Tesla Roadster
Meet the Tesla Roadster, the car that hopes to elevate plug-in electrics to lustworthy status. Judging from car-guru Jalopnik's first impressions , we feel it should have no difficulty in doing so.
Even better, the battery technology seems to be relatively painless, something that will go a long way in pushing electric mainstream. In a measely 3.5 hour charge (into a standard outlet) , the Roadster will take you 250 miles...more than long enough for most of us and farther than you could go on a tank of gas in your typical gas-guzzling sports car.
However, if you have the cash, the Roadster could turn into a relative sports car bargain once you take it on the road. According to the company, it should only cost approximately $.01/mile in energy costs. Compare that to conventional gasoline engines...well, let's just say gas is a bit more expensive.
| Tesla Roadster | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base Price | $100,000 | |
| Power | 248 hp | |
| Zero to 60 mph | 5.7 s | |
| Zero to 100 mph | N/A | |
| Top speed | 125 mph (201 km/h) | |
Due on the market this fall, at a price of $92,000, the Tesla is powered by the same lithium-ion battery cells that drive the average laptop or smartphone, and you can charge it from an ordinary wall socket. There's even a grate under the rear fender where the car expels hot air, just like the typical desktop PC.
Owners will plug in their cars and recharge them from wall sockets and special chargers. Generating electricity for this will spew some carbon emissions, but not nearly as many as running a gas-powered car. The company also plans to set up charging stations along highways and at likely destinations.Several prototypes are already assembled, and last night, I was invited down to the company's Silicon Valley offices for a spin down the freeway. No, I didn't get to drive. Each prototype was built at a cost of over a million dollars, and only the lucky few covered by the company insurance policy are permitted behind the wheel. But I did get the rush of sitting in the passenger seat of this Lotus-like two-door convertible.
Equipped with an AC induction motor that's no larger than a watermelon, it does zero to 60 in about 4 seconds. But it's not just the acceleration that amazes. It's the way this car accelerates. Unlike a gasoline-powered car, which has very little torque at low RPMs, the Tesla reaches 100 percent torque from the instant it starts forward. You don't wait even a moment for that acceleration to kick in. It kicks in immediately. The effect is like nothing you've ever experienced.
The car's 900-pound battery, or Energy Storage System, includes 6,831 lithium-ion cells, each about the size of a double-A alkaline. Plugged into an ordinary wall socket, it charges in about 7 hours. But if you use a specially designed in-home charging unit, which the company plans to include with the car at no extra cost, you can charge up in under four hours.
| Tesla Motors Official Site |
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