Goodbye Detroit, hello Cali? Why does this remind me of If Microsoft Made Cars?
Silicon Valley racing ahead with electric cars:
Silicon Valley thinks it can do what Detroit could not — create a thriving business selling electric cars. In the 1990s, General Motors and other automakers spent billions to develop battery-powered vehicles, but they flopped because most couldn’t travel more than 100 miles before having to recharge.
… So three years ago, Eberhard and friend Marc Tarpenning launched Tesla Motors Inc. Their goal: to design a sports car that would go as fast as a Ferrari or Porsche, but run on electricity.
With about 80 employees, Tesla just raised $40 million from high-profile investors including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. It plans to start selling its first model next year.
If the car delivers on its promise of 135 mpg equivalent, 250 miles per charge and 0 to 60 in approx. 4 seconds and doesn’t cost an obscene amount of money, I may just become a Tesla girl.
Also see Wired Blog on The Tesla Roadster
It costs an arm and a leg. About half a mil.
$500,000?!?! Forget it.