SAN FRANCISCO — In the latest reality check about the electric Tesla Roadster, Martin Eberhard blogs that his Tesla Roadster's coolant pump gobbles so much electricity that it 'is the energy equivalent of two huge refrigerators.'Eberhard is the deposed co-founder of Tesla Motors who has been regularly updating the curious about his experiences in the Tesla Roadster as Webmaster of www.teslafounders.com. In an October 12 posting, he rants about the unexpectedly high energy consumption of his Tesla Roadster, even when it is parked in his garage.'Soon after I got my car, I noticed a funny thing,' Eberhard wrote. 'The ESS coolant pump seems to run all the time. Even when the car is off. Even if it has been off for a long time. Even when the car is plenty cool. You can hear it run, and many people have commented about the noise of the pump and the noise of coolant gurgling into the overflow reservoir.'In fact, Eberhard claims that the 'poor pump has been running 24 hours per day, 7 days a week for three months solid.' Since he installed an electric meter in addition to his car's charging station, Eberhard said he has been able to collect lots of data on energy usage. 'Whoa!' he wrote. 'The car consumed a whopping 14 kilowatt hours in four days, just sitting there! Doing the math, the pump draws about 146 watts all day long, all night long, every day. This works out to 1,278 kWh per year. To put this in perspective, a really nice 26-cubic-foot side-by-side refrigerator with an ice maker uses only 618 kWh per year, so this pump is the energy-equivalent of two huge refrigerators!'He adds: '22 percent of the energy consumed by my car happens while my car is parked!'Eberhard says he is concerned about the 'cycle life' of the battery because of the energy usage, too.'Maybe this constantly running pump is an artifact of the temporary drivetrain in my car,' he said. 'Maybe it will shut off when not driving after Tesla finally installs my 1.5 drive train. I sure hope so, but the Tesla people have told me that it will run the same way with the 1.5 drivetrain. What a waste that would be — a waste of energy, a waste of batteries, a waste of reliability.'Inside Line says: Another fascinating look at life with the Tesla Roadster, courtesy of a former insider. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent