and that is really where the biggest area of tesla's expertise, i should point out the tesla also haswe designed and built a motor and the power electronics and is software that manage it is whole thing, those are important too but the battery is the single most important thing and the tesla battery pack to reference it to gasoline, it weighs about 1,000 pounds and it has the energy content of two after gallons of gasoline. >> so. >> that means you have to have a lot of charges? >> but there is -- because the consumption of that energy is much more efficient in an electric car. and this is, i will get to why is the tesla roadster twice as efficient as a toyota prius which is not a sports car. >> right. >> and the reason is because an electric motor is fundamentally super efficient at turning energy into motion, so a good electric motor such as the one thathat was given to the tesla rotor is 90 percent of turning electricity into motion where a gasoline internal com come comes shun i didn't know is 17 to 18 percent, generally what it does is create heat. so even though it is only two a

>>harlie: and is he a investor in tesla?>e is, they are both investorin tesla. >> andrive them or n't driv them. >> they drive them, absutely. becaussome of e critism thatomes at you and the compan now is that you went ou to seeing a t of eernal financing and did no reach your goals. >> well, it has tak us longer to reach our foals but -- >> chaie: to raise 100 million or raise 40 orwhat s the goal? well, i thk some of the stumbles we silly mistakes we made ourselves and some were market anomali and we are in the process of raising about $100 million round that began in sort othe summer of last year, and th ran into, you know, force 5 hurricane [ laughter ] >> charlie: a economic circumstances thatook everhing off the table? >> yes. so that forced us tocale back our plans a litt bit and w had to d a layoff and we hado ise the money internally fm existi investors and i had to putp a lot of t money the personally, and becausthere was just n money, and so that was -- it was sort of hair-raising time for th company, but at this

and whether it's tesla roadster or bmw's mini e you notice the quiet. is it on? the second thing is the instant power. i do love that torque. now that several hundred of these are on the road the so-called pioneers who pay $850 to lease them are discovering the hassle of the charge. >> full of hurdles, full of hurdles, unless you're on top of it. >> reporter: the best batteries are still expensive and limited to around 100 milesen take 23 hours to fill it up. so farther cars seem years to get than cords and boxes. >> everybody is jumping in the game to show the public tha these cars aren't science fiction, they can be part of their future. >> reporter: when extension cords will replace gas cans and a change enthu yasts say is well worth the growing pains. >>> not bad. >>> coming up for some newlyweds, great debate, should women take their husband's names? we'll have the results from a new survey. >>> and the brawl in beantown a beh-clearer between the tigers and red sox. these days, wouldn't it be great if saving money happened as automatically as everything else

and whether it is the tesla roadster or bmw's mini e, the first thing you notice is the quiet. >> ison? >> reporter: the second is the instant power. i do love that torque. but now that several hundred of these are on the road, the so-called pioneers who pay 850 bucks a month to lease them are discovering the hassle of the charge. >> full of hurdles, full of hurdles unless you're on top of it. >> reporter: the best batteries are still expensive and limited to around 100 miles, and they take 23 hours to charge on a standard wall socket. a higher voltage garage box will fill 'er up in three, but so far, the cars seem easier to get than the cords and boxes. >> a utility is completely prepared for what's required to install an electric driver, but an electric car is somewhat different. >> reporter: a company called better place plans to build a chain of automated battery swapping stations. >> everyone is jumping in the game to show the public that these cars aren't science fiction. they can really be part of their future. >> reporter: a future when extension cords will replace gas cans.

actually, one of the most interesting electric car i saw last year was the tesla which is built in sanose and not detroit. it's built by a information technology entrepreneur. it uses a fundamentally different kind of battery approach which has lowered the price of the batteries radically. and it was a sports car, which was from 0 to 60 faster than any internal combustion car except the most expensive ferrari. it's a very interesting design. about 103, $110,000. and i think tesla is getting some money -- i mean, i don't particularly like the government loan programs but i will say the one good thing is they made them available to start-up companies, not just to the old companies and i think that's actually probably a good sign. but there are things you can do to simulate that kind of development. and very much -- i mean, i always suggest to people, if you want to see the legitimate shaping of markets, read alexander hamilton's first report on manufactures and you'll see an argument for adopting the right policies in order to maximize the growth of the future. but my bias is i want to i

gurus in silicone valley took the electric plunge earlier, rolling out world's first electric car, the teslae car was recently marked down to a price range between $50,000 to $60,000. a far cry from the faster and more expensive model we saw just two years ago but when it comes to bailing out an industry in the midst of the worst financial crisis in 50 years, electric cars may not be the silver bullet. it's important to know that gm is not expected to make money off the volt any time soon. they're expected to roll out only 60,000 units by 2013 and analysts don't expect to it become mainstream until 15 to 20 years from now. this is just the beginning. >> the numbers have been selling, 60,000 has t sound good. dleents a mile what is it pays to operate this mile. look at that, the future today. >> few tu's here. >> bianna, thank you. >> 47 minute past the hour, we'll be right back. a gal loan. gal loan. [ eln ] i care about how i look. that's why i use covergirl's simply ageless makeup with olay regenerist serum. a department store brand can glob up in lines and actually makeou look older. simp