Handing Over the Keys IV: Michael 'Flea' Balzary

Michael "Flea" Balzary likes to break new ground. With band mates Red Hot Chili Peppers, he pioneered funk metal, a sound that marries aspects of funk and hip-hop with traditional rock. He applied the same innovative spirit to his ride and now holds a reservation for a 2008 model year Tesla Roadster. In October, as part of our ongoing customer drive program, Michael got behind the wheel of our prototype Tesla Roadster. What follows is his feedback from the driving experience. As always, customer drive opinions are unedited by Tesla Motors.

Michael gets a first look at the Tesla Roadster

Well, a couple of years ago i saw an article in the paper about this new fangled electric car called the Tesla Roadster. I got all excited about it, having always wanted an electric car, but it seemed a little pricey and i was saving money for something and was on the fence about it.

About a year after that, while sitting in a hotel room on tour somewhere, i saw the film "who killed the electric car?"..... the second the film ended, in a fit of inspiration, much to my wife's chagrin, i went online and plunked down the dough and purchased a Tesla Roadster. Now, one could say this was an impulsive act, buying a car, sight unseen, on pure hearsay, much of it from the makers of the car themselves.

However, in my desire to pollute less, and knowing i was gonna be running on solar power in my new house and could charge it with solar, i thought, wow, i can drive CLEAN and contribute less to unbalancing the already unbalanced environment we live in, a lack of balance that could spell certain doom for us all!

So then nearly a year goes by, and still no car, i started to get a little antsy, still excited, but wondering if Tesla might actually be the name of some farmland i bought on an island off of nova scotia somewhere....

Then last week, a nice fella from Tesla shows up near my house here, in california. The car he has got with him looks cool as hell. BEAUTIFUL, but not pompous or show offy arrogant at all, just looks like a cool car.

I get into it and pull away from the curb......dead silence wow!!!!.... man it was unbelievable. it drove like nothing i have ever been in before, made my porsche feel like a golf cart! It took off like a rocket ship, handled so sensitively, it was just amazing and fun and thrilling. I am so happy i went with my gut and bought that car. Yeah it is a long wait, but man, the thing is awesome. The silence makes ya feel like you are floating, and it just rocks, it was the funnest car, i have ever been in, with the possible exception of Hillel Slovak's Datsun B210 in 1979, he was the only guy i knew who had a car, and we listened to lot of zeppelin in there....

To enjoy driving as much as is possible in that Tesla, and to pollute nothing, no emissions, into the air, is a great great feeling.