Tesla Crashed, Bodywork Smashed, Batteries Mashed, But Electrons Do No Harm
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Tesla Motors
has insisted from the start that its electric roadster, despite being packed with enough voltage to jump start Geo. W. Bush's political career (well, maybe not that
much, but a hefty 375 volts anyhow), is quite safe.
Now, with this Tesla crash, the company has proof.
A Tesla sales director was demonstrating one of the company's European-market roadsters to a prospective customer in the south of France on a wet day last week when he lost control and the car started hydroplaning at what a Tesla representative said was a speed of 62 miles an hour - that's 100 kph, not 100 mph as some are reporting, sad spokeswoman Rachel Konrad.
In the resulting crash, the car was torn apart and the poor passenger ejected.
Konrad confirmed to Green Car Advisor today that both the sales director (still a Tesla employee!) and his passenger escaped with relatively light injuries.
The Tesla, as these photos from the website Wrecked Exotics testify, wasn't so lucky.
But while the car was badly torn up, there were no chemical leaks, no electrical fires and no one was electrocuted.
Konrad said she's still trying to get a police report to pin down particulars of the accident - what the car hit, for instance -- and promised to get back to us with an update.
We'll bring it to you when we get it.
Meantime we can report that the driver apparently sustained a broken hand and minor bruises.
We don't have an injury report on the passenger, but have been told he was released from the hospital, which would seem to indicate that he was admitted at least for observation.
We also don't know that the plans are for the wrecked car.
The Tesla's lithium-ion batteries are recyclable, as are many of the electronic components and a lot of the wiring.
For now, though, the car, whose batteries produce 135 kilowatts of power, is sitting forlornly atop a rusty hulk in a French wrecking yard.
As a footnote, this is the third known accident involving a Tesla: the first occurred in California on another test drive when a Tesla technician rear-ended a truck; the second was in San Francisco and also involved a Tesla rear-ending another vehicle.
Neither resulted in serious injury or electrical incident.
- Posted by
- John O'Dell November 5, 2008, 5:13 PM
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- Plug-ins and Electric, Tesla
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- Tesla Crash, Tesla Motors
A lot of rear-ending going on. Maybe the brakes are difficult to modulate due to the regen. Or maybe it's just realy fast, and the sales guys where driving "a little" too fast.
Ya think?
The cab looks relatively intact, despite the fact all the panels and doors were piled in there for transport. Ejected? Really?! Don't Europeans wear seatbelts?