Londoners soon will be able to ride to Toronto in the $150,000 flagship for Tesla Motors for less than it costs to take an airport shuttle to Pearson.

Start-up E1 Transit will launch its limo service in June, and though it will start with two vehicles, it plans to add another 34 by July, the first time anyone in the world will have built a transit service based solely on electric cars so pricey their use has been limited to the wealthy.

The Model S 90D will form most of E1 Transit’s fleet and costs $151,194. It’s quite a leap for a Western University grad who cut his teeth placing designs on ­T-shirts that cost $1.50 each.

Han Yi started other businesses but got the idea for the Tesla venture after years of frustrating travel between London and Toronto.

Unless you were going from downtown to downtown, you had to find a way to get to and from the train, bus and airport shuttle stations, he said.

“I saw there was a need to rethink what Londoners could use.”

The new service will only cost $90 a person round-trip, less than an airport shuttle or the cheapest round-trip from Via Rail — and a Tesla will pick you up at your home or business.

“Our biggest forte is convenience,” Yi said.

That, and protecting the environment — David Suzuki made use of the vehicles for his 80th birthday.

Not to mention the luxury of riding in a car that costs as much as a small house. City bylaw chief Orest Katolyk was taken aback when E1 Transit arrived with the Teslas to get limo licenses. “It’s kind of awesome,” he said.

Though taxi industry-slayer Uber started its engines without seeking to comply with London bylaws, E1 Transit went to city hall first, obtaining a limousine licence and all that comes with it: cameras, commercial insurance and criminal checks.

“They want to work with us, not against us,” Katolyk said.

The Tesla fleet will initially stop in Toronto only at several TTC stations, including Union, Lawrence and Don Mills. Yi plans to eventually roll out door-to-door service.

The Teslas won’t offer airport service at first, but Yi plans to get there, eventually, too.

The venture has a lot of backers, including the maker of electric car-charging stations, Sun Country Highway, Yi said. And it’s being run by a team of entrepreneurs who have experience elsewhere, he said, including the starter of London Green Taxi.

The Model S 90D was chosen because its cruising range even in winters is enough to get comfortably from London to Toronto, Yi said.

His business partner, Jordan Sojnoki, owner of marketing company GenDigital, says that the ride in a Tesla — silent, smooth and with Porsche-like acceleration — leaves gas-powered cars in the dust. “Once you get in a Tesla, gas cars feel decades behind.”

jsher@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JSHERatLFPress