Silicon Valley automotive startup Tesla Motors plans to open a Houston dealership for the company’s all-electric cars within the next 60 days — in the Nordstrom wing of the Galleria. The company-operated store, inspired by Apple Stores, Starbucks, and airport frequent-flier clubs, will include samples of the company’s Model S and Roadster models that visitors will be encouraged to climb into, as well as a Design Studio for assembling and pricing an EV to your own specifications.
- Tesla’s coming to town [Fuel Fix]
- Stop In. Go Electric. [Tesla Motors]
- The Perfect Tesla Store [Tesla Motors]
Photos: Tesla Motors (store in Lone Tree, Colorado); Purva Patel (Galleria)
Electric cars will sell like hotcakes just as soon as they can serve as a household backup power system. Why not? If you’re plugged in at home and the power goes out, the car’s batteries and/or hybrid motor supply the juice.
The Prius gas motor is 98hp peak = 73kw. Even at low idle, it has more than enough power to run a whole house AC in Houston.
Of course, Tesla will be long gone before this comes to pass…
@Patrick: Nissan and Mitsubishi have formed a partnership to develop that kind of system for the Leaf and the i-MiEV.
Saw that at the Galleria today. I wonder if this storefront is more of a marketing thing to raise awareness of their brand?
I always wanted a coal-powered car.
Patrick:
That’s a great idea, and there’s not obvious reason (to this non-engineer) why they shouldn’t be able to work that way.
What a boondoggle and waste of money.. Electric cars are a great idea, selling them in the mall, looks pathetic to me..
Heck, why not act as a backup generator for the whole Houston power grid? Let’s see, if 10% of all Houstonians owned a Prius, that would be 2,016,582 x .10 = 201,658 x 73kw = 14.7 gigawatts.
Just go ahead and send me the Nobel prize…
The Volt gasoline engine is only 80hp, so we’d need 12% of the population to own one. However, Chevrolet could turn the Astrodome into Volt assembly plant and hire out of work Houstonians to build the required 247,000 cars.
That’s a win-win-win for Texas. Gen-i-us.
Green car, my a**. Coal-fired and nuclear-powered plants provide the juice.