12 most innovative and eccentric electric cars - Tesla Roadster
These electric cars are at the vanguard of what’s possible
Tesla Roadster
The world’s most famous electric-car brand actually has its roots in Norfolk. The original Tesla Roadster was based on the Lotus Elise, but where that car had a four-cylinder petrol engine, the Roadster packed in thousands of what were effectively laptop batteries. It was the first road-legal, series-production car to be powered by lithium-ion batteries – something that’s now commonplace – and the first electric car to be capable of more than 200 miles on a charge. It's also the first production car to be launched into space, thanks to Tesla founder Elon Musk’s sideline in building reusable spacecraft.