Talking Tesla

Malvern-based company director, Steve Oborne, has been the proud owner of a Tesla Model S 90D since October 2016. On a cold spring afternoon, he took Pippa Sanderson for a spin and grin

Meeting Steve outside his home, I’m itching to reacquaint myself with a real-life Tesla. I’ve seen one before, of course, at the Electric Vehicle (EV) show in Malvern in September where I’d actually touched one; I’d even poked my head inside but was not fortunate enough to bag myself a test drive. Slots went as fast as . . . well . . . a Tesla takes from 0–60 mph (around 2.4 seconds if the model has ‘ludicrous’ mode).

Steve opens the garage door and there she is, a sublime midnight blue work of art that oozes build quality and sex appeal, plugged into the Tesla-branded charger affixed to the wall. ‘I’ve been interested in EVs for several years because I like the idea of powering cars without burning fossil fuel,’ Steve begins. ‘That’s what originally sparked my interest but what Elon Musk has done with Tesla is so impressive and clever because he’s created a very desirable car; if you think back 10 years or so, the idea of an EV being a desirable car was a joke. Who would want what was little better than a milk float, a bubbly thing or a Postman Pat-type vehicle that was ugly, went nowhere and was very slow? He’s just turned that on its head by making it one of the top-performing, desirable cars you can buy and that’s a great strategy from a business point of view because he’s been able to develop a huge brand and a lot of technology by selling cars at a high price.

‘And now he’s announced the new Model 3, a more affordable (at US$35,000) vehicle; expensive but the cheapest Tesla yet, production of which begins later this year. On the day he announced the car and started taking orders, it wasn’t going to be available for a further two years. But they sold more of that car in the first 24 hours than any other product in history. And that includes the likes of Apple. That’s how popular it is.’