Electric vehicles are the kind of cars you'd buy if you're interested in: a) saving the planet; b) saving money or c) driving like the clappers.

 

Until recently, the most likely answers would be a or b – but that was before the Lotus-built Tesla Roadster. Stuart Milne has just seen a prototype, and has been blown away.

 

Last year, I got wind of an all-electric two seat roadster built by Lotus for the American market.

 

With my best newshound hat on, I called Tesla's people in The States to find out if I'd be able to have a peek at one. They told me despite them being developed and built at Lotus' factory in Norfolk; there were none in the UK for me to drive.

 

Not for a long time.

 

But not one to let a good thing lie, I found out there would be one at a green car show in the middle of Norwich.

 

It wouldn't have been there at all if it wasn't for green car nut and Tesla's test and validation manager Brian Randall. He snatched a prototype from under the noses of his engineers for the day to show off his work.

 

And what work it is.

 

It might share its chassis – albeit modified – with an Elise, and its interior bears a resemblance to the baby Lotus, but Brian is keen to play up Tesla's own work.

 

The motor, which is about the size of a breeze block, is a bespoke unit for the Tesla, and the entire body has been constructed from light-weight carbon fibre by a specialist in Norfolk.

 

"This is absolutely NOT an electric Elise", Brian told me proudly.

 

Few people in this country have driven a Tesla, but Brian has – and gets paid for it. He reckons it's amazing to drive, and staggeringly fast.

 

It’ll hit 60mph from rest in four seconds and go on to a license-losing 130mph. Even the early prototype in these exclusive pictures, which is locked into the lower of its two gears for development reasons, will hit 60mph in around 6.5 seconds.

 

It produces the equivalent of 240bhp, and a massive amount of pulling power which doesn’t tail off until it hits its 13,500rpm rev limit.

 

That means it's almost two seconds quicker to 60mph and three miles per hour faster at the top end than the very fastest Elise.

 

But forget stories about electric cars only having enough juice to get to the shops and back – Brian reckons it'll cover 200 miles between recharges; which, if using Tesla's own 70 amp charging station, will take around three hours.

 

It can be charged from a normal plug socket too, although using a domestic 13 amp supply; it'll take more like 12 hours. Either way, the Tesla uses a clever 'regenerative braking' system to top up the battery when the car slows down.

 

Brian said: "How long does your phone take to charge? You don't know, you just plug it in and forget about it. The same applies to this".

 

There are plenty of safety systems to ensure the owner can't get an electric shock from the mega-power batteries. A display in the snug cabin provides information on battery charge, temperature and other bits you wouldn't find in a petrol or diesel car.

 

When you plug the car in, a light around the filler cap illuminates and changes colour depending on whether the power is off, how charged the battery is or whether charging is complete. How cool is that?

 

Switching to all-electric power provided plenty of problems I hadn't thought of. For instance in a conventionally-engined car, the engine heats water which is pumped around the ventilation system. On the Tesla, there's an electrically-operated one.

 

So what about the batteries?

 

Some cheap electric cars, like the G-Wiz use heavy lead acid batteries – like huge versions of the batteries in your own car. But these have limited range.

 

The Tesla uses state-of-the-art lithium ion cells, about the size of a shotgun cartridge. Seven thousand of them.

 

In fact they're the same cells which are lined up in your laptop's battery pack. The advantage of this is Tesla can use the latest and most powerful versions, while letting computer companies' fork out millions to develop them.

 

Popping the boot – which can hold the prerequisite set of golf clubs – Brian shows me the battery pack. It stretches the entire length of the car, and occupies a space about 18 inches from the back of the car right up to the seats.

 

It weighs about half a ton, which is the bulk of the car's weight.

 

If all this sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Brian reckons about 1,500 of the $100,000 Tesla Roadsters will be sold a year in America. And only in America.

 

The company has already pre-sold 300 Roadsters, including one to George Clooney – despite few potential customers having driven one.

 

Unless there's a massive demand for them in the UK, Tesla can't justify the cost of developing a model to meet UK regulations. America's gain is our loss.

 

L.A.T.W.O.T. Video of the Week

Testing the Tesla on the ice. Not sure if drifting is an official part of the test programme, but it looks like the guys are having a blast.

 

 

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