Tag Archives: electric cars

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Tesla Roadster Sets Distance Record: 347.2 Miles On One Charge

On (and on, and on) The Road

The owner of an all-electric Tesla Roadster from Texas has set a new record for distance traveled on a single battery charge: 347.2 miles.

The GPS log of the trip, completed on a closed circuit in California last week, has been posted as proof, but Tesla Motors hasn’t officially verified the new record.

The record is for a production vehicle — no extra batteries or special modifications allowed. The roadster is special in one way; it was the 1000th car to roll off the Tesla assembly line. (Hence its license plate: VIN1K.)

The car, which can reach 120 mph, didn’t set any speed records on this journey. The two-person driving team maintained a nearly constant speed of 25 mph. (That may have been the hardest part of this achievement- resisting the impulse to floor it.)

Tesla Motors puts the official range for the roadster at 244 miles on a single charge.

(Photo credit: TylerVault Co.)

To see more photos of the trip, and a map of the closed course, click here.

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What Does a Climate Scientist Drive?

Mark Jacobson's all-electric Tesla roadster


If you’re Mark Jacobson, director of Stanford University’s Atmosphere/Energy Program, you drive an all-electric, cherry-red Tesla roadster, with a license plate proclaiming “GHG FREE.” (GHG = Green House Gases)

Solar power, Charge!

“Note that the license plate is a little exaggerated,” Jacobson wrote The Phoenix Sun via email, “but the power does come from rooftop solar.”

If you’re a regular Sun reader, you know we’ve covered Jacobson’s work in the past. But after he co-authored a cover story for Scientific American on how to create a 100% renewable energy society, the editors at Grist felt Jacobson’s “big picture” thinking merited a full interview.

You can read that Q&A with Jacobson, here, on Grist.