Click above for a high-res gallery of the Tesla Roadster.
Tesla's president and CEO, Ze'ev Drori, made the announcement today on his corporate blog that production of the Roadster has officially begun. Tesla originally set a date of March 17th for "regular" production of the Roadster, and the folks in Hethel have met that obligation today. From here, Tesla intends to get started on its retail efforts, with both a Los Angeles location and a Menlo Park facility for sales and service for the 600 roadsters expected to be built over the course of 2008. Tesla is hoping that they'll be able to produce around 100 Roadsters each month, up from its current level of one to five cars per week. All the models being produced this year have already been spoken for, so any orders that come in will be sold as 2009 models.
[Source: Tesla]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
porschedevotee @ Mar 17th 2008 6:11PM
I can't wait for the Menlo Park dealership to open! It's on the same site where Anderson Chevrolet used to be, and I would swing by after school to drool over the Z06s in the window, but Teslas will be so much cooler. It's so much fun living in the Bay Area :)
JeepDad @ Mar 17th 2008 6:35PM
How much does the average line worker/assembler make? This would be a fun car to be a part of at any level.
Electric Cars Suck @ Mar 17th 2008 7:06PM
I truley hope that people are just makeing a huge deal of this company because its one of the first of its kind that has potential. But for $98K you get junk. Im sorry to say it but its 100% true. For 98K you could buy a real Lotus and still have half the money left. Plus with a real car it takes all of 4mins to fill the gas tank up and up the 3.5 hours of batterys that will have to be desposed of when they cant hold a charge.
ckm @ Mar 17th 2008 7:31PM
I'm not much of a fan, but you have it wrong.
The car costs $80k and will out run almost anything in that price class. 0-60 in less than 4 seconds and it cost $5 to drive 250 miles. The battery has a seven year lifespan, which is the average lifespan of most cars. And they built a car company with $160 million in funding (Panoz spend $500 million, most new model dev cost $2 - $4 billion).
The question is not really whether the Tesla roadster is a good, niche car (it'll be a second or third car for most people), it's whether they can turn the technology into mass production. But you can't argue with the performance, it's stunning, and so is doing it with only $160 million.
skr @ Mar 17th 2008 11:25PM
you serious? production fully electric car that is a) fast b) looks cool? whats wrong with that?
BlackbirdHighway @ Mar 17th 2008 9:49PM
You are wrong. It only takes about 20 seconds to charge it. Ten seconds to plug it in when I get home, and ten seconds to unplug it in the morning. That's much faster than the 4 minutes or more it takes to fuel a conventional car.
That 3.5 hour thing you mentioned happens at night, while I'm alsleep, so that doesn't matter the slightest little bit.
Plus. no oil changes, no sparkplugs, air filters, clutch, distributor, fuel pump, fuel filter, oil pump, fuel injectors, catalytic convertor, muffler, starter, alternator, etc. Over the years, I've had to replace or service all that stuff and much more on the vehicles I've owned.
Best of all, you don't have to buy gasoline for it. Exxon made $40 billion in profit last year. If you still want to give them more of your money, that's your problem. I don't.
It's not the 4 minutes you spend filling up that's the killer, it's the $60 you spend filling up. Look for that to go even higher soon.
jake @ Mar 18th 2008 2:09AM
Sorry man, a Lotus isn't just half the price. The Tesla is about the size of the Europa and the performance is even better than the Europa SE (0-60 5.5secs) which is already $65k. Tesla's performance is that of the top of the line Exige S 240 (0-60 4 secs) also starting at $65k. That's off by $33k. That's not bad since you get both a bigger car, similar to the Europa (like the Europa, the Tesla roadster's door sills are lowered for easier ingress, egress, the chassis is also has a longer wheelbase), and the performance of the upcoming 2008 Exige S 240. Let me remind you of what you get over the Exige S, which is described as such by R&T "The seats are still uncomfortable, the ride is harsh and so much engine, road and wind noise make their way into the cockpit that you can forget about talking on your cellphone. Hey, that’s a good thing! Getting into the diminutive machine isn’t hard, but getting back out over the large sills can be downright comical." The Exige S was slower than the Tesla too and it was already $65k.
And don't forget about the benefits of the electric motor, 100% trq @ 0rpm. With the 1 speed transmission, there is also NO effort to get that power. Just step on the accelerator and it goes, no hesitation. In any of the aforementioned gasoline cars you will have to shift and be in the powerband to get your power; not so in the Tesla. Then there is the efficiency; 100mpg by counts so far. Even at half that, in spirited driving conditions, you get 50mpg. You struggle to get a quarter of that efficiency in an Exige or Europa. Not to mentioned with renewable energy you will effectively not be polluting at all. Before mentioning the "toxic" battery, the battery is actually nontoxic and landfill safe and 60% is recycled. http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=66
So people stop comparing the Toadster to a $44k Elise,(which obviously you are trying to do); it's not the same size or performance. In the Tesla, you get the performance of an Exige S240 with the size of a Europa. If Lotus is already charging $65k for either, then a Tesla with actual new tech (and don't forget it's a completely new model from a NEW COMPANY) isn't charging too much at $98k.
sw @ Mar 17th 2008 7:09PM
An electric car that the masses would actually want. Great day for gearheads and greenies.
ckm @ Mar 17th 2008 7:19PM
I was at Tesla a few weeks ago, they had 3-4 production versions that were being demo'd to visitors. Right now, they are producing 1 a week, at least until they ramp in June.
The motor is incredibly small, about the size of one of those mini-kegs...
MachinaDC5 @ Mar 17th 2008 8:16PM
I'm genuinely glad this car's made and has a market. It's kind of a shame it's not the fastest thing in the world but it's a start.
gtakreyz @ Mar 17th 2008 8:56PM
That's Tesla, not Telsa, on the title of the article...
ambientFLIER @ Mar 17th 2008 10:01PM
Are we missing the point here? How much fun can it be to drive a sportscar that is silent? No shifting, no exhaust noise, no thanks.
Will Hodges @ Mar 17th 2008 11:05PM
Jeff - electric cars right now are not a poor peoples car. Battery technology right now is not very good and expensive if it is good. This company has developed a means to make a battery that monitors itself to keep it cool (the biggest factor in keeping batteries in good condition to hold a charge, and using that charge effectively) and has a safe mode in case something bad happens so you do not get stranded. For the money they have, most would not think they would have gotten so much press, and as such attack it as being a boring car.
They made it expensive because rich people are the ones that pay for the development, so that the poor can eventually get the same technology but not be responsible for R&D costs. If the Tesla Roadster was less exclusive it would not get the customers that they need to work out the kinks. These people are going to run into problems, but they will enjoy these cars regardless because they are the first to own performance electric vehicles. Rich people would not buy these had they not had something appealing. Tesla has done this correctly. No other electric car company has done this so far, and that is why Tesla will probably survive (even though they would have done better with their former CEO but I digress) to expand their range.
As long as they really do work out the problems with transmissions and actually get these out the door in a decently quick manner they will have no problems selling them.
I love high performance cars, and internal combustion engines are just sexy, but power is power - and this car has some power. This is the way cars are going unless we figure out a way to make hydrogen electrolosis with less power than is in the hydrogen to start with electric cars are the wave of the future. There are already a dozen or two companies that each are coming up with li-ion batteries, and with that kind of competition and money being thrown at this market there WILL be some viable options. The truth of the matter is, electricity is cheap. With how efficient electric motors are (96-98% of the energy going in gets put to the ground) compared to internal combustion (that even the best diesel gets about 45% of the power out and most gas engines are more like 35%) electric has a lot going for it. Not to mention the maintenance (virtually none) for electrics is VERY nice since most people would love to NEVER talk to a mechanic again other than for suspension, brakes, AC, and heat problems.
The truth is that your comment is just wrong. These are not meant for poor people. They are reasonably priced. They are good looking, and they have already sold their production for quite a while. Liberal communist hippies are not the people that buy expensive innovative cars, they buy VW buses. The people that buy these are rich businessmen tired of their friends Porsche's, Vette's, Benz's, and Ferrari's. They want something different. The fact that it has a good warranty, seem to be in it for the long haul, and is going to be cheap as hell to operate and maintain.
Wait a while to bitch about how electric cars are for poor people - you know, at least until they are actually marketed towards those people.
tankd0g @ Mar 17th 2008 11:50PM
There's going to be a dealership for a car that already has all of it's units presold and paid for???
Ben @ Mar 18th 2008 1:40AM
Its just more hype for Tesla, and there needs to be a service center for the cars. In a couple of years the whitestar thing will be out, and the Roadster probably won't be completely sold out.
Thank god for rich, "green" people.
BAMF @ Mar 18th 2008 3:48AM
444!
Cray @ Mar 18th 2008 3:50AM
Tesla Roadster is a Lotus, they freely admit Lotus is involved in the production of their car. So think about what you're saying when you rip Tesla for being a fake because thats really insulting to Lotus.
What's wrong with having a sports car go from 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, and do it without destroying the environment?
The auto industry and its die-hard fanatics need to stop being so cynical about non-combustible engines. Lets try to put things in perspective, the Ford Model T had many predecessors before it became the viable for mainstream America.
All EVs (Electric Vehicles) need is their Model T and change will come. There will eventually be an automaker who will make EVs an affordable alternative to gas-powered cars. Change is coming, this is one step closer, and alot closer than most people on this thread want to give.
I can tell you one thing, the Tesla Roadster looks great, and blows away GM's EV1 in every conceivable way.
bazzz @ Mar 18th 2008 5:32AM
Why the Audi R8 photo in the gallery? Picture 29.
MikeInNC @ Mar 18th 2008 8:00AM
...and just think, in a few years they will come out with a new battery pack that will be able to double or triple the range you get from it. Battery technology is just starting to get out of its infancy so it's almost as if the the sky is the limit. Don't forget, there are very few moving parts in these engines so they are likely to last a VERY long time as well.
Toy Yoda @ Mar 18th 2008 11:00AM
I'm more interested in Fisker's electric car when that comes out. I think it's impact on the auto industry will be larger than Tesla's, because Fisker's car -if produced- is more practical. (And not to mention, much, much more better looking.)