Earthquakes And Fracking -- April 4, 2015; Tesla And Bentley On A Quarter-Mile Airfield

A reader provided this interesting USGS graphic showing areas of greatest risk for earthquakes in the United States.

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Tesla

There are two "feature" articles on Tesla in today's edition of the Wall Street Journal. The article on the back page of "The Off Duty" section, page D12, compares the Tesla Model S with the Bentley Continental GT3-R.

A man walks into a bar. Drivers take the two cars to an airfield to race.

The Tesla P85D has two acceleration modes: "Sport" and "Insane."

Obviously, for the race, the Tesla driver chose "Insane."

Mat the Tesla's accelerator and 0 - 24 mph transpires before you know what hit you, in 0.84 second. Suddenly exposed to more than 1.3 g of longitudinal acceleration, any loose items in the cabin instantly fall rearward and cellphones get sucked out of pockets and purses. 

In 3.2 seconds, the car reaches 60 mph, uncannily quiet and hydraulic, a barrel ride over Electron Falls. That's 1.4 seconds quicker than the previous P85. Tesla promises an over-the-air upgrade for the P85D that will knock it down to 3.1 seconds.

If it were an 1/8-mile comparison, the Bentley would be left for dead ... but over a quarter mile -- generally both crossed the quarter-mile stripe in under 12 seconds .. and pretty much tied. 

The Tesla P85D easily beats the Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, and Corvette -- right up to 100 mph which takes the Tesla less than 8 seconds to reach.

If money were no object, and I didn't have three granddaughters, I would have a house on Cape Cod and a Tesla (for the summer).