[yarian]

> The 55 miles is still at odds with Tesla though. On their website (http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/roadster-efficiency-and-rang...), at the bottom of the article they display a chart that claims a range of 75 miles even if the vehicle is topped out at 125mph for the entire charge.

You have to remember though, it would probably spend more energy braking and speeding up again than it would going top speed steadily.

[redthrowaway]

Exactly. An interesting feature of electric motors is that they use very little electricity at high RPMs. Thus, the only energy spent would be that lost to mechanical friction, and that used to overcome air/tire resistance (which gets significant at higher speeds). So, whereas a Bugatti Veyron could be emptied in 15 minutes at full throttle, the fastest way to empty the charge on an electric vehicle is rapid and extreme changes in velocity (like those seen on a track), where juice-hungry torque is in high demand.

For a more familiar example, a cordless drill will die far faster by driving screws into hardwood than by drilling holes in softwood at high speed. The same is not true of internal combustion engines.