Tesla S: car review | Martin Love

The electric Tesla S is a pure spark of inspiration. But how did it get so far ahead of the competition?

Price 50,000
MPG 152 (equivalent)
Top speed 140mph

The future doesn't arrive gently: it comes at a leap - a great galumphing jump that leaves you laughing with disbelief. I drove the Tesla S last week and it offers such revolutionary solutions to so many of the oily problems that bog most manufacturers down that you wonder what on earth they've all been doing. While they've been dozing, Elon Musk, the polymath gigabillionaire who invented PayPal, has set about changing the cars we drive - and the way we drive them.