For a company with just 14 candles on its cake, it’s already been quite the rollercoaster...
An anonymous light-industrial unit in San Carlos, California, in early 2007. TG pays a visit to Tesla. It’s still a long way from delivering its first car to a customer – though such is the buzz that many people had already ordered them, sight unseen. Chief technical officer JB Straubel (still there now) had several persuasive arguments in favour of electric cars. The first was to put you in a prototype of the Roadster, potter off to the local freeway on-ramp, then simply mash the right pedal. That’s a transformative experience I still remember.
Even more vivid is my memory of the two-hour conversation I had with Straubel. Long experience has taught me to be very wary of the claims of new car-company startups, let alone startups talking about new powertrains. But he was just so darned articulate, thoughtful, convincing.
Denne historien er fra November 2017 -utgaven av Top Gear South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra November 2017 -utgaven av Top Gear South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Variety Show
We’re in a golden age of fast cars. This is going to be blast, unless, of course, there’s a slight medical emergency...
Heat Seekers
Welcome to the world of wind-in-your-hair motoring... presuming you have hair, that is...
Stage Craft
A GP circuit, all to ourselves... so what do we do? Head off and find some dirt roads. Because rally
Hot Wings
Move over, road-legal minnows, it’s time for the serious machinery to pound the circuit...
Drives - S'Charged Thunder
Let’s start with the name: Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic, or SVAD for short.
Circuit Breaker
Petrol A45 AMG takes on electric Model 3. Now, who turned out the lights?
The Need For Speed
Breaking the 480kph barrier has become an obsession for the hypercar manufacturers. Here’s the story of how Bugatti got there first
Man On The Moon
How TG faked our Moon landing – not with Stanley Kubrick, but with a trip to Cancún.
Voltswagen The People's EV?
Ten years down the line, will the answer to every car-buying question be “Just get an ID.3”?
Rover's Return
Carrying the Defender into the modern century is intimidating but those put off by Discovery’s looks can now stay within the brand.
