I just introduced Cara to a new show, Leverage. It is a TNT show starring Oscar winner Timothy Hutton. It is about a team that sets up “elaborate scams designed to exact revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize people”. A great show from the two episodes I have seen; you should check it out on play it now on Netflix. Leverage has done some positive product placement for the Tesla Roadster, an electric car.

Tesla Motors, based out of California, designs and manufactures electric cars that look sexy and seemingly deliver a great performance. The Roadster series (see red car on photo above) is already in production and available for you to purchase for around $109,000. They are also coming out with some new models (see white car) for 2011 starting at around $49,000 (you can pre-order).

A few things about these cars:

• They partner up with Lotus for the manufacturing and engineering processes
• They can reach speeds up to 125 mph
• The Roadster series goes from 0 to 60mph in less than 4 seconds (3.7 sec)
• You have the option to get carbon fiber seats (better than leather since not harmful to animals)
• It takes only 3.5 hours to charge the battery
• Tesla estimates the car will cost you about 1 cent a mile to drive. So if my calculations are correct, if you drive 300 miles, it will cost you about $3. Isn’t that ridiculous? :)
• When the battery dies, you can get a new one for $12,000 and recycle the old one at a Tesla dealership. They say the battery should last about 100,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first. If you break down the $12,000 battery replacement cost over a 5 year length, it is about $200 a month, then add energy consumption, for an $50 extra dollars a month- total is around $250 a month. As a comparison, driving a non-electric car for 100,000 miles would cost you around $10,000 to $12,000 in gas only.
• The beauty is you can charge your battery with any energy you want: solar, wind, etc!

So check out the Roadster or pre-order your Model S (and its 7 seats!). Hopefully Cara and I can motivate ourselves to go take a test drive tomorrow in the city.

Update: Just called the dealership in Chelsea. They opened a month ago, only have one car to test drive and priorities are for Roadster owners or future owners. They took my info and will let me know when I can test drive…