I've known Alec Brooks longer than either of us can precisely remember, but during a recent lunch he mentioned something that startled me. "Did I ever tell that I was once interviewed to be the Model S' chief engineer?" I put my coffee cup down as my journalist's antenna rose.Brooks is a pioneer of the modern electric car who once gave me a ride in the GM Impact, the car that convinced GM to build the EV1. "I immediately got into an argument with Musk, and that was that," he said. "But I worked there for a while anyway as director of vehicle technology during the Model S's early planning." Astonishingly, Brooks has yet to drive the final product. At the conclusion of our lunch I slipped him our long-term car's keys for the week I was about to be away on a trip. What would be the verdict of the Model S' almost-chief engineer? … I'll get back to that.
In reality, the Model S is a car with as many different verdicts as it represents ground-breaking firsts: It's the first EV with gas-competitive range. The first mass-produced EV with shattering performance. The first you can genuinely road-trip via its worldwide, 393-station network of 2,146 120-kilowatt-hour (really powerful) supercharger stations. The first to embrace frequent over-the-air software updates. … Let me inhale here. … The first with a gigantic, reconfigurable multi-touchscreen. And the first to challenge the powerful dealership establishment with company-owned Tesla stores in fashionable malls (designed by George Blankenship, who created the Apple Store). Being a Silicon Valley carmaker means not comprehending what you can't do.
Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests...sla_model_s_p85_review_verdict/#ixzz3UdXQO7HJ
In reality, the Model S is a car with as many different verdicts as it represents ground-breaking firsts: It's the first EV with gas-competitive range. The first mass-produced EV with shattering performance. The first you can genuinely road-trip via its worldwide, 393-station network of 2,146 120-kilowatt-hour (really powerful) supercharger stations. The first to embrace frequent over-the-air software updates. … Let me inhale here. … The first with a gigantic, reconfigurable multi-touchscreen. And the first to challenge the powerful dealership establishment with company-owned Tesla stores in fashionable malls (designed by George Blankenship, who created the Apple Store). Being a Silicon Valley carmaker means not comprehending what you can't do.
Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests...sla_model_s_p85_review_verdict/#ixzz3UdXQO7HJ
