The Tesla Motors revealed this week that its Models S electric vehicle has tied Consumer Reports magazine's automotive highest testing score.
The magazine gave the new Model S a 99 out of 100, an honor only achieved by one other vehicle, the 2007 Lexus LS.
"Slipping behind the wheel of the Tesla Model S is like crossing into a promising zero-emissions future," Consumer Reports said.
Consumer Reports tested a Model S that cost approximately $89,650 and was equipped with a kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that's bigger than a normal battery found in electric vehicles.
The Model S can go approximately 300 miles at 55 mph on a single charge. The vehicle uses "about half" the energy of a Toyota Prius every mile, and has twice the range of any other electric vehicle the magazine has tested.
Click here to read the full Consumer Reports article.
Testers clocked the vehicle going 0 to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, and while it handled like a sports car, it was as quiet as the Lexus LS, the only other vehicle to receive a 99 rating according to Consumer Reports.
"It accelerates, handles and brakes like a sports car. It has the ride and quietness of a luxury car and is far more energy-efficient than the best hybrid cars," Jake Fisher, the magazine's director of automotive testing, said Thursday in a statement.
Driving the electric vehicle made the editors feel like they were using something Mart McFly might have used in "Back to the Future."
They explained this statement by saying the giant 17-inch touch screen in the center of the dashboard, which controls everything from Google Earth to opening the sunroof, is like no other infotainment system available.
The vehicle takes about five hours to charge using Tesla's optional High Power Wall Connector, and takes 12 hours using a standard 240-volt electric-car charger.
The Model S didn't get Consumer Reports' "Recommended Buy" rating though, because the magazine "doesn't have sufficient data to judge the vehicle's reliability.
"Despite its stratospheric road-test score, we can't recommend the Model S until we have sufficient reliability data," Consumer Reports said regarding the "Recommended Buy" decision.
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