Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori announced that the Tesla Roadster will hit the European showrooms in Fall 2009. According to Mr. Drori the car, which will be priced under €100,000, will be a big hit especially due to the tax benefits for zero-emissions cars.
The main targets for the car will be countries such as Germany, France, Norway, Denmark and Netherlands. You may wonder why these countries were chosen first, right? It is because all of them are building a recharging network for supporting electric cars. In Denmark for example, the network is built in order to suport the electric cars made by Renault. However, the car will not be available in the United Kingdom because the manufacturer builds for the moment only left-hand-drive cars.
Tesla Motors announced it began regular production of its 2008 Tesla Roadster all-electric sports car.
First unveiled as a prototype on July 19th, 2006, the revolutionary Tesla Roadster generated an extraordinary response from people everywhere who were inspired by the vision that beautiful, high performance cars could generate zero-emissions and burn no oil.
Less than 2 years later, this vision has become a reality as Tesla Motors begins production of this breakthrough electric vehicle. The 2008 model year is sold out and Tesla is currently taking reservations for the 2009 model year Tesla Roadster. To date, over 900 Tesla Roadsters have been reserved in total.
Through the course of development of the Roadster, Tesla Motors has established a leadership position in EV technology which it plans to extend over the next years, leading to the introduction of its next model, a five passenger sports sedan, in 2010.
AutoBlog Green got the chance to get behind the wheel of the future Tesla Roadster. The test drive was made between San Carlos and the Pacific Ocean. They tested the VP10 (Validation Prototype 10), a prototype version that has the XTrac two speed gear-box with first gear locked out allowing it to simulate the behavior that can be expected from the single-speed units that will be used for early production cars starting March 17.
The Roadster develops a peak torque of 200lb-ft from 0 rpm to about 6,000rpm. The two-speed transmission that had been planned would have provided additional torque multiplication in low gear to help achieve the four-second 0-60mph time, with second gear allowing the car to run up 125mph. Without the lower gear, the car takes about 5.7seconds to break the 60mph barrier.
The Conclusion of their test: the Tesla Roadster is a really fast sports car that had no emissions. It’s not for everyone, even among the relatively few who can afford it. But for those who can and want it, it’s a fine choice. It’s even usable for running around town.
When they first announced the Roadster sports-car, Tesla said production will start in the autumn of 2007. But problems with the transmission made them to delay it. But the problems have been solved and the first production version will be delivered next week. First customer: Elon Musk, Chairman of Tesla Motors. Series production of the Tesla Roadster is scheduled to begin March 17th, 2008 >> read
According to Tesla CEO, Ze’ev Drori, the main reason for the Roadster’s delay is the transmission. But don’t worry, you will see it on the roads as soon as possible (production will start by summer of 2008 and first cars will be delivered at the beginning of 2009). It’s true it will come with a temporary transmission that falls short of its originally promised performance. >> read
About Tesla Roadster you already know is the hottest electric car out there. But will the Tesla pass the crash test? According to the latest tests it seems that yes.
In the 30 mph head on collision crash test the Tesla Roadster behaved as expected (as the computer model predicted) and the G forces were as expected. After the crash the doors could still be opened. In the 30 mph off set crash they used a 30 degree off set and the test was successful test, meaning that the passengers survived. Also successful was the 30 mph side impact.
Tesla Roadster is being delayed, again! But the company brings also a good news with this bad news: the Tesla Roadster prototypes are getting around 245 miles on a single charge (236 Highway, 252 City). >> read
Tesla has announced that the electric Roadster will go on sale by the end of the year. There are already 600 requests for the $100,000 vehicle by October or November. >> read
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