Unusual Questions from the Public

[Prime Mover]

During my brief time as a Roadster driver I have been asked a lot of questions about the car. You get all the typical ones about how far, how fast, how much, etc.

I have just come home from one of the last Fall days driving with the top off when, while stopped at a traffic light, a truck next to me asked me "Does the car have anything to warn wildlife?". He said he was from Colorado and that deer would not hear a Tesla coming and could run into the car.

Now there have been some debates about electric cars having to make noise so people hear you approaching but this was probably the strangest question I have fielded so far.

However, maybe he was right because as I neared my suburban home, a squirrel came running out in front of me, perhaps because it couldn't hear me coming!

Anybody else want to describe the most bizarre questions they have been asked??

[Doug_G]

He said he was from Colorado and that deer would not hear a Tesla coming and could run into the car.

Geez, that's clueless. Deer have that problem already with ICE cars; they startle from the sound and light and tend to run right in front of them. I really don't think the electric vehicles are going to be worse... maybe they'd allow us to slip by before the deer noticed!

[Doug_G]

One guy had my scratching my head for a moment, but he wasn't clueless at all. He walked up to me and said, "Is that the new one?"

Wondering what he meant, I replied back, "New one???"

"Yeah, the Evora, I think?"

"Oh! Uh, it's not a Lotus."

"That's a TELSA?!?!?!"

Good for a chuckle anyway.

[Jaff]

He got it partly right, "the new one" (2.5) ...just the wrong brand!

[tennis_trs]

The wildest question I've gotten came from a guy who had first asked me a few reasonable questions then he asked:

"Does it have a permanent battery or do you have to charge it?"

That would be a battery pack with some serious energy density!

[TEG]

Back when Roadster was first launched, a Tesla marketing phrase was "Burn rubber, not gasoline."

I heard a story about how someone walked up to a Tesla employee at a car show and said "where do I put the rubber pellets in?"

[TEG]

The wildest question I've gotten came from a guy who had first asked me a few reasonable questions then he asked:
"Does it have a permanent battery or do you have to charge it?"
That would be a battery pack with some serious energy density!

Uh Oh! Don't get us started!
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10147329-48.html

... Shelby said its electric powertrain "will feature a revolutionary power source allowing for extended time between charging intervals with the possibility of several years between charging."...

[Jaff]

Sounds like the battery has a "nuclear option"!

Uh Oh! Don't get us started!
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10147329-48.html

[TEG]

Sounds like the battery has a "nuclear option"!

Yeah, right!

[tomsax]

I get the "do you have to charge it" question pretty frequently. My response now is:

"Actually, I *get* to charge it, which is much more convenient than having to go to a gas station. I plug it in each night and start every morning with a full charge. After I went a few months without a visit to a gas station, I started to wonder how I ever put up with that smelly, dangerous gas station routine."