Last Saturday, in the parking garage of Houston’s finest shopping palace, Mary Ann and I took a ride into the future.
We were visiting our oldest son John, who was very excited because he had scheduled a test drive for the Tesla Model 3 electric car.
John has always been our Gadget Child. When he was 12, he delighted in taking apart a home computer that I had replaced. In college, just to have it, he bought a used server that was half the size of a locomotive and made almost as much noise. And he is first in line every time Apple comes out with a new iPhone.
Given that history, his curiosity about an electric vehicle did not surprise me. But his complaints about his BMW, which he has rebranded the “BM-Trouble-You,” were unexpected. Seems like just last year it was the Ultimate Driving Machine, even when one of his doors wouldn’t open.
Anyway, he had done plenty of Tesla research before Mary Ann and I arrived. The Model 3 may be the car that brings Tesla into the mainstream, as its prices start just below $40,000.
John, being Gadget Child, either arranged or lucked into a drive in one of the higher-end Model 3s. If I understood him correctly, it had two electric motors under the hood.
It was an attractive dark blue vehicle. The front passenger seat was comfortable, and Mary Ann had plenty of space in the back seat.
The car’s top was one giant sunroof of dark glass. I am not a fan of sunroofs, but I’ll give Tesla points for going all in on the concept.
John drove the Tesla out of the Galleria parking garage and gave it an energetic 30-minute spin that included plenty of tests of the Model 3’s claim that it could go from zero to 60 mph in 3 seconds.
Since we were driving around in a crowded big city, he never got the car up to 60 (thank goodness). But I was very surprised at how rapidly it gained speed when he punched the gas pedal — although I guess it’s outdated to say that an electric car has one of those.
It also was strange not to hear a gasoline-powered engine. The ride wasn’t quiet because John was giving the stereo system a good test, but the car didn’t make much noise when he sped up rapidly.
The Tesla guy who gave John pointers at the Galleria told him that there was rarely a need to use the brake pedal. Laying off the “gas” would automatically apply the brakes, and the energy created by slowing down would be fed back into the car’s batteries. Good idea.
There were two obvious differences about the interior.
The Tesla had a 12-inch computer screen in front of the dashboard between the driver and passenger seats. It controls everything, and I’ll bet it takes a while before a driver is comfortable using it. Hopefully they’re working on a system that allows the driver to issue spoken commands to the car’s computer.
Also, the air conditioning system didn’t have the typical rectangular outlets on the sides and center. Instead, a narrow horizontal slit ran across the entire dashboard. You tapped the computer screen to direct air flow.
Anyway, the test drive was fun, and in all honestly the Tesla was a better, more comfortable car than I expected. John must now decide whether he wants to invest in a new car or a home. His parents have voted for a home, which probably means he’ll go with the car.
It’s easy to see that electric vehicles are the future. There are still some barriers, especially the distance the cars can travel before they need a recharge. The lowest-priced Model 3’s range is 260 miles, while the best version gets 350.
Thinking this through, if removing a percentage of gasoline-powered vehicles reduces our “carbon footprint,” I wonder if that improvement will be affected by a greater demand for electricity — which typically is generated by using carbon-based natural gas.
But Tesla is on the way to figuring out that stuff, and the big automakers surely are working on their own electric models. Competition will make these cars more affordable.
I’m not interested in buying an electric vehicle. For now, I like my trusty Buick. But it’s clear where this road is going. Leave it to the Gadget Child to give directions.
