I am not big into cars but even I know the future when I see it.
My first encounter with a Tesla was about three years ago when Joe Nguyen of comScore said he wanted to show me his latest gadget and took me for a drive in one of the first few models of the electric car invented by Elon Musk.
We couldn’t go that far or fast in Singapore but I was impressed by the super fast acceleration and intrigued by the idea that you charge a car like you do your mobile phone. My thinking at the time was, cool toy for rich boys, or men in midlife crisis mode.
Bobby Healy behind the wheels of his Tesla.
Last week, Bobby Healy, CTO of CarTrawler, gave me a lift from County Wicklow to Dublin and I saw the future. It’s still relatively expensive – he bought it online for 100,000 Euros, it was shipped to Netherlands, and he paid 60,000 Euros in taxes to have it brought to Dublin about three weeks ago.
It’s still a great looking car, not as flashy and low slung as the early model Joe had, more something you’d drive your kids in now. Indeed, Bobby’s daughter Lily Mia was the backseat passenger and she tells me she loves the car.
I asked Daddy why he bought it and he said, “Because I am the CTO. I got bored with cars and this is a great piece of technology.” As someone who loves to build things and is obsessed with building “the next big thing” – Healy’s first creation was video games for Nintendo at age 16 – he is impressed by the engineering behind the machine.
He shows me the self-drive feature. The machine reads the white lines on the road and sounds the alarm should something come too close, and then man takes over.
“I wouldn’t do it on narrow, winding roads and I don’t trust Irish roads but it’s okay on the motorway when you’re just going in a straight line,” says Healy. Having just had it for three weeks, he’s still learning about the machine but on motorways, he places it on self-drive and catches up on work.
Look ma, no hands!
He remains alert though. Because the danger is often not the roads but other drivers – and you have to have pretty quick reflexes to take over the wheel when the alarm sounds.
I cannot imagine it working in countries with crazy drivers who don’t follow the rules – as in Malaysia or Indonesia – or places with massive traffic problems like in Bangkok.
But there is no doubting the impact of cars like Tesla on the future of driving and transportation.
Having read the book, “Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X and The Quest For a Fantastic Future”, I now understand what’s the motivation behind this amazing, driven entrepreneur from South Africa. He doesn’t just want to build cool cars, he wants to change the future of transportation. He doesn’t just want to build cool rockets, he wants to change the future of mankind.
And he’s carzy enough to do it. Explaining himself to a potential investor, he says, “My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.”
Tesla has become a car that women will drive – Healy says his wife loves driving it. “Wives love it, nerds love it, what else do you need?” jests Healy.
Inside the Tesla.
You now have charging stations more readily available – there are now apps available that tells you where to charge – and Healy says the most liberating thing is not having to fill up with petrol but just to charge it at home, and one charge (recommended 80%) gives you enough juice for about 400km.
The night before, I had dinner with Marijan Babic of Avant Car in Croatia who sells electric cars in Croatia in an exclusive partnership with Volkswagen. He owns five Teslas which he places in his car rental fleet for customers who want a new driving experience.
Take-up is slow. “No one is ready to rent electric cars yet, you need 20 minutes to prepare yourself, how to charge, where to charge but this is our differentiator and for me, this is the future,” said Babic.
Both Babic and Healy believe the future will happen when Tesla comes out with its family sedan model (expected 2016) which will be priced around US$30,000. “Tesla will cause the tipping point,” said Healy. “The perception will change. Right now, people don’t realise it is a practical car.”
For me, the argument is not man vs machine – there are those who fear self-drive or driverless cars will take away the joy of driving – but how (wo)man works with machine.
Just as with your smartphone, as you figure out how the technology works, the experience will get better and better until, well, the machine takes over your life – if you allow it to. That decision belongs ultimately to (wo)man, not machine.
