“But would you be able to drive that Tesla to Vegas?” The answer to the inevitable, omnipresent question is a resounding
YES, I COULD
especially if I applied the energy-sparing driving techniques practiced by a couple of guys expertly piloting a Tesla roadster through the great Australian outback to achieve a range of 313 miles The previous miles-per-charge Tesla record was a pretty impressive 241 miles. But Simon Hackett and Emiles Prelgauskas have blown that “measly” record out of the charging box with 72 more freakin’ Australian miles.
Seventy-two miles?? On a heavy-footed, careless, 80 mph freeway-frazzled day in my RAV4 EV, 72 miles has occasionally been my entire range from start to better-find-a-charger NOW finish.
Part of the lesson learned from this jaw-dropping Australian Tesla sojourn is that when it comes to EV progress and potential achievement — anything at all is possible, and it looks like you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby. The sky — or in this case– the outback– is wide open.
Another lesson learned — and this one includes a memo to Linda — quit being such a show-off with those random, rocket-like, spin-away takeoffs. I’ve dreamed for years of a 200-mile range. And now that I’m driving a Tesla, it appears that the dream actually came true. I’m living the reality of feeling as though I could drive off the edge of the earth. Clearly I’ve already proven to myself and the amazed guy in hot car next to me how mercurially and manically quick an electric car can be from standstill to gone. I admit it: My silly middle-age fantasy is that “Tessie” and I are a wicked combination educating the world with each takeoff. (When traffic permits) Hence the tendency to respond to stoplight challenges in a less than methodically mature way befitting my age and station in life. I am a grandma, after all.
Photo by Stefano Paris
However, now that it’s been proven that somewhere in the southern hemisphere, a Tesla roadster drove 313 miles on a single charge . . . I’m absolutely going to go from less rocket to more range.
I swear it. I swear.
Posted by Linda Nicholes, Plug In America board member
