I had an early connection that allowed me to drive and evaluate a model S very early in its introduction. Two of the execs and engineering leads I spoke with just could not get it when I said that it didn’t compare favorably with BMW 5 series at half the price. They were outright incensed when I told them the feel of their build quality was closer to a Camry or Accord in terms of market segment. The exterior gap tolerances, the cheaper upholstery, mid-grade interior plastics and trim, and the horrible geometry of the backseat. I’m not a large mammal, but I felt like I was in danger of falling/sliding forward off the backseat (it lacks sufficient depth and any recline). On the positive side, it had dramatically reduced parts counts for interior controls by replacing it with soft controls through the touchscreen, it had great weight distribution and the acceleration and driving dynamics were promising. On the downside of the power train, the batteries on the model S have real deficiencies when it comes to heat management with repeated heavy acceleration cycles (hello limp home mode), and are prone to burning the car down if physically compromised.

When you think about the volume of energy transfer and storage that takes place when you pump gas or diesel into a car and compare it to transferring and storing an equivalent amount of electric charge, petroleum based fuel transfer and storage really is an elegant engineering solution that batteries and electricity have yet to match.