Tango Electric Cruiser Smokes Tesla Roadster in Quarter Mile Drag
The Tesla Roadster is much touted as the crown jewel of electric cars, but this video shows the tiny electric commuter car completely smoking a Tesla at Infineon Raceway late last month.
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From the videographer:
On Nov 30th, the fastest production electric vehicles in the U.S. went head-to-head. While their first meeting had a number of issues, most notably the underfilled Tango battery pack, and the Tesla’s non-upgraded drivetrain, the 1/4 mile time is quite close and indicative of races to come.
In this race, the Tango got 92.15mph in 14.480 seconds, beating its 14.7 “dial” handicap and thus losing the competition; the Tesla got 101.23mph in 14.666 seconds, slower than its 14.5 “dial” handicap and allowing it to proceed to the next round. (Two rounds later, the Tango’s driver got behind the wheel of the Tesla and also beat its “dial” handicap… and thus lost!)
The square and chunky Tango cruiser met the sexy Tesla head-on, and showed us that form and function don’t always go together. At least in EV drag racing…
Funny, now I would like to see a race with these two against the Eliica.
… or the Killacycle!
But I gotta say, the Tesla always wins in the style category - I wouldn’t be caught dead in the nerd-hauler that is the Tango.
That Tesla has the pre-production 1.0 powertrain. The production powertrain in currently shipping cars does a 12.7 sec quarter-mile. Here’s a first person account, complete with drag strip receipt:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=69
It is obvious to anyone paying attention that the Tango left the line first…looks rigged to me.
Yes, the Tango had a 14.7 dial, whereas the Tesla had a 14.5 dial, so the Tango got a 0.2 second head start, in accordance with the rules of bracket drag racing.
What I really don’t get is, the video never claims either car smoked the other. In fact the video text says the Tesla was faster than 14.5 when the Tango’s driver got behind the wheel of the Tesla. A factcheck find that the fastest Tesla time that day was 14.498, versus the Tango’s 14.480. That’s 18 thousandths of a second - basically a tie.
Wait for a run where the Tesla has the new tranny, and the Tango has a properly full battery - or even the new LiIon pack that commutercars.com claims is coming up. Now *that* will be an even more interesting - and faster - contest.
[...] with its top speed of 150 MPH (see it smoke a Tesla, even), like many EVs, it can go much faster than the meter maid. And plow [...]