motoring
Look at that S car go!
Georgia Lewis tries to atone for her gas-guzzling past and takes an online test drive to customise her very own zero-emissions Tesla Model S Plaid...
O
nce upon a time, I was an expat cliché. I
in 2011 there were few signs that the UAE was
Model X – I cannot think of the last time I needed
still had the usual worries about bills and
embracing greener motoring. Fast-forward to
to transport seven adults anywhere – and I started
boyfriends that I couldn’t leave behind in Sydney,
2021 and there are only about 4,000 electric cars
looking at my options. Let’s see if I can have
but this was sweetened by the fact I was working
on UK roads, compared to nearly 300,000 pure-
top-of-the-line everything in my Tesla, I thought,
as a motoring journalist in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
electric cars on UK, and more than 600,000 if
clicked on ‘Model S Plaid’ and got busy.
I saw obscenely expensive cars so often, I thought
including plug-in hybrids.
nothing of parking next to a Lamborghini Gallardo in my gas-guzzling Mitsubishi Pajero SUV, I
Embracing electric
reviewed all manner of expensive cars.
As I look wistfully at my blue petrol-powered
at the supermarket. When I wasn’t driving around
Irresponsible highlights of this era include
Volkswagen Polo on the drive, I know my next
So what comes with the P laid S?
If I were to eschew the Plaid options, the base
barrelling a Bugatti Veyron at 180mph on a public
car will probably be electric. You can’t fight
model dual motor all-wheel-drive Model S would
road, looning in Lamborghinis around Qatar’s
progress, despite valid arguments about the
set me back £87,980. But I wanted a Plaid, an
motorcycle track, and monkeying about in a
often-unsavoury supply chains for electric car
all-wheel-drive with three motors, with a starting
Mercedes SLK on the Monaco road where Grace
components, or whether it’ll all be a waste of time
price of £118,930 and estimated delivery for the
Kelly died. My carbon footprint must have looked
if we charge our cars with electricity from dirty
end of 2022. If I must wait more than a year for my
like a coal miner’s lung.
power stations.
new car, I may as well make it a good ‘un.
But what if I got in early and went electric
The stats are pretty impressive. A top speed of
A hybrid virgin in the Middle East
sooner rather than later? And what if I got myself
200mph, a 0–60mph sprint of 1.99 seconds, 1,020
a really awesome option? Curious, I found myself
horsepower, and a single-charge range of 405
exploring the Tesla UK website. My only real-world
miles. In a country the size of the UK, that would
experience with a Tesla was last year, when,
be ample for most journeys so range anxiety
In 2010, Julian Millward-Hopkins, the late, great
bizarrely, I went to Switzerland for the day to tour
wouldn’t be a massive problem, especially as
Mercedes Middle East PR manager, put me
a food processing factory for a story. After flying to
more electric car charging stations are appearing.
behind the wheel of a hybrid Merc. He was
Zurich (remember planes?), I got a train to Uzwil
I regularly see a Tesla juicing up in the Asda car
honest enough to tell me he wasn’t sure how
where I was picked up from the station in a black
park. Perhaps they can’t afford Waitrose after
many would be sold in the Emirates unless a
Tesla Model X. It was slick, the quality control was
handing over their life savings to Elon Musk.
sheikh set an example and bought one, but it
insanely perfect, and it was so quiet I felt like I was
was important to at least try to create a market
in a mobile hearing test booth.
for hybrids in the land where oil reigns supreme. By the time I left the Middle East for London 84
S I LV E R M A G A Z I N E ISSUE #ONE
But for my virtual shopping trip, I thought the Model S saloon might be more suitable than a
My Plaid would grant me access to more than 25,000 superchargers globally so I could top it up to a 200-mile range in 15 minutes. The trip planner looked embarrassingly easy to use,
