to be honest
i was pleasantly surprised by the positivness of Clarkson's review, and i didn't feel there was any undertone of "i hate this because it's electric".
the ge-wizz got the "i hate this because its crap" and rightly so. nothing to do with the power plant. the ge-wizz got slated because a mobility scooter has more go in it.
Tesla.
Fast - yes, even with half ton of battery.
Handling - let down by half ton of battery.
Range - let down by half ton of battery.
Noisy - lots of road /wind noise.
Range - battery not enough.
Fun - yes. just needs to loose the half ton of battery and go hydrogen fuel cell.
i like the idea of regerative braking, but it sounded like their implementation was an all or nothing approach. not the progressive braking in "normal" cars.
they admitted to having problems as the two speed gearbox and locked it down to one. so from tesla's point of view it was definatly a proof of concept, and not really the finished showroom product. thats what i can guess as to why they had two there in the first place in case one went pop? its not like you can pop down your local tesla garage and take one for a test drive. these things were probably negotiated over, shipped across, fettled and honed. then one then still goes and blows its fuses.
As for the Honda. well, if they were only petrol heads, then this wouldn't have even got a mention. as it was, James flew over there, found out about it, drove it, and i personally, wouldn't have heard about it otherwise.
"GO" icon for Top Gear.