The Tesla Roadster:
- 100% electric
- 0-60 in 4 seconds
- 135 mpg equivalent
- 250 miles per charge
- about 1 cent per mile
Check out the Tesla Roadster website and get your order in for a 2008 model.
Martin Eberhard, the Tesla’s inventor, explains to Slate why the Tesla Roadster is different from previous electric cars:
Eberhard says traditional carmakers have failed with electrics for two reasons. First, they market them as “penalty boxes” for environmental do-gooders and gas-mileage-obsessed penny-pinchers. Second, they just don’t understand batteries. The Tesla’s giant lithium-ion battery pack gives it the power to hit 60 in four seconds, to run 250 miles without a recharge, and to charge rapidly at its home charging base (a one-hour charge will take you 80 miles; it takes a 3.5-hour charge to go 250 miles). You can even plug into a wall socket at a roadside stop in a pinch. That makes the Roadster a viable commuter car and weekend day-tripper. The company claims energy costs as low as a penny per mile.
Plans are already underway for a sedan to compete with BMW 5-series cars. I can hardly wait to see what the big car companies decide to bring to the game.
i think this car is giant leap in the right direction for the future of cars. i understand in order for the public to take to electric vehicles there needs to be an electric ‘hero car’ which can break the mould and change mass public perception of electric vehicles. but the real challenge is creating a car for the masses that the masses will actually purchase, this is where major manufacturers need to get involved to really curb emissions and oil dependence to a sustainable future. this is an important fisrt step in the future popularity of electric vehicles. kudos tesla.
Definitely a very beautiful automobile. I wish the big car companies would develop an electric vehicle that doesn’t look like it’s going to fall over at the next corner…
For us fella’s, this machine has got to be quite the babe magnet. Environmentally sound, quiet, beautiful. On top of that, high performance to meet our testosterone needs. Oh, yeah…
250 miles on a charge, eh? VERY impressive! That’s far enough for me to go to work and back, fiddle around during lunch, and go out for a nightcap before I plug it in for the night. What’s the price on this beauty?
One drawback, though. Lithium is definitely NOT an environmentally friendly product. However, it would have to go a way to be worse than lead-acid (just the name gives environmental chills).
I look foreward to the day when these batteries can be replaced with high energy density capacitors. If present advancements are to be believed, any battery powered car should be able to be converted to capacitors by the time its lithium-ion battery wears out.
Until then, I again ask - What’s the price on this beauty?
Yeah, i say screw the environment, we can recycle the lithium if we have to, or throw it into a canyon. Price wise, i’d say this is marketed to upper middle classer’s so around a 40-50k price range is probably it, with offshoots 1-2 quarters later if it does well enough in it’s initial segment.