02 Jan Elon Musk and Tesla
When Elon Musk was in college, he thought three things held the most import for our day: the Internet, people living on more than one planet, and the development of energy that’s green and environmentally friendly. He’s got ambitious plans to land the first humans on Mars in 2025, folks willing to risk everything to pave the way and go for generations to follow.
Mind blowing.
But, he’s also working close to home, too, developing electric vehicles that are sleek, fast, and environmentally clean.
Musk heads Tesla, the company known for its electric cars, with an enormous factory in California’s Silicon Valley. While only a portion of the factory’s space is being used for current production demands, the company plans to use the entire facility as they continue to develop and release future models.
The company doesn’t have to wait until then to be impressive. Take their Model S full-size sedan, for example. Here’s a car that was not intended to be operated by everyone. Rather, the initial goal was to prove that Tesla could produce cars that would rival other top sports cars. The target was to produce a small amount of them to establish Tesla’s credibility first, and it definitely succeeded when the Model S was released. Interested about some of the specs on this gorgeous car?
Its price tag is in the $100K range. Might as well just get that on the table in advance. But, the car can go 480 km before it has to be charged.
Central to the car’s design was a prioritize making it aerodynamic. Even the door handles on the Model S are designed to reduce drag: they literally recede into the car, lying flush with the body.
Because these cars don’t entail the same equipment as a combustion engine vehicle, the Model S has a lot area in the interior. It’s a sedan with the ability of seating 7 passengers! Yes, the standard seating arrangement is for 5, but you can add an additional rear-facing child seat, bumping passenger capacity to 7.
If you’ve got kids sitting in the back, though, you might be wondering where you can put the stuff you’d normally stick in a trunk. There’s storage under the front hood!
Another design feature made up to encourage higher battery yield and better performance overall? 97% of the car is constructed using lightweight aluminum. Those sheets of aluminum are then put into a significant production stamper to attain the desired shape for the necessary parts.
The car is produced using robots, and is fine-tuned by those supervising the process. Naturally, everything has to be accurate so that the finished product is exquisite.
One of the things that’s so surprising to the driver when they first get behind the wheel of this car is the response that it gives. The TV turns on immediately, and that’s how the car performs, too.
One other thing? The inside of the vehicle has a 17-inch operating screen to deal with the several features that the car offers.
And as for the company’s next rollout? A third model is in the works, one that will be much more affordable to the masses, while keeping the high standard of excellence this company has come to be known for.
Technological improvements like this are exciting for everyone; it indicates that solutions are being developed to counter today’s environmental problems. Musk’s company is making an impressive dent around the world of green transportation, a necessary and important contribution in our time. Even though most of us can’t afford a Model S, the company is going to release a vehicle that will be more affordable for everyone.
What about when you are trying to get a big group somewhere and you need to stay together? Even with being a 7-seater, the Model S won’t have the capacity to cover a bunch of people at once. This is where a motorcoach becomes the appropriate solution. In our everyday lives, most of us aren’t driving electric cars yet. That doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t make choices that benefit the environment, even now. Motorcoaches remove up to 57 personal cars off the road, so riding in a motorcoach means you are helping to make our air cleaner, reducing the amount of emissions getting involved with the environment. It’s a stimulating time in the world of transportation, and we are proud to offer a medium that’s a smarter choice for our planet!
(The information for this article came from this National Geographic documentary: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yRGy74AyT6A).