I'm sold where can I find the aftermarket parts?-_-

Hello!

Man!! In your face!! You stupid rich kids!!
Show them your strength John Wayland!! The White Zombie's king!!

DATSUN 4VR!!!

Of course, the next thing is to pit the Tesla and the White Zombie against each other in a series of tests, including 1/4 mile run. If the W.Z. can not only keep up with the Tesla but beat it on the 1/4 mile, I think it would completely destroy the credibility of the Tesla and it's entire premise.

If so, then how about instead of spending $100K on the Tesla, you could hire Mr Wayland to build his version of an electric car for you. You can take the money you save on his car and take yourself out on a very luxurious cruise, or one very high-rollin' night at Vegas. Also, if I were Tesla, I would fire their design team and hire Mr Wayland!

This probably goes to show you that money can be and usually is spent in enormous amounts to achieve what the layperson can do with much less. I agree, they should hire Mr. Wayland or someone should!!

@Weebork: "Of course, the next thing is to pit the Tesla and the White Zombie against each other in a series of tests, including 1/4 mile run. If the W.Z. can not only keep up with the Tesla but beat it on the 1/4 mile, I think it would completely destroy the credibility of the Tesla and it's entire premise."

If you really want to compare the Tesla and White Zombie, go ahead and drive them through Texas at noon in the summer and afterwards (assuming you don't get heat stroke in the White Zombie), go ahead and crash test them - IIHS and NHTSA - and compare the results for passenger injury (no cheating by wearing a helmet in the White Zombie).

Don't get me wrong, I'm very impressed by what the White Zombie is able to accomplish on the drag strip but comparing a gutted, '72 Datsun w/roll cage to a modern vehicle with required safety equipment (air bags, ABS, etc.) and expected comfort items (A/C, stereo, etc.) is absurd.

The fact that the White Zombie and Tesla are both electric and have four wheels and two doors is about where the similarities end.

@TBLUEMAX
oh how right you are my friend...the lil' datsun is pretty sick but to all those who say it beats the tesla, wake up. the tesla is a real street car not a street legal drag car. i wonder how long this little datsun would last in dc area traffic? or flying around the beltway at 70mph for 40min. like tblu says also, bet the dat wouldnt be much use in the middle of summer w/o ac. so the dat would beat the tesla in the 1/4, the tesla absolutely destroys it in every other imagineable test...kudos to wayland though, i would love to see the looks on some of the muscle car guys faces.

Davy vs. Goliath comparison is just for an interesting read. You should know an upstart low production auto company cannot compete in price with mainstream cars. This is why we all don't have Ferrari's and Bugatti's. Price no object, which car would you rather have? I can't afford a Tesla but at least its got people and companies working on producing cheaper electric cars.

Kinda funny- some of you guys sound like you expect that this conversion was somehow cheaper than buying a Tesla. Considering the cost of manhours, materials, and continued rebuilding over the years, I bet it's on a par or more expensive.

If someone knows the weight of this Datsun, then you can calculate the horsepower (and by the same means the kilowatts) used to accelerate it down the 1/4 mile strip. Then factor in the 12 seconds of total travel time, and you get the KWH rating. The Tesla probably has more battery KWH but is used over a longer time period. The only thing that this Datsun has over the Tesla is less weight and an electric motor that can take all that KWH in those 12 seconds. If it ran for more seconds, it would catch fire, melt the coil windings, or both!

I have seen the video of the world's fastest electric bike, and its motor does burst into flames. Each race is a one-way trip.

If both vehicles were equal in cost, I prefer the Tesla over the Datsun. I don't need to take 114 MPH trips to the grocery store!!!

When we stop paying so much attention to horsepower and rates of acceleration, and start paying attention to efficiency and pollution-control then we will really be accomplishing something!