Gadgetory

and then there were three Tesla has rolled out a beta version of its third car the Model X let's see if it will fly and check the tech of course the first two things you notice about the Model X are oh it's an SUV and oh my god it's gonna fly away well here it is the third Tesla the Tesla Model X and you would think being a Tesla it's all gonna be about electrification how the car moves under battery power only and how fast it is but surprisingly the Tesla message here is as much about practicality and usability as it is about what drives this vehicle in fact founder Elon Musk goes so far as to say this car will be minivans SUVs and even the current 911 all at their own games I think it just provides a whole new level of functionality that no minivan and no SUV have the most distinctive thing you'll see on the Model X are doors that do something you've never seen before they lift like a Gullwing door but those have never been practical these also articulate right about the belt line here and become what they call a falcon wing door that gives you according to Tesla much more useful access to the second row with a child seat while also being able to use the third row at the same time how many parents know what I'm talking about there and of course you can tell by the altitude of getting in here this is a car that allows you to stand up on ingress now Tesla says these doors will open up in any parking spot that has enough room for you to fit between the cars well maybe if you're a big fat guy to my eye they seem to need somewhat generous space but let's see what the production geometry turns out to be however you get inside its LCD city the instrument panel is all LCD the center stack is one huge 17 inch touchscreen LCD and there are even little iPod Nano looking LCDs on the steering wheel to create dynamic control functions as needed now this is interesting it may or may not make it to production because of various technical as well as legal reasons but it's a mirrorless car that has a rear-facing camera this does the job of looking back but instead of a mirror you look out at it puts that image on a screen in the vehicle we see this on a lot of concept cars Tesla says it could be legally tough with certain vehicle regulations but the reason they want to do it is not just tech gee whiz but to save some 5% of energy consumption during highway cruising the Model X is built on the platform of the Model S but with a bigger frontal area to move through the air the range will be down about 10 or 12 percent on a charge that means anywhere from 140 to 260 some odd miles depending on the model you buy zero to sixty is expected to be 4.4 seconds and that is indeed quicker than a current 911 now it's funny Tesla talks about this car having the handling of a Porsche and also the performance of one but also the front luggage capacity is rather similar up here there's no motor because the motors on this car are very compact and the batteries are down in the belly of the vehicle so you'll end up with not just that very spacious rear trunk but also a very spacious front trunk but it goes beyond practicality Tesla points out this is sort of the ultimate crumple zone when you hit something hard in this car there's a lot of space for things to collapse without shoving an engine through the console where you are the Model X is coming to market in limited production end of 2013 full volume top of 2014 - big question marks what will the appetite for EVs be by then and will those doors really make it to production