TechCrunch posted a story yesterday announcing Tesla's unveiling of their first showroom.  I have to say I'm not very impressed.  The showroom isn't jaw-dropping; it's bare, and not in an Aston Martin "minimalist luxury" kind of way.  In addition, I'm really disappointed with their first car.  Those in the technological "know" correct the rest of us who say it's simply a rebadged, electrified Lotus Elise, but that's still the concept it's derived from, and the dimensions are almost the same.  I was really hoping for a car that rivalled the Mercedes Benz SL550 or other gas powered convertibles in its price range, but the car doesn't even come close to offering similar features.  In my mind, for hybrids, the Honda Insight was an impractical experiment, the Toyota Prius was a more reasonable experiment with extra seats, and the first solid, respectable example that I would actually buy was the Lexus LS600h.  I can't help but feel that it will take a very long time before the first electric car capable of servicing a properly discriminating customer will ever be built.