In case you missed it, British auto show Top Gear took a Tesla Roadster for a drive and found it exciting but unreliable, as both cars appeared to fail on the track. Tesla alleges that the BBC either misrepresented or actually made up one or both of the problems in an effort to play on viewer expectations for an all-electric sports car. Here’s that video, for reference:
While Clarkson seems pretty straightforward about the cars both failing in some way or another, Tesla says that neither car got below 20% charge at any time and the other problem was a minor fuse issue that was fixed without delay.
Okay, it has to be said now that Top Gear is an entertainment show. I have no idea just how much is staged and how much is made up on the spot, but it sure isn’t journalism. They played lawn darts with cars, for god’s sake. They dramatize the strengths and weaknesses of the cars to make a better show, and when the Teslas slow down or fail, they make that into a segment. So the car was up running again in five minutes? Lucky they’re on TV and have engineers ready to replace a fuse! It’s a real problem if you’re on the highway. And unless Tesla is prepared to say that the Top Gear writers and editors fully made up the other Roadster running out of juice, they’re really in no position to complain at all.
I watch top gear on BBC America on a regular basis and trust their judgment. I think they showed the potential of an electric car with the Tesla and presented a great case for it. Its known that that it takes a lot of time to charge and that practically there is not enough electricity for everybody if we all get these cars today. I don’t think any normal person will get this car as his primary vehicle so it kind of a collectors items and boy those Lamborghini and Ferrari see the garage every fortnight as well. So the Tesla is a great promise and I hope the company will stay around when the technology matures.
Just Telsa complaining cos someone dumped on their electric car. What isnt mentioned is the fact that Top Gear also road tested the new honda powered on higroden and they praised it to the extent of calling it the most important car for 100 years!
Dude the only thing Tesla puts out consistently is bad PR. Every other day one of their executives is quitting, their cars have serious issues and so on:)
I liked how Top Gear showed how poorly the car handled on turns because of bad weight distribution. Although the car had an amazing acceleration capability.
I’ve been a big fan of Top Gear for quite some time — I will admit I pirate episodes as they air in the UK — and while Clarkson, Hammond and May may do things as entertainment, and their assessment of Climate change is usually filled with bull malarkey, when they review a car… they review a car. They make jokes, but they don’t make things up. Clarkson in the review often appears impressed by the Tesla, but both of the tested units had problems.
Top Gear doesn’t care if a car is electric or gas powered — they care if it goes really fast and doesn’t break down a lot. Tesla satisfied the former but not the latter, and needs to get over themselves.
And again, they liked Honda’s fuel cell powered vehicle.
Yes, JK bends the truth a lot, and everyone knows to take the programmes with a shovel-load of salt, but people expect a certain level of integrity even ona comic-book show. Barefaced lying does them no credit.
As to the ‘hidrogen’ car – they chose not to mention the fact that creating the hydrogen in the first place makes for MORE pollution than petrol cars.
As to the ‘hidrogen’ car – they chose not to mention the fact that creating the hydrogen in the first place makes for MORE pollution than petrol cars.
…
Depends on your method of producing hydrogen. If you get it from cracking natural gas, then it does also pollute.
But if you get it from electrolysis using solar/wind/tidal etc power, then it’s really nice and clean.
I too watched this episdode. Clarkson started out testing pure acceleration and the Tesla impressed. The sheer weight of the batteries used to power this was evident in the slalom for the Telsa clearly appeared overweight. She showed the agility of a hippopatamus on acid.
TopGear is guilty of reporting on the facts. They did not gloss over the isses that arose during testing – one ran out of charge and the other’s engine overheated – probably the result of driving the cars hard all day.
The Telsa did perform the same as a Porsche through the test track, however the car’s faults were too numerous to ignore. The Tesla is clearly an impressive milestone in automobile engineering, but needs some work ( and a price reduction ) before this is ready for mass market.
Pretty much my assessment, yeah.
I think Top Gear got it about right. A great car but only for as long as the batteries have juice.
Electric car manufacturers and fans do themselves no favours by quoting silly figures that tests and calculations reveal to be bogus.
I thought that 55 miles wasn’t bad when driving at high speed. Do the sums..53 kWh and 185 kW max motors.. For Tesla to turn round and say that Top Gear fiddled it and 250 miles is the correct range.. what planet are Tesla living on?? Sounds like the spokeslady from Tesla has believed her own company hype.
either way electro cars are not the future if u gotta leave it on charge for 16 hours to give it a full charge. Hydrogen anyday.
Correct! Hydrogen is going to be the future not electro cars
What do you expect from Mr Clarkson, he’s got little time for any vehicle unless its labelled “Ferrari” making lots of exciting Brrrumm – Brrumm from the exhaust pipe! And for Top Gear to suggest the technology is already dead – is short sighted and costly. This new generation lithium Iron/ultra capacitor plus regenerative braking technology appears to be far beyond him and his petrolhead cronies! Huge investment is being undertaken by US motor industry right now into this very technology If we listen to Clarkson then the British motor industry will once again be left behind in the race!
Come on Mr Clarkson, get your head out of the sand, have a look around!
Battery vehicle technology is essentially a dead-end. You will always have the slow charging problem even if batteries were much less bulky and heavy.
You, guys, are idiots! I’m a Tesla Roadster owner and also have a Prius and a SegWay, all of them being the first of their kind in my home country.
Tesla Roadster needs only 3.5h to charge, NOT 16! It doesn’t cost 92 000 GBP, but DOLLARS! This is TWICE less. It’s not THAT heavy, as stated, for the simple reason that it lacks almost ALL of the guts of a normal car. In fact, it’s not heavier than Elise.
I also was a regular reader of Top Gear but they lost my confidence some months ago when they wrote that in USA people are buying Prius only because of the sticker. That’s bullshit! According to the words of the Toyota-USA’ CEO, “10 years ago people were buying Prius because it was a Toyota. Now they buy Toyotas because we have Prius!”
Top Gear are financed by a particular group of subjects with common interests and these interest of theirs are not in favor of the Common Citizen of this Planet.
True on the battery thing, they were exaggerating that. If 92000GBP was what they said, that’s the price in the UK I’m guessing.
But as for “not heavier than an elise”… the curb weight of a tesla is 2700lb and an elise is like 1950. 700 pounds will SERIOUSLY effect handling.
I think the Tesla Roadster is cool but it’s certainly not without major faults.
Dear sir, I feel that must address the comments sent in: – “Battery vehicle technology is essentially a dead-end”
The truth could not be more opposite, where has the reader been during the last ten years? We are no longer living in the age of the electric milk float with its old and heavy lead acid traction batteries. Has he not heard of Nano wire Technology Ultra Capacitors? These devices are not only in use by industry right now, are key in this particular case to absorb the huge electric charge rates produced during electric vehicle regenerative braking.
And this leads me to my next question, and one that Mr Clarkson may wish to ignore:
Where does the momentum of petrol powered vehicles go during braking? The answer is, that it is wasted in the form of heat – and contributes to global warming!
“New generation” electric vehicles on the other hand lose very little in this way, using the new technology to convert braking momentum to recharge the batteries, it would do well to add at this point that the three phase wheels motors that power the vehicle are near 100% efficient and not the usual 25% of vehicle internal combustion engines!
You cannot get around the long charging times even if battery technology was advanced considerably.
100% .. Where do you think the elec comes from?? Thin air.
You can regain a certain amount with re-generative breaking.
As far as I can gather Tesla’s own range figure is from the EPA Highway ( U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) test done on rollers at a constant 48 mph for only 13 minutes. From this they calculate the max range which is not easy to do accurately. So their range is calculated also.
I would think for petrol vehicles the urban driving range will be considerably less than the EPA Highway figure.