The go-to guy at Tesla Motors, Joe Powers, was kind enough to answer some of our questions about the Tesla Roadster.

Joe Powers of Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors’ customers are a diverse group of rock stars, CEOs, actors and automotive enthusiasts, to name a few.

MVP GAMING: Why Tesla? Why not Edison or Franklin or some other person who is more popular for lesser reasons? Or did we just answer that question for you?

JOE: Yes, you did.

MVP GAMING: In a world where cats can glow in the dark, entire TV channels are devoted to video gaming and America is being crushed under the cost of foreign oil, do you think people are too slow to adopt the electric car as their near future or do you believe the pace is where it should be?

JOE: Certainly we'd be better off if electric cars were adopted decades ago - it's interesting to consider that the very first automobiles built were electric, but gas engines have dominated the past century for reasons of convenience. In today's world where the true cost of gas-powered transportation is more evident, electric drive is coming back.

The first commercially available electric cars were produced by Ransom Olds around the turn of the 20th century. In 1899 and 1900, electric cars outsold all other type of cars. The most popular of these was the Columbia built by Colonel Albert Augustus Pope, owner of American Bicycle Company.

MVP GAMING: Video gaming is one of the largest consumer industries in the world and is still considered a sub culture by many. Do you consider video gaming to be as important a promotional tool for the Tesla Roadster as movies or television?

JOE: Advertising today is very different than it was 50, 10 or even 2 years ago. Viral marketing and bottom-up evangelism drives product success more and more because people are connected on so many intimate levels now. The gaming culture is an important part of that network, especially when you consider that most gamers will not be able to purchase a real Tesla until lower-price models are offered later.

For those who would still like to purchase a Roadster, Tesla Motors has opened a wait list for 2009 model year cars. Visit the Tesla Motors website and complete their wait list form. A refundable $5,000 will hold your place in line. They have not yet announced pricing for the 2009 model year car. They do expect to be able to update you on pricing, exterior colors, options, and accessories this year.

MVP GAMING: Has anyone taken the Tesla Roadster on the Audubon Speedway as yet?

JOE: Not yet.

MVP GAMING: Since we can't drive at ridiculous speeds and watch multiple crashes and millions of dollars of property damage without incurring some kind of bodily injury, we gamers love to see this simulated in games such as Burnout. Have any of the Tesla Roadsters been wrecked before and do you think it will make an appearance in the next Burnout game as the first licensed car in the series to continue your trend of firsts? If not you might want to get on it.

JOE: I'm sure the Roadster will be featured in many games to come, along with the desired carnage most people have come to expect. We certainly do crash these cars in real life. Millions of development dollars have been spent for government mandated safety crash tests (we totaled seven cars to date) to insure that the car is street legal and safe for our passengers.

MVP GAMING: Do you have any plans for the Tesla Roadster in any actual racing competitions, such as NASCAR or Indy500? Is there even a chance we may see it in the next Fast and Furious movie starring some adolescent detectives or army brats?

JOE: The implications for a racing version are there because of the inherent performance characteristics with electric drive, and especially with the Roadster. Our focus over the next couple of years will be successfully launching and providing a high level of service for our early customers, but we expect to diversify marketing and engineering tasks in the future as our company grows.

Performance and range testing was done in 2007 and the Tesla Roadster's range came in at 245 miles per charge, based on the EPA's combined city/highway testing cycle. The highway cycle was 235 and the city cycle was 255. (In EVs city mileage is generally higher thanks to regenerative braking.)

Range measures the average distance the car can drive on a single charge and is rated by the EPA in the same way that gasoline cars display a per-gallon mileage estimate on their window sticker. Car manufacturers are able to report comparable numbers by using standardized test patterns set up by the EPA. As noted above, there are three main test cycles a car manufacturer must complete: combined city/highway driving, city driving, and highway driving. Testing is run on machines called dynamometers and includes periods of operation when the air conditioning and heat are in use.

The tests were observed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and are in the final stages of certifying numbers with the EPA, a requirement for selling the cars in the United States.

MVP GAMING: Have you seen the movie "The Prestige" in which David Bowie played Nikola Tesla? Is this a subtle hint that the Tesla Roadster is actually a human duplicating device?

JOE: Yes and no - there is no backseat.

MVP GAMING: We are all friends here, so you can admit it to us... Did the long life of the lithium ion cells that power the Roadster come from aliens? If not, what do they want you to tell us as a likely cover story?

JOE: (Clears throat)

MVP GAMING: How many Tesla Roadsters did President George Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney buy?

JOE: No comment.

MVP GAMING: Will the Tesla Roadster be making any major appearances in 2008?

JOE: Stay tuned to our events page on our website for upcoming appearances. Thanks guys.

We would like to thank Joe Powers of Tesla Motors for being a great sport. Also, we’d like to encourage everyone to get excited about the clean future we can still have and enjoy doing it at 125 miles per hour. Remember that with no fumes the loser gets to see you pull away into the distance and they’re not blinded by smoke - just envy.