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Oil is trading at $122 a barrel today. It just makes saying the phrase “fill ‘er up” that much harder. These days, my system of pulling up to the pump for a full tank that’ll run me for a week has been shot to shreds. I have been gritting my teeth through the ordeal but as the zeroes at the pump close in on the zeroes on my paycheck, I find myself drained (no pun intended) every time I’m leaving the fuel station.
What’s bringing me close to tears is just that when we’ve almost perfected the internal combustion engine with Electronic Fuel Injection, Active Valve Control Systems, Double Over Head Camshafts, yadayadayada and just when the cars have gotten to be sleek spears shaped in wind tunnels with airbags and cubbyholes just about anywhere you look and they emit among other things, an exhaust note to die for………..there’s nothing for these works of engineering genius to run on 
“TOYOTA PRIUS!!!!” I hear you scream. Er….well, it’s got two things going against it. One, it’s a Toyota and two, it’s a prius. Looks like it was designed on an etch-a-sketch, does 0-60 in the same time it takes paint to dry (on a wet afternoon) and worst, it can’t seem to make up its mind what it is; do I run on gas, do I run on static? is the eternal debate. A bragaddocio Jekyll meeting a benign Hyde.
Enter the Tesla roadster.
0-60 in less than 4 seconds (3.9 to be exact)
220 miles per full charge
No stops at fuel pumps……….ever
Shame they don’t have a saloon version (yet)
Shame it takes 3.5 hours to get fully charged (something about paint drying?)
Shame it goes for about $ 100 000 (for now)
And if I hear one word from some ultra-environmentalist about the carbon load/footprint/whatever that generating enough electricity to run this car makes, I will give them a load of lead/foot-in-butt/whatever will make them shut up…..for now.
Audiophile: Franz Ferdinand – Michael
Off my shelf: Energy prices report: www.bloomberg.com/energy
Midday Matinee: The Merchant of Venice (2004)
Starring: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and Lynn Collins
Directed by: Michael Radford
