Tesla Electric Cars: The Wave Of The Future?

Tesla Electric Cars: The Wave Of The Future?

The Tesla electric $100,000 high-performance sports car doesn't take gas. Of course, most of us can't afford this, but the president wants you to have a more practical, fuel-efficient car. The Obama administration is lending more than $8 billion to three companies to make green vehicles.

Ford will get the biggest chunk of that money. Some of it could go to upgrade a plant in Chicago. Nissan is also getting some of that money; as well as a smaller company: Tesla. You might not have heard of it yet but the company is planning to roar into Chicago in a big way. CBS 2's Vince Gerasole took a ride to find out.

The Tesla roadster goes from zero to 60 in less than four seconds.

"This vehicle has the same type of performance you get from a turbo Porche," said Kevin Daly of Tesla Motors. "All from a battery powered by an electric motor about the size of a watermelon."

The battery weighs about 1,000 pounds and is fueled by plugging a mobile connector into your standard household outlet. A three-and-a-half hour charge will cost about $4 in electricity and take you nearly 250 miles.

But this green power will cost you some green: roughly $100,000 for the high-powered roadster.

But the federal government believes in Tesla enough that it's providing $465 million in federal loans to develop the S-Class sedan at a more affordable $50,000 by the year 2012.

"Our long-term goal is to make completely 100 percent electric vehicles affordable for everyone," Daly said.

Daly is supervising the opening of Tesla's first showroom in Chicago next month on the near west side. There are only about 500 roadsters in use nationwide, but the company is expanding as more Americans look for motoring alternatives that aren't dependent on gasoline.

"All this money is being used for research and development," Daly said.

Daly is a salesman who also acknowledges the technology of tomorrow comes with some limits today. For example, the relatively few charging stations nationwide.

"The downside is, at this point, it's difficult to take this vehicle on a real long, extended road trip," Daly said. "You can't really park on the street and run an extension cord."

Daly believes these are the cars of the future.

"As more charging infrastructures come into play in major metropolitan areas, you'll see more and more fully electric vehicles on the road," Daly said.

But a fuel-efficient fast car of tomorrow can give you quite a charge behind the wheel.

Tesla, based in California, will be using its federal loans not only to finance construction of the S-class sedan, but also to construct a plant capable of selling its technology to other manufacturers. Also on the drawing board is a sedan in the $30,000 to $40,000 range.

This is an exceptional car that will spark the drive for cleaner and greener motoring.

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