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Business News


The Future of Motoring


Jon Griffin gets revved up for the electric revolution in a Tesla Model S


There’s no engine, handbrake, gearbox or clutch – and it’s just about as silent as a Great White shark gliding underwater in search of unsuspecting prey. The Tesla Model S – a little like


the aforementioned Great White – makes up its own rules of transportation. It glides rather than motors, and


all the driver needs to do is gently steer this extraordinary motoring beast around the road network and watch other drivers with wry amusement as they crunch their gears and slam on the brakes amid the daily madness and frequent mayhem of the UK’s over- congested roads. But, unlike the shark, the Model S is not a destructive type. It emits no noxious carbon fumes or environmentally- hazardous gases – because it is entirely battery-powered. The Tesla saloon is an electric


vehicle in every sense of the term, which transforms the whole driving experience. It is about as far removed from my normal everyday driving experiences as a Lamborghini from a Reliant Robin. Driving for me is very often a


constant battle of fraying wits, with both other drivers seemingly intent on raising my blood pressure to danger levels and my own frequently ham-fisted techniques, as I once again run up and down the gears of my ageing 15-year-old (and much travelled) Peugeot 307. So it came as a wonderful


change of motoring scenery to climb behind the wheel of the Tesla Model S for a 45-minute test drive of this sleek piece of 21st Century cutting edge driving machinery. The Model S is the first bespoke


vehicle from the electric car stable of PayPal creator and billionaire inventor Elon Musk. In little more than a decade Tesla has gone from entrepreneur’s brainchild to a deadly serious player in the volatile world of producing and selling zero-emission cars.


16 CHAMBERLINK November 2017


‘The only constant is change, especially these days, and the Model S embraces change like no other vehicle I had ever driven’


That sort of innovation does not


come cheap and the Model S represents around £60,000 worth of motoring luxury as a high-grade pioneer in the still embryonic world of electric travel. But, make no mistake, the car represents a forerunner for the future of motoring on Britain’s roads as the electric revolution gathers remorseless pace. It may not be affordable to the


man in the street (just yet) and these are still (relatively) early days in the electric era – but the Model S is undoubtedly a yardstick for the future of driving in the information age.


My test drive began at Tesla’s Birmingham base in Digbeth, an area of the city still associated with old-style manufacturing processes owing more to the Industrial Revolution and Watt, Boulton and co than latter-day entrepreneurs determined to change the world. But the only constant is change, especially these days, and the Model S embraces change like no other vehicle I had ever driven. You don’t even start the car up


as such – it’s already ready to go and you simply put your foot on


the brake, move the transmission stalk to Drive, and just drive away. The Model S has made starter buttons and handbrakes obsolete. One foot will suffice to operate


the brake and accelerator in comfortable tandem. You can just sit back and concentrate on effortlessly steering without all the constant brainpower necessary for gear and clutch manoeuvres so often needed on Britain’s congestion-packed highways. Off we glided, from Digbeth


through leafy Edgbaston, past a rain-soaked Edgbaston cricket ground, around the borders of Cannon Hill Park, Harborne, Kings Heath and back into inner-city Birmingham. A self-confessed clumsy motorist, my only lapse was mistakenly flicking the transmission stalk from drive to neutral, a movement clearly not appreciated by the Model S. But the error was swiftly resolved


(with the aid of the very helpful Tesla UK communications lady) and the Model S saw me safely back to inner-city Birmingham. It had felt at times as if the car had driven itself, with only the required steering


Jon Griffin and a ‘Great White shark’ Tesla


provided by yours truly. And the hi- tech satnav style facility on the large screen means you can’t ever get lost. The Tesla website describes the


Model S as the ‘safest, most exhilarating saloon on the road, with unparalleled performance delivered through Tesla’s unique, all-electric powertrain, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 2.5 seconds.’ I’m no Clarkson-style petrolhead but I wouldn’t argue with any of that, although the crowded highways of Digbeth and Edgbaston left little room for any 0 to 60 mph revving up. The Model S has the biggest


range of any electric car at around 393 miles and can be recharged at home or at charging networks across the UK. There’s no road tax, no congestion charges and, unlike conventional vehicles, software upgrades mean it doesn’t depreciate in value. And with no engine upfront, there’s even space for a second luggage area. The race to electric is only just beginning to speed up. But the Model S is already setting a fairly hectic pace.


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