A free Tesla Roadster can be yours when you buy a green luxury home on the outskirts of Paris, so what are you waiting for?  Welcome to France, a real-estate company for the uber-rich, is offering the high-end electric car with the purchase of one of their soon-to-be-built, ecologically designed homes, which boast solar panels, geothermal energy and a water treatment facility.  All you have to do is fly your private helicopter to the landing pad, play a few rounds of golf on the estate’s exclusive course and cruise off into the sunset in your brand new Tesla, because you deserve it, you big environmental hero, you.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t turn down a free Tesla, and I’m eager to see more electric cars at all levels, but something tells me this extravagant development will hardly be a boon for the planet.  The “green” homes will likely be purchased to assuage the eco-guilt of someone who owns multiple palaces, globe-trots on private jets and has a carbon footprint the size of the hole in the ozone.  I suppose if they’re going to be built, they might as well lessen the impact, but surely the “environmental” escapades of the elite could be done on a smaller scale.  End rant.

Check out the Tesla Roadster on the TakePart Test Drive:

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Yesterday Tesla Motors unveiled its long-anticipated second electric sedan, the Model S. Just a sliver shy of $50k, post-tax credits, the high-ish price tag of the luxury electric car is in part due to the lithium ion battery, and in part to its size—it fits a 50-inch TV, surfboard and mountain bike at the same time. Perfect for my typical Saturday, and it travels 300 miles on a single charge. From the press release:

The Model S, which carries its charger onboard, can be recharged from any 120V, 240V or 480V outlet, with the latter taking only 45 minutes. By recharging their car while they stop for a meal, drivers can go from LA to New York in approximately the same time as a gasoline car.  Moreover, the floor-mounted battery pack is designed to be changed out in less time than it takes to fill a gas tank, allowing for the possibility of battery-pack swap stations.

takepart and read this recent article from Scientific American on lithium ion batteries.

Leonardo DiCaprio has always been outspoken about the environment - and now he is putting his money where his mouth is, at least when it comes to his car.  When talking with The Daily Mail, Leo revealed that he just purchased a brand new Tesla Roadster - the first high performance electric car (and Leo’s first sports car).  He also gave us some insight into his environmental views:

‘This is not about me,’ he says. ‘And it’s not about one group of people telling any other group of people how to live. I don’t think it’s fair to tell people to install solar panels, buy (low-watt) light bulbs or drive a hybrid - that’s not a reality for most people… ‘We are the most powerful country in the world and we haven’t made a tiptoe towards renewable technologies. We should be the ones paving the way, the ones other countries look up to. It makes me extremely sad.

While I think there are small ways each person can make a difference - I agree that as things are today, Leo is right about individual responsibility on a larger level - so three cheers for Leo! And speaking of praise for the actor, Revolutionary Road may not have been on my top 10 list (I really think you should all see it though) but after seeing the trailer about 5-6 times in the past week while at the movie theater, I am convinced that the film does have the trailer of the year.  Give a watch below - but before you do, be sure to takepart with the action site for his film The 11th Hour.

Ah, SUVs. As much as they get a bad rap, I’ve got no complaints with one that emits zero emissions, particularly when they’re as cute as the new Phoenix Motorcar. Just look at that thing! Tell me you can’t see yourself driving to Malibu in it with a giant beach ball in the back.

Phoenix uses a lithium titanate, non-toxic battery pack to fuel their new line of sport utility vehicles, which are completely electric, can achieve freeway speed, AND will travel over 100 miles on a single 10-minute charge. Move over Tesla Roadster! Here’s green hero Ed Begley giving his seal of approval at a Phoenix Motorcars event.

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We all know that Matt Damon likes his car chase scenes fast and furious. (Bourne Ultimatum scene | Damon talking about those stunts) So it was no surprise that Damon was one of the first in line to buy a Tesla Roadster — the soon-to-be-released electric car that also happens to be one of the fastest-accelerating street-legal vehicles on the planet.

“Next year I’m getting a Tesla Roadster,” he told press last year, “Which I’m very, very excited about. It’s an electric car, gets about 250 miles to the charge and is fast as hell!”

Damon got to test drive one on Sunday. A blogger from Autofiends.com happened to be on hand when Damon pulled up to a Coffee Bean in Studio City (North Los Angeles), CA in a light blue Tesla prototype. Cool part: Damon was stoked to chat about his new joy ride. (click for story and more pix)

(via Ecorazzi)

Tesla Motors is currently in production on the 2008 model of their instant classic, all electric, sports car, the Tesla Roadster. If you feel like saving the environment in an energy efficient car that’s also sexy as all get out, the Tesla Roadster is the car for you. Factor in the added bonus of never having to stand at a gas pump again and it’s clear why this new American auto company has sold out its production orders of the Roadster.

But how does it work? You simply plug the car into the wall, charge it up and you’re off and running. The Roadster goes from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds off the line. It has a range of 220 miles per charge. The equivalent energy efficiency of the vehicle to a gas powered car is 135 miles per gallon and the cost of running the Roadster is less than 2 cents per mile. Read the rest of this entry >>

Are your travel habits forcing you to fly the unfriendly skies? Flying on a jet airplane isn’t exactly the best way to reduce your carbon footprint. A roundtrip flight from New York to Los Angeles creates between 2 and 3 tons of CO2 per passenger. Unfortunately, unless you have two weeks to drive across country each way in your Tesla Roadster, your travel is going to put a strain on Mother Nature. Taking a plane is an occasionally necessary evil in our otherwise green-conscious lives. Still, there are ways you can fly smarter. Check out these suggestions for reducing your travel-related carbon impact from LiveEarth.org: Read the rest of this entry >>