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Ce mois de Juillet nous avons rendu hommage au Royaume d’Elizabeth en sillonnant l’Angleterre afin de présenter le Roadster dans ce pays dans lequel il est aujourd’hui assemblé. Notre campagne a commencé à Londres, au très sélect club Hurlingham, un manoir et un parc privé de plusieurs hectares au cœur de la ville, dédié à la pratique du croquet et du tennis sur gazon pour la haute société anglaise. Celui-ci hébergeait le « Salon Privé », une opportunité unique de découvrir les plus belles et exclusives voitures de la planète. Une occasion pour nous d’échanger quelques mots avec Jay Kay de Jamiroquai à propos de la voiture, ou encore Mark Bright, Du’Aine Ladejo et quelques autres célébrités invitées.
An English Campaign
This month of July we paid tribute to Elizabeth’s Kingdom, crisscrossing in England to present the Roadster in the country where it is now assembled. Our campaign began in London, in the very select club Hurlingham, a mansion and a private park of several acres in the heart of the City, dedicated to the practice of croquet and lawn tennis for the high English society. It hosted the “Salon Privé”, a unique moment to discover the most beautiful and exclusive cars on the planet. The event was an opportunity for us to exchange a few words with Jay Kay of Jamiroquai about the car, Mark Bright, Du’Aine Ladejo and other celebrities invited.
Un événement très « hors du temps » mais très agréable qui ouvrait cette campagne anglaise. Quelques jours après d’ailleurs Elon rencontrait l’enfant chéri de l’Angleterre, Richard Branson, pour parler Roadster électrique mais surtout conquête spatiale. Nous, plus modestement, avons enchainé par le Festival de vitesse de Goodwood, dans le domaine privé de Lord March, une propriété qui fait la taille d’une ville moyenne française, et qui héberge donc entre autres la fameuse course de côte. Et pour notre seconde participation à celle-ci, on a fait les choses bien en laissant le volant à la plus élégante des pilotes anglais : Vicki Butler-Henderson (Vicki on t’embrasse !). Non seulement cette femme qui déclenche des émeutes sur son passage est sympathique, mais elle nous a de plus tous mis à l’amende avec un style de conduite incisif et hyper rapide (Le Roadster sera dans son émission Fifth Gear ce mois d’août et dans Top Gear cet Automne).
An “out of time” but very enjoyable event opened our English campaign. A few days after our arrival Tesla Motors Product Architect and Chairman Elon Musk was meeting with the beloved child of England - Richard Branson. They spoke about our electric Roadster, but mostly the conquest of Space. We continued on to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood, in the private domain of Lord March, an area which is the size of an average French city, which hosts among other the hillclimbing race. And for our second participation in it, we tried to make things well, leaving the steering wheel to the most elegant English pilot: Vicki Butler-Henderson (Vicki on t’embrasse). This woman is not only graceful (she’s triggering riots in her path!), but she has also made our skill appear ridiculous compared to her fast and incisive driving style. The Roadster will be on Fifth Gear this month of August and in Top Gear this Fall.
Juste après Goodwood nous avons continué notre périple anglais, ponctué de petits-déjeuners mémorables et de fish and chips par le British Motor Show, dans le cadre duquel nous avons pu faire essayé la voiture au Prince Michael de Kent qui par la même découvrait qu’une voiture aux vertus écologiques pouvait également être racée et surtout rapide. Très rapide…
Just after Goodwood we continued our English journey, punctuated by a fantastic breakfast of fish and chips, with the British Motor Show. There we were able to have Prince Michael of Kent test drive the car. He quickly discovered that this same car with ecological virtues could also be elegant, and above all fast. Very fast.
Ce salon auto fut un moment très important où toute notre équipe européenne et anglaise, constituée majoritairement d’ingénieurs, s’est investie dans la présentation de la voitures aux milliers de citoyens de la Reine venus nous voir (472 000 personnes sur l’ensemble du salon).
This autoshow was a very important moment where our European and especially English team, composed mainly of engineers, was invested in the presentation of the car to thousands of citizens of the Queen who came to see us (472 000 people on the whole Exhibition).
L’apothéose de ces quelques jours ensoleillés (oui, oui !) dans la capitale anglaise fut malgré tout le run de Damon Hill à bord de la voiture (VP12 en l’occurrence, dotée de la transmission 1.5) qui a simplement déclenché un séisme dans les rues de Londres et les médias internationaux. Et on peut même vous faire la confidence qu’après quelques accélérations les premiers mots de Damon ont été : That’s outrageous. Et ça c’est tellement anglais !
The culmination of these few sunny days (oui, oui !) in the English capital was still the run of Damon Hill on board of the car (VP12 in this case, with Powertrain 1.5), which has just triggered an earthquake in the streets of London and the international medias. And we can even confide to you that after the first few accelerations Damon words were: “That’s outrageous.” So British !
Notre épopée anglaise se termine ces jours ci par une campagne de presentation du Roadster aux medias anglais dont vous aurez la synthèse dans ces mêmes colonnes et sur notre page Facebook
Our English campaign ends these days by a presentation to the English medias of the Roadster and you’ll find a synthesis of it in these columns and on the Tesla Roadster page on Facebook.
Merci à toute l’équipe de Tesla à Hethel. Merci à David Peilow. Thanks to the entire Hethel Team. Thanks to David Peilow. Thanks to Nick Morrissey
[ Note: We did our best to take Simon’s account from French to English, and hope the loss in translation was not too great! ]
Posted in the categories: Performance, Company, On the road
I am reminded of Mark Twain’s piece “The Jumping Frog: In English, Then in French, and Then Clawed Back Into A Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil.” on the translation of his story from English to French and back.
members.cox.net/deleyd/religion/solarmyth/frog.html
This time the original is in French, and the English translation does not do justice to it.
Can’t wait to hear what Top Gear has to say given their previous distain for EVs. Hopefully Tesla will change their outlook although I can see some useless comparison like what they did with the prius (e.g. a long distance timed race including refueling and ice / recharging the ev).
re: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7536310.stm … If the Roadster was in the pole position, how could that delivery van be the first to cross the finish line in the race? *boggle* Did Damon Hill get lost? Have bad luck with traffic lights?
Anyone think that Top Gear will buy one of the special edition models of the Roadster over there and crash test it like they did the G-Wiz? :-þ
@Tim
Simple - the winner was a courier van driver. He would have known every back road and short cut in London!
By the way, I was passed in London by a City Sprint Vectrix bike going about its business today. What a great little machine, also very quick - kudos to that courier company for really taking EVs seriously.
Great job!
This roadster looks incredible, We wish to joy a cheaper edition for all those who wants an electric car without paying thousands and thousands $.
Keep on developing electric cars like this!
“The Roadster will be on Fifth Gear this month of August and in Top Gear this Fall.”
I can’t wait to see the clips on YouTube!
Score! Finally!
Merci pour the excellent news. Arrange a proper insurrance before handing over to Jezza (or Vicky for that matter)!
Halibut, Chris. You beat me in saying that…
Any news when exactly??? I can watch both from TV and I would hate to miss those.
Tim, Top Gear won’t need to crash test the Roadster as it’s already been done and certified, unlike the G-Wiz which cheats by being registered as a quadricycle, whatever that’s supposed to be in the 21st century!
Excellent and useful information!
Excellent! Continue à écrire en Français et construir des Roadsters.
What I like with Tesla Motors is the fact that you not only promote your car(s) in the US but also other markets. There are many good EV’s out there, but unfortunately only available either in the US or e.g. in Europe. This of course is also partly due to certification problems. Keep going Tesla!
Congratulations to JB Straubel: MIT Technology Review’s “Innovator of the Year.”
www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?TRID=742
He came to speak at the Central Coast Chapter of the Electric Auto Association in Santa Cruz some years back (with two Roadster prototypes in tow), and the large crowd was wowed by his abilities to think on his feet as well as communicate technical concepts clearly. I remember being convinced at the time that Tesla’s technology was in excellent hands, and nothing has happened since to make me change my mind.
As this is a thread to comment on a blog article that was originally written in French, I will only add that I am raising a glass of authentic French bubbly to JB, with sincere wishes for even more success in the future: À votre santé, JB!
Well, with the potential saving of £20k after five years I was seriously beginning to consider the Tesla, but then the pound dropped against the euro and well, the price is now just unjustifiable. It’s amazing for a car which is all but built here, it’s going to turn out to be the most expensive place to own one… that and it not being RHD. Oh well, I’m sure someone will tap the gap in the market.
There is a strong Lobby against pure electric cars in European Countries!
I like the way of your spirit to produce a pur electric car - that´s the Amercan way!
Maybe you can also place your roadster soon also in Germany.
My wish is also a car from Tesla Motors for the family (4 people, 50 - 70 kW).
Tesla Motors go Germany!
Re: Top Gear: looks like they’ve already tested the car, and made a blog about it (www.topgear.com/blogs/drives/222-tesla-roadster/)….. and it knocked their socks off! ^_^
Excellent I just love this car!
Chris, I’m little bit disappointed at TG test drive blog. Ranting about pedestrians and lack or engine sound. Driving OTOH got excellent points like the trend seems to be, too bad we didn’t see if that driver had that usual grin in their face after testing Roaster
. I wrote a comment to that blog. I hope they don’t moderate it (shouldn’t, it is on topic and doesn’t insult anyone).
Excellent! Continue à écrire en Français et construir des Roadsters.
I am getting on in years and would like at the very least to experience a ride in this fabulous vehicle.
My real wish is to own a Tesla,is there anyone out there that could help? I am not a millionaire but I am willing to spend my childrens inheritance on a TESLA .
i am a retired elelectronics engineer and I have read the biography of Tesla,so in it`ts my opinion that I am entiteled to own a TESLA motorcar.
Man, am I enthousiastic for the Roadster.
A little bit noise around the car can be made easily, look at some electric scooters (or users).
The point of dubbling power consumption at impressive speeds or acceleratings don’t’ impress me, because that is a consequency of natural laws.
Look at the progress!
As far as gormless pedestrians getting whacked, it just proves that Darwin Lives, and evolution continues to eliminate the stupid and careless.
Excellent I just love this car
I agree that gormless pedestrians should get whacked, but I bet they wont. There would still be tire noises, engine whizz and other little noises that we currently just don’t notice because combustion engines all around us are making so much background noise. You can’t hear even ICE if there is sufficient background noise.
Re: Sound proving
Maybe there’s a way for the roadster to transmit a sound that can be picked up by those pedestrians/cyclist using i-pods, Cell phones or MP3 Players. Some inoffensive warning like: “Get out of the way are you tired of living or something!?”
Just a suggestion.
Peter J Hedge
Victoria, BC
As a cyclist I have to say that I almost never become aware of a vehicle by its engine noise. Tire and aerodynamic noise are much more noticeable. And why are these people walking into a street without looking? Now, at very low speed a slight noise might be important as an aid for the blind but I suspect they would be aware of something like a Tesla without it — these are quiet cars but not silent.
Cher Simon, Merci encore pour ce test, tres belle réussite, sache que quelques heures plus tard je roulais de Monaco au cap d’antibes avec mon roadster BMW Z3 , j’avais l’impression d’etre dans une limousine tres lourde aussi bien au démarrage que sur l’autoroute !!! Anyway, congratulations for this one of the most exeptionnal car I ‘ve never seen & up to date with our environment ! , with my best regards, Francois
M. Dubouchet, for those who don’t have any French, just observed that after trying the Roadster, driving home in his BMW Z3 felt like driving a heavy sedan! (Limosine is Eurospeak for a 4-door sedan.)
Heh.
A friend just drove a Tesla Roadster in Zurich (Switzerland). I was unfortunately out of the country at the time. He is a sports car fan and found the driving characteristics to be excellent and was as thrilled as others by the tremendous torque the electric engine can deliver. He did not confirm the somewhat heavy handling for parking that others mentioned. It would be interesting to find out what influence on range driving in the mountains has. E. g. how far would you get when driving across the alpine St. Gotthard pass from Zurich to Lugano or from Zurich to St. Moritz across the Julier pass. Those distances are short (about 200km), speeds are very moderate, but with plenty of up and down with acceleration and deceleration, placing some demand on recuperation.
- Alfred
Alf G;
You bring up a very interesting point about mountains. With all the downhill involved, it could be that the range would be considerably extended, as it is in urban stop-and-go traffic, by all the energy recovery. Excellent question!
Brian H
That up and down is not automatically comparable to stop and go traffic in cities. Reason why you get bigger range in city than in highway is slower speed which result lower air drag (and somewhat lower rolling resistance). You do use more energy climbing uphill than you gain in recovery going down that same hill and also more than going that same uphill-downhill range in flat surface in same average constant speed. That same principal is works in city too, you use more energy accelerating than you gain deaccelerating and you would lose even less if you don’t need to do either.
Timo, I know. That wasn’t the point, and it’s not what I said. “Considerably extended” was in comparison to the mileage of a non-recovery vehicle. I’m perfectly aware of friction and resistance losses. Thank you very much. [Gentlemen, please - no personal flaming allowed here - Ed]
Brian H.
I apologize if you feel insulted, I obviously thought that you compared EV range for hillside traffic compared to flat surface like it is extended in city.
We’re probably going a bit off-topic but Brian H and Timo’s discussion brings up a similar issue that RAV4EV drivers have discussed and dealt with:
When going downhill in an EV, are you better off coasting without regenerative braking or using regen to recharge the battery?
Generally, the accepted answer has been: It depends.
If the hill is very steep and windy and you would go too fast for safety by coasting (my EV1 used to coast to over 100 mph going down steep freeway hills in LA) then you clearly should use the regen to slow you down to a safe speed.
if there is no safety issue in going fast and you’re a bit indifferent to posted speed limits then it becomes an interesting physics problem of balancing regenerative efficiency with aerodynamic efficiency. At lower speeds, coasting is generally best since you get nearly 100% efficiency simply through the kinetic energy being built up. What this means is that you’ll regain the energy because you can coast for a long time after you get to the bottom of the hill. However, once your car gets going so fast that drag becomes significant then you’re probably better off capturing some of your energy back into the battery, even though the regen cycle may lose 70% of the energy available. The rule of thumb most people went with was to establish a top speed that you want to travel at and use regenerative braking to hold yourself at that speed. That speed, of course, will vary with the vehicle’s aerodynamics. I think the consensus was that for the RAV4EV it was around 75 mph. I assume that for the Tesla Roadster, it will be a bit higher. I don’t know that anyone did any scientific studies to actually find out what the magic number is.
So far, I guess most Roadster owners are focusing on their performance on the high speed end, not the economical end. Maybe some hypermilers will get roadsters in the future and post results for that operational regime.
This roadster looks incredible, We wish to joy a cheaper edition for all those who wants an electric car without paying thousands and thousands $.
Keep on developing electric cars like this!
no safety issue in going fast and you’re a bit indifferent to posted speed limits then it becomes an interesting physics problem of balancing
hi good thank you you use more energy accelerating than you gain deaccelerating and you would lose even less if you don’t need to do either.
A friend just drove a Tesla Roadster in Zurich (Switzerland). I was unfortunately out of the country at the time. He is a sports car fan and found the driving characteristics to be excellent and was as thrilled as others by the tremendous torque the electric engine can deliver. He did not confirm the somewhat heavy handling for parking that others mentioned. It would be interesting to find out what influence on range driving in the mountains has. E. g. how far would you get when driving across the alpine St. Gotthard pass from Zurich to Lugano or from Zurich to St. Moritz across the Julier pass. Those distances are short (about 200km), speeds are very moderate, but with plenty of up and down with acceleration and deceleration, placing some demand on recuperation.
I apologize if you feel insulted, I obviously thought that you compared EV range for hillside traffic compared to flat surface like it is extended in city.
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رونالدو
Thanks for your sharing, it is a usefull post!
There is a strong Lobby against pure electric cars in European Countries!
I like the way of your spirit to produce a pur electric car - that´s the Amercan way!
Maybe you can also place your roadster soon also in Germany.
My wish is also a car from Tesla Motors for the family (4 people, 50 - 70 kW).
Tesla Motors go Germany!
thanks 4 your sharing. good post..
thank you everybody .This very important blog