Plug and Play

The fast, clean, green automobile is no longer a dream. It's right around the corner and coming soon to your driveway.

BY STEVE LEVINE | OCTOBER 11, 2010

Tesla Roadster: The fashion statement of the moment, this enviable ride costs $120,000, goes from 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds, and can travel as much as 250 miles on a single charge. The first offering from Tesla, a Silicon-Valley start-up run by PayPal founder Elon Musk, the Roadster has been showered with unmatched love in the form of U.S. federal dollars ($249 million and counting) and celebrity customers (Matt Damon, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman). But production delays have been a concern, and the competition is nipping at its heels.

GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

 

Steve LeVine is a contributing editor at Foreign Policy and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Security Studies Program.