That didn't take long. Despite the embargo on publishing Tesla material until 12:00 AM EST, the dam has broken and information and images of the Tesla Roadster have flooded the internet tonight. We'll credit Wired for starting the deluge, as this gallery of live images has been online for a while now.
You may notice how much the Tesla Roaster look like a Lotus Elise. If you read Wired's article on the Tesla, you'll learn that a Lotus designer penned the Tesla Roadster's shape and that the English sportscar maker will be the one assembling Martin Eberhard's baby. As a matter of fact, Tesla Motors hired away so many Lotus engineers and executives that it was forced to sign a "no-poaching agreement" if it wanted the British-based automaker to build its cars.
As mentioned earlier, we'll have information, images and video from the Tesla unveiling later tonight.
Click image to enlarge:
[Source: Wired]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
automatica @ Jul 19th 2006 10:08PM
One image changes the paradigm of the perception of what an EV should look like.
Kudos to Tesla on a job well done!
smegdude @ Jul 19th 2006 10:21PM
Looks awesome, lets hope it has the handling of the elise to go with the looks
Speed42 @ Jul 19th 2006 10:27PM
I think you mean "the dam has broken."
Tim @ Jul 19th 2006 10:32PM
Why not just buy a Lotus Elise and use some of the $40,000+ you save to buy some gas?
doug @ Jul 19th 2006 10:53PM
A little disappointed it's just an electric Elise.
Ian Green @ Jul 19th 2006 11:03PM
As an Elise owner. I'm not surprised, sort of figured this out before the wrap came off. I happy Telsa did it, but it's still just an Elise with an electric motor and a whack of cell phone batteries. Would be more impressed if they had built a NEW car, instead of modifying a great car....
Phelix @ Jul 19th 2006 11:18PM
shoot, it doesn't bother me one bit if more cars look like an elise.
kudos to the tesla folks, and good luck.
chewy @ Jul 20th 2006 12:02AM
So it has 182 killowatts, or 244 horsepower. With that much hp in an IC engine the Elise would do better than 4 seconds 0-60.
choilson @ Jul 20th 2006 12:27AM
anyway it provides another good choice for environmentists(is it spell like this? sorry for bad english).
Malay @ Jul 20th 2006 1:15AM
Lotus is Malaysian. They are owned by Proton.
It's not really a derivative design, as much as it is an Elise with an electric motor. I guess they could have done a lot worse.
naggs @ Jul 20th 2006 1:31AM
it has a 2 speed transmission? i was under the impression that an electric motor didnt need a tranny. must me limitations on how high the motor can rev.
i am glad to read that the makers of the car dont have any delusions about changing the world, they just think they can make money.
doglet @ Jul 20th 2006 1:33AM
"10. Lotus is Malaysian. They are owned by Proton."
so volvo is an american company then? if 33% of mazda is owned by ford, then what exactally is and is not american in a mazda factory in japan?
Tiago do Vale @ Jul 20th 2006 1:39AM
I don't know if it looks like an Elise.
But I do know that it is build on an elise chassis, just like the Opel Speedster was.
A new engine and new fiber body-panels.
Jonny Rock @ Jul 20th 2006 3:20AM
"10. Lotus is Malaysian. They are owned by Proton."
Correction: Lotus is British. Proton is Malaysian.
Jaguar and Aston Martin are not American simply because Ford owns them.
Not that any of that really matters.
And with 6,000+ Li-Ion cells, how "light" really is this thing?
x23 @ Jul 20th 2006 4:03AM
based on the cut-away drawing... and knowing what the average Li-Ion pack weighs... then imagining 6800+ of them... unless there is some serious ballast in the front of the car i can't imagine the weight distribution being all that great.
anyone seen a number on that yet? looks about like a 20:80 "balance" to me. though maybe the batteries are more mid-mounted than i can really tell from this angle. it's still looking mighty empty up front though.
strangway @ Jul 20th 2006 5:01AM
Your comments: A great step forward to convince the public of the possibilites of electric vehicles.
The next step would be to replace those nasty chemical batteries with something that won't pollute the environment in 5 years. Lightweight flywheel batteries would be ideal.
Ten years ago, I read about an engineer, Jack Bitterly, who was developing these things for this very purpose. Based on his estimates, 16 flywheels could power an 800 hp electric car. What happened?
Go to the link, it will blow your mind.
strangway @ Jul 20th 2006 5:03AM
http://www.discover.com/issues/aug-96/features/reinventingthewh842/
Phil L. @ Jul 20th 2006 6:46AM
Overall, it seems this is an extension of some ideas in AC Propulsion's TZero, with surprisingly similar performance statistics. Of course, the big difference is batteries: The TZero uses lead-acid, and so has nowhere near the range.
A neat idea, well executed. But hardly revolutionary. And, in any case, the market for $80K-120K sports cars is pretty limited, no matter what fuels the drivetrain.
Can anyone take this development work and use it to create a mid-size EV sedan that seats 5, has the same 250 mile range, and a real purchase price (a price that would include profit for the maker) in the $20K range? Now THAT would be revolutionary.
Martin @ Jul 20th 2006 8:31AM
Looks good.
Let's hope it doesn't live up to Lotus' reputation - Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious :)
Ken @ Jul 20th 2006 9:29AM
Strangeway, capacitance batteries is the target of the electric storage industry. They should charge quickly and hold gobs of energy. They are currently under development at the biggest universities.