Introducing the new Tesla Roadster

[rapscalious rob]

Named after Nikola Tesla, or course. This is awesome, if a bit pricey:

www.teslamotors.com/

:cool:

[auntie aubrey]

unless that car comes with a lightning generator for use during rush hour traffic, i'm not interested.

[Brynn]

*low wolf whistle*

And to think I would have been perfectly happy with a Prius. Not anymore. Thanks Rob - thanks a lot. :D

[Coffee]

And Only $100k. :(

[Jack Flanders]

Does it come in Dusky Blue?

[craig johnston]

http://www.musik-base.de/images/groups/Buzzcocks.jpg

[Frieda]

is this for real?

[Coffee]

I wonder Frieda...since 100 mile range has been "tops" for so many other EVs.

if it is true...Woot. (and I suspect it is...doesn't sound outrageous, the claims of a 85-90% efficient motor would boost range consierably...and that car looks far lighter and more aerodynamic than all other evs i've seen).

But, my god...100K?! So much for making "being green" accesable. Damn.

Hopefully, they will sell, and they will be raved about, and other's will mimic it and prices will come down.
I think Pure Electric vehicles are the way to go. I don't like the hybrid concept.

[lapietra]

is this for real?

It is - they were test-driving one on Current TV. It's a beauty. :) *vrrrrrOOOM!*

[rapscalious rob]

Check out the press section - a bunch of media has been generated. Also, I wrote to an editor for Wired magazine (Kevin Kelly), and he said he'd driven it before (although it's out of his budget).

The 100K pricetag relegates it to those who would consider buying a 300K Lamborghini instead. However, on their blog, I saw that they have plans (years down the line) to offer a performance sedan, for 50-60K. Still very expensive, but at least no more than a nice sportscar.

**edit - here (http://www.teslamotors.com/blog1/?p=8) is a link to the blog entry - it seems the third or fourth generation _may_ have a price point around 1/4th of this car**

There are some other competitors, too, notably the French car company Venturi (http://www.venturi.fr/), and Universal Electric Vehicles (http://www.universalelectricvehicle.com/) in California, which has a rather ugly website. Overall, I get the impression that Tesla Motors is the most serious about what they're doing.

As you say, Coffee - hopefully this will wake up the car companies and force them to come up with a real solution - that would just be awesome, although I would also like to see Tesla Motors make back its investment and become wildly successful, since they really deserve it.

[rmr]

i used to listen to tesla

[rmr]

i used to listen to tesla

[craig johnston]

how often?

i still listen to the buzzcocks

:)

[lapietra]

from this page: (http://www.teslamotors.com/media/company.php)

"Just the Beginning
While the Tesla Roadster‘s sticker price is in a league with other high-performance sports cars with similar specs, we recognize it‘s out of reach for a lot of people. We consciously chose to develop a high-end sports car as our first car in order to develop the “performance DNA” from which we could create other electric vehicles. Our next model will leverage the Tesla Roadster‘s technology, resulting in a less expensive sports sedan that we can sell at higher volume. "

[12"razormix]

i keep thinking this thread is all about a toaster.... i'm also a little bit drunk

[lapietra]

http://www.its-lala.com/Cartini.jpg

[craig johnston]

http://www.sdcd.com/B2B/jsp/app/images/Scans/396605.jpg