Tesla's $130,000 Roadster Could Become Giant Paperweight if Battery Dies

So you paid nearly $130,000 for your new, environmentally friendly, Ed Begley Jr.-orgasm-machine known as the Tesla Roadster: Al Gore will be stopping by any minute to give you an autographed driving glove.

But while you're waiting for the ex-vice president to congratulate you for saving the planet while still somehow remaining a BMW-level douche, be sure to keep that ride plugged in.

Because if you don't it could become a huge, six-figure …

… paperweight!

That's right, the blog Jalopnik is reporting that an unattended, un-plugged-in Tesla Roadster, a car favored by Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, will become a hulking pile of useless if it's not kept charged.

It's a fact that even Tesla admits, with the spin that ” … all automobiles require some level of owner care.”

Uh-huh.

Jalopnik says the Tesla owner's manual indicates 11 weeks of inactivity and lack of charging will do the trick. But that appears to be optimistic, according to the blog:

If the car has been driven first, say to be parked at an airport for a long trip, that time can be substantially reduced. If the car is driven to nearly its maximum range and then left unplugged, it could potentially “brick” in about one week.

The site reports that five of 22,000 Roadsters sold have become useless as a result of lack of charging.

Oops.

Tesla owner Elon Musk is the kind of billionaire people love to hate. He owns a car company that makes ultra-P.C. electrics. And he's putting rockets into the heavens thanks to his SpaceX operations (and some of your tax dollars) right here in L.A.

But sometimes you wonder if haters are just aiming at him for the fun of it.

In any case, it's not the first time the Tesla Roadster has been called out for its alleged lack of charge. The company sued the BBC TV show Top Gear for stating, according to TechCrunch, that cars it tested were also somewhat paperweight-like:

The first car's battery's ran out only after 55 miles. Then another car's motor overheated. When they went back to the original car, something was up with the brakes.

$130,00? We'll take a fully optioned, fossil-fuel-burning Porsche 911. Thanks.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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