When a small car like Tesla Roadster is put face to face to a huge Volkswagen Touareg, you can pretty much imagine that the Roadster has small chances to survive. And here’s the proof! This accident happened somewhere in Denmark.
According to Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad who commented the crash, the Roadster was stopped at a red light behind a truck and was hit from behind by a Volkswagen Touareg driving at 80km/hour at the time of impact. The Roadster driver walked away with minor bruises.
Another theory say that the third car involved in the accident, a Toyota Prius, hit the Roadster, pushing it under the Touareg. As you can see from the pictures there is indeed a a piece of the Roadster jammed under the rear bumper of the Touareg.
The all-electric automobile manufacturer Tesla Motors has a reason to celebrate today; because they have just delivered their 500th unit, a Twilight Blue Roadster to the New Jersey native, Martin Tuchman. The zero-emission vehicle comes with a few added bonuses in the Garden State. The green vehicles are exempt from sales tax and luxury taxes in New Jersey. Even when Martin is flying solo, he can use the HOV lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. Not to mention the $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit that is available to all Tesla owners.
“My Roadster drives like a dream…it’s amazing” said Martin Tuchman, owner of chassis number 500. As a demonstration of faith in the alternatively powered automobile, he plans on using the EV as a daily driver.
As part of their boutique sales strategy, Tesla will be setting up shop in large urban environments like Chicago, London, Seattle, Miami, Washington, Monaco and Munich. Tesla Motors is also planning to expand their line up with a full sized four door model “S” and a more spacious 2+2 to go up against the flat sixes from Stuttgart, but until the battery powered sports car maker brings out their 911 competitor, they will just have to keep on pumping out environmentally friendly Roadsters.
Will it drift? That is the age old question being asked by the guys at AutoCar, but this time they have chosen to get sideways in an electric car, although it boasts sports car power and styling, is the Tesla Roadster driftable? You’ll just have to watch the video to find out.
Trying to steal a little thunder from Fisker’s introduction of the Karma, Tesla introduced a quicker version of its Roadster called the Sport. The Roadster Sport does 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, compared with 3.9 seconds for the standard Roadster. Telsa says this new performance comes from a hand-wound stator and increased winding density for lower resistance and higher peak torque. The Roadster Sport also has an improved suspension with adjustable dampers and anti-roll bars that Tesla will tune to the driver’s preference.
Although Tesla has only delivered 150 of the standard Roadster, it says that anyone of the 1,100 people still on the waiting list can upgrade to the Sport model. But the upgrade doesn’t come cheap. Sales of the Sport model will begin in late June at a price of $128,500, about a $28,000 jump from the standard Roadster.
Tesla has not had much good news lately. It is being shut-out of the automotive hail mary loans, the Model S sedan is on life support, and production of the Roadsters are behind with only 100 of the 1200 orders filled.
What is the troubled electric carmaker to do? Why not turn the 100th car into a milestone instead of a setback?
In a very PR-friendly package, the 100th Tesla Roadster went to pop culture celebrity and Silicone Valley investor Sam Perry (he’s semi-famous for being the shoulder Oprah cried on during Barack Obama’s election night.)
Hmmmmm, a company needing good press just happens to have someone enjoying his 15 minutes of fame on-tap for its 100th car. Coincidence?
Porsche is not just known for performance cars, but also for a crack team of engineers (how else do you expect to get that kind of performance from six-cylinders?) So it’s no surprise that Porsche is in line to pick up a Tesla Roadster. Inside Line got the scoop from a Tesla spokesperson, "A Porsche senior engineer actually came over a few weeks back, and he was seriously analyzing the car in every detail."
Porsche is reportedly working on its own lithium-ion car, possibly to use on its own cars or offer to other makers through its engineering arm. One of the easiest ways to understand any technology is testing and reverse engineering successful technology, so there no telling what Porsche may do when its Tesla arrives.
Tuner Ruf has actually already assembled a 911 with ithium-ion battery power, but Porsche is doesn’t seem to be impressed with that car. Instead the German car company went shopping in California. But just like GM’s and Toyota’s Hyundai Genesis purchase, Porsche isn’t getting any special treatment. Tesla said Porsche is "pretty far down on the list of current orders."
Who knew the folks over at Brabus are really Star Trek nerds? The German tuning house got its hands on a Tesla Roadster, and while it didn’t add any engine performance parts, it did manage to add sound effects.
The car comes with the usual type of body enhancements. This new kit includes a carbon-fiber front apron, new daytime running LEDs integrated in the front bumper activated by the keyless fob or by pulling the door handle, matte-white surrounds for the headlights, new carbon-fiber air inlets, a new rear spoiler and a new carbon-fiber diffuser. The kit is completed by the Brabus Monoblock S light-alloy wheels in size 7Jx18 in front and in size 8.5Jx19 in back.
What makes this kit interesting (geeky) is that it features a "space sound generator". This is a system that simulates the engine sounds such as a V8 engine, a racecar engine and two futuristic soundscapes named "Beam" and "Warp".
A sales director for Tesla was giving a demonstration of the roadster and inadvertently gave a demo of the safety systems as well. It seems the unnamed (likely former) employee took a turn at around 100 mph and lost control of the electric car. Judging by the pictures, the accident happened somewhere in Europe, and reports indicated that wet roads and poor visibility contributed to the accident. Upon impact, the passenger was ejected through the side window, but both the driver and he survived the serious accident.
Teslas seem to be relatively safe for consumer use. Of the three known Tesla crashes (including this one), two have been at the hands of Tesla employees.
Martin Eberhard former CEO and co-founder of Tesla Motors said on his blog that the ESS coolant pump of his Tesla Roadster runs all the time. It is used to cool the system, but it also seems to be a large drain on the car. Even if the car is stopped, it will consume 14 kW per hour (1,278 kW per year). Eberhard compares this loss to running two large refrigerators. It also translates to the vehicle using 22% from the whole amount of power to keep the coolant pump running.
Just like a software guy, Eberhard said that the problem could be solved once the vehicle’s drive train is upgraded to 1.5 version. What’s next Tesla Vista?
Electric cars have come under scrutiny because blind pedestrians can’t hear them coming when they try to cross the street. I guess this Mercedes C-Class owner couldn’t hear this Tesla coming either.
This electric sports car has been identified as Tesla #6. Tesla doesn’t have many cars on the road, so when one crashes, it can actually be identified. Considering that the waiting list for a new Tesla Roadster is over 1,000 people long, let’s hope the owner can just get his car fixed.
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