Elon Musk takes delivery of first production Tesla Roadster
Last Friday, Tesla chairman Elon Musk took delivery of the first production Roadster, which carries the name P1 (Production vehicle 1). The black coupe was flown in from Hethel, England, where all Teslas are being built alongside the Roadster's cousin, the Lotus Elise. When the Roadster arrived at the start-up's R&D facility in San Carlos, California, it was pushed into the garage and had its Thailand-produced battery pack installed. After the battery was fitted and charged, Musk led a pack of four other Roadsters on a quick drive and AutoblogGreen was able to procure a video of the run. For those of you who wanted to hear how the Tesla Roadster sounds while accelerating, we've embedded the video after the jump.
[Source: Earth2Tech.com, Image: Stephanie Lawrence]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Raider007 6:57PM (2/05/2008)
man that sounds mean...
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Taylor 6:58PM (2/05/2008)
I laughed hearing the silverado in the background.
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BartMack 7:00PM (2/05/2008)
doin' the electric slide.....
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gordon 7:07PM (2/05/2008)
Flown over from England?
Doesn't sound very green :p
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tuna 7:16PM (2/05/2008)
Snore.
As a long-time sports car owner and gearhead, a car isn't a sports car if it doesn't have the grunt of a gasoline engine. As the other article suggests, if the sports ccar category dies, I will probably switch to a motorcycle (even if it kills me). You have not driven until you combine an undulating ribbon of asphalt with the sound of a proper sports car motor.
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mikey 7:57PM (2/05/2008)
A lot of people felt the same way about steam.
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Taylor 8:01PM (2/05/2008)
You win one internet point. Now prepare for the whiners.
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rodan32 9:06PM (2/05/2008)
I've got to disagree. For context, my first car was a '65 Coronet 500; I know how great an engine can sound. This thing is different, definitely, but it's still a sexy piece of kit.
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Mi key 9:09PM (2/05/2008)
Nice interior shot of the Audi R8.
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Dustin 9:34PM (2/05/2008)
That was my first thought. If they build them so slowly that they have to fly them all oversees one at a time, how good for the environment is that?
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Dustin 9:35PM (2/05/2008)
As a response to "Flown over from England? Doesn't sound very green."
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M 10:07PM (2/05/2008)
Sounds like some sort of star wars land speeder......zzzZZZing!
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rav3 10:32PM (2/05/2008)
At least there's no question as to where the steering wheel mounted airbag is. I still think "Steering Wheel" would have been a better label. Or "Push To Honk".
Was a little disappointed the handbrake, glove box, seats and other items aren't label similarly.
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Christian Stevens 10:52PM (2/05/2008)
Sounds ghostly and eerily quiet. I WANT ONE~!
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Justin 11:28AM (2/06/2008)
No one else thinks that is one el cheapo gauge cluster they have going on there?
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RJ 5:56PM (2/06/2008)
Gorgeous. The sound fits the character of the car perfectly and it's completely unique. The EV1 used to sound just as good.... too bad the car such a POS. I can't wait to test drive one of these.
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RJ 6:10PM (2/06/2008)
That's the very accurate, very legible, very lightweight instrument cluster from a Lotus Elise - what would you rather have? And my post below should say "too bad the car [EV1] WAS such a POS" - I edited the sentence and didn't double check it.
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