Tesla Just Killed the Most Important Car of the 21st Century

The Model S deserved better than this. Before Elon Musk, most electric vehicles seemed less like an alternative to gasoline than an argument in its favor. The sad state of affairs for EVs for many years was that they were slow, impractical, and largely enticing only if you lived with copious guilt over your carbon emissions. Then Tesla came out with the Tesla Model S. The speedy, high-tech sedan didn't just leave other EVs in the dust; it could compete with the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. "EVs went from'eating your vegetables' to getting you super-car performance in a vehicle that's luxurious and quiet," Jake Fisher, the senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, told me.