on drag-racing EVs (with more videos) at Peak Oil Garage. He is also founder and owner of EV Components, an online destination for the EV tinkerer.
Photo: Scott Ferguson. See more from the track here.
