Tesla Motors has seen the future of high performance, and it is electric. The company has made its first foray into the supercar market with the release in March 2008 of the Roadster.
In 2003, engineer and car enthusiast Martin Eberhard founded Tesla Motors, along with Mark Tarpening, to build the car he wanted to buy but couldn’t find -- a zero-emissions car with sufficient range that was fun to drive. Though he has since left the company (amid a flurry of Internet rumors), his ideas are encapsulated in the Roadster.
- Key Features
- 185-kW electric motor, equivalent to 248 hp
- Cutting-edge lithium-ion batteries; no gasoline required
- Top speed = 125 mph; maximum distance on one charge = 200 miles
- Body by Lotus Design Studio
- Taking orders for 2009 models at $109,000 and up
The Electric Motor
The most significant difference between the Tesla Roadster and any other high-performance car out there right now is its motor, which has a 13,000 rpm redline. The thing about electric cars, though, is that they have 100% torque available from the start. Acceleration in the Tesla Roadster is instant and powerful -- and quiet. Without a combustion engine, the only sound you hear is rubber meeting the road.
All that torque means there is serious stress placed on the transmission. When Tesla announced that it was building the roadster, it said the car would do 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Engineers were able to build a transmission that could do it, but not for very long under such high-torque conditions.
Transmission and Batteries
The first Roadsters to ship in Spring 2008 came with a sturdy, two-speed placeholder transmission that only does 0-60 in about 6 seconds. Any cars that ship out with the slower tranny will be eligible for the upgrade when it becomes available, possibly by the end of 2008.
Unlike many alternative-fuel vehicles hitting the streets these days, this car is not a hybrid, or even a plug-in hybrid. Not a drop of gas will ever be introduced to the system. The only fuel on board is a thousand-pound array of 7,000 lithium-ion batteries similar to the power source for laptops and cell phones. All together, their output is equivalent to over 100 mpg.
These power cells are expected to have a 100,000-mile lifespan and will fully charge in under four hours at a 220-volt outlet, like the one a clothes dryer uses. One charge will last about 200 miles, if the car is driven normally. Running the car at its top speed of 125, however, will shorten that drivable distance considerably.
Brakes and Suspension
All that go power has to stop somehow, in this case with a Servo-assisted vacuum pump with four-wheel ABS. The Roadster has cross-drilled front and rear disc brakes with AP Racing aluminum fixed calipers in the front and Brembo sliding calipers in the rear. It also has a regenerative braking system, similar to the Toyota Prius’s, that returns energy from the brakes to the batteries for storage. Suspension is independent wishbone all around, with an anti-roll bar in front.
Exterior Design
With the batteries weighing half a ton, weight had to come off somewhere else. The team at Lotus Design Studio in the U.K. formed the body from lightweight carbon fiber. (That explains why the Roadster’s swoopy curves look so familiar -- the Elise came from the same design shop.)
Total curb weight (it’s always dry weight) is 2,690 pounds, which, for comparison’s sake, is far more than the Lotus Elise’s curb weight of 1,984 pounds. The Roadster is 155 inches long, 74 inches wide, and 44 inches tall, making it just a hair larger than the Elise.
The body sits atop an extruded aluminum chassis light enough to not strain the batteries, stiff enough to provide superior handling, and strong enough to keep those expensive batteries from dropping into the street.
Interior Design
The interior is straightforward and familiar, with gauges, shifter, steering wheel, and two seats just where you’d expect to find them. The gauges, though, feed the driver information about battery supply and range, while the shifter only has two speeds (three, if you count reverse).
The exterior is available in 13 colors, and the interior can be as subtle or as flashy as the buyer wishes. There’s even a premium microfiber option for vegan supercar fans, but it only comes in basic black. No two-tone red-and-gold seats and door panel inserts for them.
Availability and Price
The problem with a bespoke supercar, whether it runs on gasoline or electricity, is availability. There are only so many hours in a day, and the production line can only move so fast. Tesla is now fulfilling the 600 orders it took for the 2008 model and is slowly crawling, car by car, toward its goal of 4,000 roadsters zipping silently along the world’s streets.
The base price for the 2008 Roadster -- which you can no longer buy -- was $98,000. If you wanted it fully loaded, it topped out at $108,000. The 2009 model can still be pre-ordered, starting at $109,000. Five thousand bucks gets you a place in line, and an additional $55k locks in a production slot and approximate time of delivery.
