Hot Electric Cars

Then came the word that Henrik Fisker's Fisker Automotive will be receiving more than half a billion dollar loan from the U.S. government. This will help make good the Karma.

The Tesla resolution between Martin Eberhard (past) and Elon Musk (present) is good news because, if nothing else, any dispute that might in any way distract Tesla from further working on the Roadster, its pioneering electric sports car, is not a dispute worth having. (Tesla is also working on an electric sedan -- a la the Karma -- apparently in an attempt to be more practical. Too bad.)

TTLA interviewed Eberhard three years ago, during the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. This annual event takes place with a backdrop of deer munching grass on the greens of a world- famous golf course, and with the Muir Woods* Del Monte forest and the Pacific Ocean as further setting. The happening is among the highest end and historic stops on the long auto show trail. Most of the vehicles there are historic -- as in, antique. Others that show, like the Tesla Roadster, are historic for other reasons.

From ForbesAutos, here's a bit from that TTLA-Eberhard interview:

Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard sat down with ForbesAutos on a golf course hill, between a roadster painted red and another painted black, and chatted about topics such as technology, politics, design, and philosophy. He noted how and why he believes previous recent electric vehicle attempts – with the exception, perhaps of the Venturi Fetish, went wrong.

"Every electric car that's existed in the last fifty years, let's say," Eberhard says, "was made by people who on the one hand were trying to save the world and do the right thing – so kudos to them for that – but they started out with the attitude that driving is bad, you should take the bus, or you should walk around in your Birkenstocks. And if you must drive, 'Well here's a car that will get you around.'

"In a way, what they are saying is, the only kind of car you need is a tiny little bubble car that will get you from here to there, and you just need to become better people.

"I mean, this is where [Karl] Marx went wrong. If your worldview is, 'First we're going to change human nature,' at that point you've already gone astray. Your worldview isn't going to work. I think we're one of the first – we'll allow Venturi also – companies making an electric car starting off by saying, 'Driving is great. We love it. It's fun. We're going to build a car for people who love to drive, and we're not going to apologize about it.' And if you start with a different attitude, you're going to come out with a different car."

So, Eberhard is asked, if Marx is the Saturn EV-1, then who is the Tesla Roadster?

"I don't know," the executive replies, with a laugh. "Adam Smith, something like that."

Eberhard tentatively expects the first 100 Roadsters to be available next spring. Production will likely conclude in April or May, and then there's a 30-day ocean-borne transport from Britain, where the cars are being crafted.

Related: Think tank spin-off and a plug-in hybrid.

*=correction