The Tesla Model S all-electric car made an appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" on Wednesday. The $50,000 four-door will go up to 300 miles per charge of its lithium-ion batteries
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David Letterman, electric car evangelist?
By Andrew Heining | 05.01.09
Well, that was a shocking development.
Jay Leno is usually the late-night host that comes to mind when discussing matters automotive. But his biggest competitor took a turn in the driver’s seat last week when he hosted Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk on CBS’s “Late Night With David Letterman.”
The Silicon Valley CEO came on to tout his company’s upcoming Model S. The four-door, all-electric car is due out sometime in 2011, and comes in at half the price of its $100,000 two-seat older brother.
A hoarse Letterman spent the majority of the interview bemoaning the troubles that befell the electric car industry in the ’90s. One got the feeling that the TV host had just finished watching “Who Killed the Electric Car?” before stepping onstage.
But this wasn’t the first time the funnyman has used his place behind the desk to go off on things environmental. Moved by the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on the atmosphere, Letterman famously declared “we are dead meat!” in remarks before an appearance by Thomas L. Friedman last September, when the New York Times columnist was on the show to promote his book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.”
And it wasn’t the first time the comic had discussed electric cars, either. Guest Tom Hanks spent much of a 2006 appearance discussing his car, which Letterman playfully dubbed “The Hankster.”
Wednesday night’s appearance by Tesla’s Musk was highlighted by an in-studio look at the Model S. But perhaps the best part of the segment was Letterman’s feigned electrocution when he took hold of the car’s steering wheel, shouting “Turn it off! Turn it off!!”
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2. kerry bradshaw | 05.01.09
You wonder about the intelligence of the younger generation and then you come across somebody like Dave, and you can see where the problems lie. Dave made an ass of himself, as usual, this time he criticized GM’s Volt , claiming it didn’t have the operating range of his 240 miles ranged Tesla.
Well, Dave , I’ll get into a Volt and see how long you can follow me while I show you that a Volt can drive indefinitely - you can drive perhaps 240 miles (if you don’t use the AC or the heat). And exactly how do you plan on getting that thing recharged? Your actual driving radius is really less than half that claimed 250 miles, or about 100 miles in any direction. Do you know how many places I want to go that lie beyond 100 miles?
Then Dave opined that GM should have built an electric car like the Tesla 20 years ago. Oh, really ? And just exactly what does Dave suppose they would have done for a battery pack? What was available back then were NiMH batteries, at $25K per pack, which might last 5 years and provided a range of less than 100 miles and required 12 hours to rechrge. Oddly enough, only about 800 folks nationwide were stupid enough to lease one, although those leases were heavily subsidized. Dave claims they were highly sought after. Dave doesn’t know his butt from third base.
3. Eco Mama | 05.01.09
CSM: Leno covered the over-hyped, and extremely rare Tesla Roadster last year in his true fashion. Perhaps you should have done your homework a little better, just like Letterman? Letterman (former weatherman?) doesn’t even hold a candle to Leno (stand-up comedian, auto journalist, and hands-on auto enthusiast) when it comes to jokes and cars…
Check out all of Leno’s “Green Vehicles” reviews on his excellent website:
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_categories.shtml?cat=30888
CHECK OUT JAY’S SEGMENT ON THE 2009 WORLD GREEN CAR: HONDA FCX CLARITY
4. pata | 05.02.09
Were all four of the preceding comments written by the same person?
At least 30 years ago some (all?) large fossil fuel companies were buying and burying out of sight renewable technologies. Letterman’s 20 year figure is a charitable concession to the American automobile industry, especially GM. The leaders literally lived on a lake island, far from dissenting opinions. They did not invent planned obsolescence, but they extended the concept and relied on it for decades.
We’ve lost more than 40 years due to industry foot-dragging, obstruction and unconscionable greed.
5. James Anderson Merritt | 05.03.09
The week before, Jay went to the hospital, with what was reported by some to be dehydration. On the show with Musk, Dave went on the air hoarse, as if to say, “real talk show hosts know the show must go on.” Then, he stole a feather from Jay’s cap by introducing the Tesla Model S. Now, I would rather have seen a test drive, ala “Jay’s Garage.” But it looks as if Dave is throwing down the gauntlet. It looks like at least a “mini-feud,” and if so, I’m interested to see where this goes.
As far as “driving radius,” it just isn’t fair to say that a Tesla car can’t drive out to the end of its driving range and come back. A trip of 200 or 300 miles deserves a break of at least an hour or two for a meal, a meeting, sightseeing, or some other POINT to the trip. My preference is to stay at least as long at a place as it takes me to drive there, and if possible, also as long as it takes me to drive back. So if you drove 250 miles at 80 miles per hour, that would still mean that the least you would want to stay at your destination would be 3 hours, and more like 6 hours. Such a window would give you more than enough time to recharge the Model S for the trip back, unless all you had available were a 110v home outlet. But even then, the S was designed to allow swap-out of the exhausted battery pack and swap-in of fully-charged batteries in mere minutes. Realistically, one would really have to have a demanding itinerary in a location several hundred miles from home, to ever be caught without a charge in one of the Tesla vehicles (to the point of being forced to cool one’s heels while awaiting a recharge). Not to mention that the entire trip would be spent at high speed, with full torque, in a stylish comfortable car that is also kind to the planet. It is hard to believe that the Volt, if and whenever it arrives, will be anything close to the “cool ride” that the currently-available Roadster IS, and that the Model S promises to be. Time will tell.
6. Shawn Reeves | 05.03.09
Where is the relief from bitterness and spite, commenters Gene(2) and Kerry Bradshaw(3)? Sure, Letterman’s polemic missed the mark on the Volt as he glossed over the fact that it carries its generator around with it. But the foul language of your tirades bespeak an equal mistake. Perhaps that kind of scatological talk works to motivate a football team, but this is not a game.
And no, you cannot drive indefinitely in a Volt. Once you are out of batteries (40miles) and out of gas (whenever it becomes too expensive for you, which might be very soon), you are also stuck. When gas is expensive, the Tesla driver will be the one passing the Volt driver.
I also think the Tesla is not kind to the planet as James(5) states, just a lot less unkind than most anything comparable. You can still run over little critters with it, it still takes a lot of energy to build, and the energy it uses might still come from a polluting plant. James is right on when he writes “Time will tell.”
7. Jason David Steel | 05.04.09
The issue here is not Letterman, Leno, youth, or TV at all. The issue is that Elon Musk has the cojones to stand up to big oil and that Letterman gave him some well needed publicity.
EVs are a reality that’s here to stay.
Cars the railroad.
Airlines killed passenger shipping.
Faxes killed messenger service
.pdf emails killed the fax machine
Video killed the Radio star
iTunes/Napster killed the record industry
Will you people please let EVs kill the oil industry?
“Killed”?? bad choice of words.
AT&T survived. Why doesn’t big oil reinvent itself ?? It’s cheaper to proceed on Big Oil’s heinously profitable and ecologically irresponsible course.
Battery Swap and recharging stations are just around the bend as well all you loudmouthed range detractors.
8. Larry Lupole | 05.07.09
The Tesla is a great car for those who generate their own power with solar. Mybe some of the commenters should catch up. We generate all of our own home and business power, so the tesla is a great value, not to mention a great help with our already weakened carbon footprint. Alternative are in fact the future. There will always be those who holdon to the past. Eventually they come around. There are still those who use a horse and buggy.
9. Service Guy | 05.12.09
I too am struck by the vicious manner that the EV detractors use to berate electric vehicle technology. I think America has experienced a long dark dirty gray period governed by liars, thieves, assassins and the like. As hopeless hostages identify, even aid their captors, any glimmer of light, freedom, permanent relief is finally “the enemy”, and produces a viceral emotional reaction to protect the hostage from being let down, disillusioned again. The national management/union situation has also soured positive aspirations. I had a small solar cell forty years ago and knew then that every rooftop should be covered with them. Let’s at least hope we are finally stepping out into the light.
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1. JS | 05.01.09
How very cool that this car is almost here. It will drive compeptition among manufacturers. Go independent folks!
It is sad that the traditional, entrenched American car manufacturers ignored this potential market for too long while being very willing to produced Hummers and Escalades to which we gave tax credits.
And, “Go Letterman!” It is good to see a popular figure saying what the oil companies’ own experts said, “The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied…” The advisors to the fossil fuels folks wrote this in an internal report in 1995. (See URL above.)
If the oil companies know this really is happening, perhaps the rest of the reality-light folks will get on board, too!