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By Chuckmonster on Tuesday, 2nd April 2013 11:21am
  » filed under Las Vegas  comments: 4

    Follow @vegastripping

As many of you know - due to incessant ramblings on Twitter and "Sure Bets" on the Vegas Gang podcasts - I have a certified boner for the amazing Model S from Tesla Motors. A fully electric car that smokes 0-60mph in about 4 seconds? With a battery range that will get you from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on one charge? The only car that actually gets better with age, as software upgrades are installed over onboard 3g connection just like your iPhone does? All of it wrapped in interiors that would make Roger Thomas sit up and take notice?

As part of their quest to contribute to downtown's revitalization, Downtown Project started by online shoe salesman Tony Hseih has created Project 100 a membership based transportation network consisting of 100 Tesla Model S cars shared by members of the subscription program. Eventually, the program will consist of shared bicycles and a shared shuttle bus network in the hopes of removing the need to consume transportation goods as a commodity, but instead consume transportation as a service.

But can sharing survive in a city build on greed?

It is certainly a noble idea... or is it... privatizing public transportation. Is public transportation that bad? If you've ever been on The Deuce on a steamy hot late afternoon, you know it is.

Or is this a way for Las Vegas burgeoning technology salt mine workers to feel better by not owning but still using a luxury car they can't afford, offsetting their carbon footprints as they make their way from their downtown loft to the nearest Whole Foods.

Is this about shared ownership or gentrification? Their choice of car provides the answer. A Nissan Leaf, while having less than desirable range, makes a helluva lot more financial sense - Project100 could get 400 of them for the price of 100 Teslas. But then they'd have to change their name to project 400, domain names are expensive y'know.

More here: http://goproject100.com

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Comments & Discussion:

 MinVegas posted on Tuesday, 2nd April 2013 - 2:26 pm

I'm an armchair transportation/urbanist enthusiast, and I don't get it.

There's a lot of non-specific "we're just throwing this out there" with no details of anything in motion but "we bought Teslas". Obviously, the Teslas are meant to draw in the people with plenty of money to spare, at which point they will want to invest said money into expanding beyond that, but exactly what that is I'm not sure of.

I suppose they'll have to jump through the public hoops for all these spokes and hubs and shuttle routes, and reveal what they're thinking of eventually. Their opening gambit sounds something like an elite Zipcar, and that's fine, but their long term goal sounds like bringing classism to mass transit. That's terrible, because the bus system in the valley that already exists is budget-starved and taking it out on customers by doubling fares and cutting routes over several years.

 JeffinOKC posted on Tuesday, 2nd April 2013 - 5:59 pm

I gots a couple issues with this. First, it seems incredibly elitist. Second, I wonder what the carbon footprint of generating the electricity required to power the Tesla is & how there could be a 100% effecientcy ratio, since any power transfer requires some reduction. Otherwise we could make perpetual motion motion machines. So, is the smoke of a coal fired electric plant better because it is outside of town & not as noticeable as the gasoline exhaust in town?

 jinx73 posted on Tuesday, 2nd April 2013 - 7:24 pm

Count me in for having a boner for the Tesla Roadsters as well, although here in the midwest I fear we will be well behind having the facilities available for using them or maintaining them.

 weatherman2111 posted on Tuesday, 2nd April 2013 - 11:10 pm

That's certainly an intereting, if slightly elitest, idea. I don't see it being a ture game changer, but I can see it being workable. FYI, the Tesla roadster actually has a lot of cargo capacity. I got to sit in one last year and it was surprising how big it was inside,

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