HEADS are turning in Liebig Street as motorists plug in the car of the future into newly installed Tesla electric chargers.
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Warrnambool’s David McLeod took advantage of the new charging station on Monday after he purchased the car while his wife was shopping.
Mr McLeod said he thinks there are about five people in the south-west who have Tesla cars who will take advantage of the two charging stations installed by Warrnambool City Council as part of the $15 million CBD renewal.
Only metres after driving a vehicle off the lot for a test drive, he knew he would be buying one.
Mr McLeod became hooked on the futuristic vehicle only metres into test driving it off the lot.
“I drove it about 20 yards and thought wow, I need one of these,” he said.
“The first thing that strikes you is just how quiet they are.”
Mr McLeod said the running cost was about a tenth of the cost of using fuel.
“It costs me about 1.5 cents per kilometre,” he said.
“I’ve spent $153 in power for 10,000 kilometres of driving so far.”
His Tesla 100D has a motor in the front and in the back.
“It’s got heaps of power,” he said. “It gets from nought to 100 in four seconds. It also has really nice big screen displays and navigation.”
He said he will never go back to a petrol or gas car.
“A normal car just feels like an old banger,” he said.
“The other interesting thing is you don’t need brakes.
“You take your foot off the pedal and it slows down. That’s called regenerative braking. It puts power back into the battery.”
The base Tesla model car starts at about $124,218.
A council spokesman said the chargers were provided free of charge.
"It puts us on all the destination maps for those who need to charge their electric cars," he said.
"At the moment it's a free service but down the track it will be reviewed."
The spokesman said there was scope for parking and charging fees to be implemented in the future.