Tesla cars

Tesla opens shop in Manhattan

We applaud Tesla for finally taking its cars to New York City but we can’t help but raise our eyebrows as to the location the company picked in the Big Apple to set up shop.

A day after Daimler announced that it sold a 4 percent stake in Tesla to an Abu Dhabi company; Tesla Motors officially opened its first dealership in New York City, joining its list of stores that include Menlo Park, Los Angeles and London, with Seattle and Chicago set to open soon.

While it’s a big step towards infiltrating the posh and sophisticated East Coast market, Tesla’s new store in New York isn’t found on Manhattan’s fabled auto row on 11th or Park Avenues, where a host of other top-of-the-line car makers including Ferrari and Mercedes are located.

Tesla, on the other hand, decided to pick the artsy district of Chelsea - West 25th street, to be exact -as the location for their latest showroom. Not exactly a hotbed for auto enthusiasts, is it?

Continued after the jump.

Tesla delivered its 500th Roadster

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.

Press release after the jump.

Tesla prepares electric Porsche 911 competitor

The all electric car company Tesla Motors is doing all right for themselves; the Southern California based operation has already begun to open their boutique style dealerships in order to sell their current Roadster sports car, and upcoming Model S sedan. Unfortunately the automaker is not moving as many products as they would like, and they think the current lack of space in the open air roadster is a turn off to new car buyers.

However, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk this will be solved in 2012 when his company will unveil their latest creation, an electric competitor for the Porsche 911. Based on the Model S platform, the future Tesla will be a 2+2, offering 10% more room for rear seat passengers and 50% more trunk space than the current 911. The Carrera competitor will also come with all wheel drive.

But one must consider, what affect the added weight of passengers and cargo will have on the E.V. Will it be enough to make the weight conscious battery powered sports car feel heavy and will the additional current it takes to move more mass take a toll on the vehicle’s fuel economy? We will just have to wait and see what the Tesla engineers can come up with.

2009 F1 season so far: rewarding the independent spirit

The way Formula 1 is going this season, with the privateer upstart, Brawn GP team dominating in a field of experienced manufacturers; it looks like things will never be the same again. The ex-Ferrari/Honda technical director and now team owner, Ross Brawn, is showing makes like Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW, Toyota and even Renault a thing or two about how to put together and F1 racecar. The Brawn BGP 001 must be good, because it has made Britain’s lost son, Jensen Button, a driver who couldn’t even find the podium for the last two years absolutely unstoppable, winning 5 of the 6 races so far this season.

Normally it takes about 10 to 15 years for F1 technology to trickle down onto the streets, but hopefully in this age of automotive independents, it won’t take that long. This independent spirit could just so happen to be what this ailing automotive economy needs. This kind of innovative thinking, is making car companies like the all electric auto maker Tesla sound more and more like Tucker.

Daimler buys into Tesla

The world’s oldest automobile manufacturer, Daimler, has just acquired a sizable stake in the American all-electric car builder, Tesla. Even before the 10 percent sale, both companies were working together to use Tesla’s lithium-ion batteries in Mercedes Benz’s Smart electric car. Member of the Board of Daimler AG, Dr. Thomas Weber, said that "our strategic partnership is an important step to accelerate the commercialization of electric drives globally," because according to Benz, the future will be made up of at least electrically assisted vehicles.

Tesla Motors Chairman and CEO, Elon Musk, had this to say about the German conglomerate, “Daimler has set the benchmark for engineering excellence and vehicle quality for more than a century. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Daimler would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla.”

There are already 100 Smart electric cars on the streets of London; these electric vehicles have been part of large-scale testing since 2007 being tested in real world driving situations, conducting normal daily operations by fleet operators as well as private citizens. Later on this year, the Smart assembly plant in Hambach, France, will commence production of up to 1000 second-generation electrically powered Smart fortwo models, taking full advantage of the latest advances in lithium-ion battery technology.

Press release after the jump.

Tesla has over 1000 orders for their Model S E.V.

It looks like Tesla’s sales plan is paying off. The electric carmaker Tesla Motors have already booked over 1000 orders for their Model S sedan, a vehicle that can carry up to seven people for a range of up to 300 miles. The Model S starts at $49,900 after tax rebates, but Tesla claims that the operating costs are so low, that it is rely the equivalent of owning something like a $30,000 vehicle.

Tesla has already put more than 400 examples of their $100,000 electric roadster into the hands of customers. The Tesla Roadster is capable of running from 0 to 60 MPH in only 3.9 seconds, besting most sports cars, while being twice as energy efficient as the Toyota Prius. Roadster owners also benefit from a far lower cost of ownership than comparably priced sports cars, with none of the traditional internal combustion maintenance and the added benefit of the cost of electricity compared to the fluctuating price of gas, an amount that could be back up to $5 per gallon by the end of summer. Tesla believes that owning an environmentally friendly Roadster can add up to a savings of around $26,000 over the lifetime of the vehicle as opposed to say, a $100,000 Porsche.

Tesla Motors CEO, Chairman and Product Architect Elon Musk believes that “despite the enormous environmental benefits, lower total cost of ownership will soon become the primary motivation for consumers to evolve from gas guzzlers to EVs.”

Press release after the jump.

Tesla and Fisker have different approaches to selling their electric vehicles.

Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors are very similar in their intent to mass-produce electric vehicles for a wide range of consumers, but how they are planning to get the public behind the wheel couldn’t be any more different.

Fisker plans on licensing their products to already established dealerships to sell their Karma Sedan and Karma Sunset convertible. This will streamline the process from the initial manufacturing to the final sale of the electric vehicles. Benefits of this approach include established logistics and knowledge of what it takes to sell to the local clientele.

On the other hand Tesla dealerships will be owned and operated by the environmentally friendly automotive manufacturer. This will give them more control over the sales and service aspect regarding the open air Roadster and Model S sedan. This approach is a risky one because at the moment Tesla only has outlets in California, but with an added cost are planning to open retail outlets in major population centers around the U.S. in places like Chicago, New York, Seattle and Washington D.C.; and across the pond in London.

Tesla Model S - 520 orders in first week

Tesla’s Model S just debuted last week, and the company is already reporting 520 reservations for the all-electric sedan. Hopefully it can keep up with production demands when the sedan appears in 2010. Tesla has produced about 320 of the 1,100+ orders of the Roadster since production began about a year ago.

Press release after the jump.

Tesla Model S - Touchscreen Dashboard

Last week Tesla revealed its Model S sedan, but one interesting element that was left out of the debut material was the dashboard. The whole car is controlled through one large touchscreen. Everything from climate control to navigation is on this one panel. It also offers a 3G data connection to keep up with things like Google Maps and streaming radio.

While this is all very impressive, we’d expect nothing less from an electric car company with a internet millionaire as CEO.

2010 Tesla Model S

Tesla has given the full reveal on the all-electric Model S. The company’s first sedan will start at $57,400. Tesla is promoting this as a family car, and that’s not hard to believe with seating for up to seven. This sedan has normal seating for five full adults, but it also is taking a page from the old station wagons and has a child-size set of reward facing seats.

Just like the rest of the domestic automakers, Tesla’s Model S comes with a list of options. The standard car comes with a lithium-ion battery pack that is good for 160 miles, but there will also be battery packs good for 230 and 300 miles. The base Model S will do 0-60 mph in under six seconds, and a optional sport version should shave about a second off that time. All cars will be electronically limited to a top speed of 130 mph.

Tesla says the Model S can be charged in any 110V, 220V or 440V outlet. While the 440V takes a convenient 45 minutes for a full charge, we may be a little displeased with having to devote a room in our homes just for the new electrical set up required for 440V service.

UPDATE 01/20/11: Months of research and development has finally led to this point. Tesla is now in the middle of running the first of two stages of testing for the Model S. The first phase, which is called the ’Alpha’ phase, has been running for a few months now, will continue on as the Model S is subjected to extensive testing in all types of climates. Before the car is green-lighted for production, the Model S will need to complete both the Alpha and Beta test phases the feature a thorough examination using computer simulations and test vehicles. In this video released by Tesla, we get a peek at the Model S doing some Alpha road testing. Check it out after the jump to see how far the Model S has come from being just a pipe dream a few years ago.

UPDATE 03/09/11: The price for the highly anticipated Tesla Model S has been set at $57,000 for the Model S with the 160-mile range, or about $49,900 when you deduct the federal tax credit (worth $7,500) when it gets applied. If you think 160 miles isn’t far enough, Tesla is also offering a 230-mile version for $67,000 and the top-of-the-line 300-mile version for $77,000. We’ve also learned that the first 1,000 units of the Model S that will be sold in Noth America will be Signature Series editions that will come with the range topping 300-mile battery pack, which will begin to go on sale in the middle of 2012. Eventually, the base model and the mid-range model will be available later in 2012 with Tesla setting a 5,000-unit benchmark for 2012 with an expansion of 20,000 units beginning in 2013.

Press release after the jump.