Just amazing, awesome!!!
FINALLY a cool high performance electric car.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Fantastic! An electric car that makes people drool over it’s styling. However I really and truely can’t help but think all the styling cues came from Lotus. It’s just sufficiently tweaked not to look identical to the Elise/Europa and the M250. Actually I think it is an M250, FANTASTIC you’ve made it!

So how much is it ?????

Hi Martin and crew!
Congratulations on this radically different vehicle, it will be making waves!
I can’t wait to see it in person and test-drive it, I guess it will be better than my BMW,
which I drive entirely different than my Prius and I again change my driving style when
I use my current EV.
This car has the best of both worlds - performance and efficiency,
without the compromises we see everywhere else.
Another word of encouragement: it is real easy to get the E9 TOU rate installed by PG&E,
I only needed to send one FAX and before the end of the week I had another meter
installed for free and I am charging every night at 5c per kWh.

Is your next model going to be a (family) sedan?
Reason for me to have a Prius plus an EV is to have range and zero-emission,
be it in two different cars. If it can be done in one car, I am all ears.

Congratulations!!!! It does have sex appeal! I live in Arizona and I have read that elevated temperatures hasten permanent capacity loss in lithium ion batteries. When do you expect to offer the car in this area? What do you expect the battery life to be? Will you include battery replacement in the price of the car? Can I buy a service/support agreement for the car and battery replacement just like a company would buy for a large computer and software investment?

Wouldn’t it be great to one day tell Opec and the Middle East, no thanks, we just don’t need it anymore.

You need to add a cost/price justification calculator on your website that takes into account existing mpg and rising gas prices. That’s the first thing I did for myself.

Thank You!!!

Congratulations on bringing an exciting and highly relevant car to market. I applaud the courage, dedication and innovation required to make it happen, and I applaud the vision of your investors. Let’s hope Tesla represents a rebirth of production EVs, both from the top down and the bottom up, via Plug-In Hybrids. Plug-In hybrids will start with a limited EV mode range which will grow from there. They and pure EVs like Tesla’s will come down in price as battery technology continues to improve and production volume and storage capacity of Lithium-Ion batteries increases. Good choice on partnering with Lotus too as they are leaders in stong, lightweight chassis and cars.

Here are a couple corrections for your web site, which is otherwise well thought-out and designed. Our Toyota RAV4 EV gets about 100 miles of range, not the 60 cited for prior EVs. Also there was no EV2 (on the range graphic). The NiMH EV1 was still called an EV1 Gen II.

Cheers,

Jeff C.

considering that the biggest value of ZEVs in Ca is in meeting the relics of the CARB mandate, how long do you think it will be before Tesla gets bought by a major manufacturer?

cool car. i just hope it won’t get bought and squashed.

First post of Tesla Motors!! Congratulations on the introduction of the Tesla Roadster. I really believe in what you guys are trying to do. I’ll be visiting the Petersen Museum tomorrow to take a closer look. Now how about a test drive!

Congratulations Mark and the rest of Tesla! You’ve unveied something truly wonderful.

I am very intrigued. How soon do you expect to be in the Houston, Tx area? I will continue to watch Tesla and am very pleased that someone has found ways to extend mileage AND performance. I am a diehard speed freak/motorhead but also appreciate a way to get to work and back and around town. My commute is 40 miles per day at highway speeds and I am looking for the next possible car. How do you power the AC which is extremely important in Tx? Is the AC conventional or have you jazzed it up as well?

First of all, let me wish you the best of luck for your initiative.
I am a PhD student in Li-Ion batteries and I am really amazed by your numbers. I’d be thrilled to see this car over here in Europe. Are there any plans to show it at some car event?
Looking forward to it, thanks!

Well done!
great compliments!
I hope to see your Roadster on Italians roads soon!!!!!

Absolutely awesome car! You guys have thought of everything. Been eagerly awaiting the unveling for a while.

Just one question re charging - you say every morning you start with a full charge, but if charging is like cell phones, the batteries have a memory and you shouldn’t recharge them till the charge is almost all gone. So if you charge the Tesla every night, will that shorten the life of the batteries, possilbe greatly? (assuming you don’t do 250 miles every day!)

Martin, it is truly a beautiful car. A green car that is actually cool. Seeing you’re rolling out in CA, I suspect this will be the most popular celebrity ride in town next year and get plenty of free paparazzi attention. Sadly, it’s out of my price range.

Hopefully you’ll write up about the battery replacement costs and what the impact is on disposing batteries to the environment vs. traditional vehicles.

Bravo. It’s about time someone rethought the formula of a car from the wheels up. I hope today will go down in automotive history as one of the most important milestones.

Nowhere am I able to find out how much the car weighs. Can you tell me?

I think what you are doing is great. Unfortunately your first vehicle will undoubtably be out of my Price range. Hopefully as the technology becomes more common the price will come down. I have read lots of comments about the lack of noise and how the sound of an engine is a big part of the driving experience. So how about giving the car the ability to produce sound (Inside as there is no point in annoying those outside). It would be great to bbe able to press a button and choose an Alfa V6 one day and a Honda Vtech the next. Feel particularily racy and you could choose a nice V8 ferrari or on lazy days maybe a big v8. Pointless of course but it would add to the experience for me.

This car is incredible! The time is ripe for the electric sports car. With a 5-7% increase in battery capacity each year, the performance will have doubled in 10-15 years. That is a lot faster than conventional cars evolve. The future belongs to cars like the Tesla Roadster. (Which reminds me I have a patent application for a Level 2.5 electric car charger to file.)

The car looks great! I might have to upgrade from my Lotus Elise. Glad to see it comes in orange!

Hello,

I heard about your company, and the car you produce, for the first time ever this morning. I can hardly tell how enthusiast I am. Congratulations for such an achievement!

I am a convinced ecologist as well as a sport cars lover (I must confess I’ve owned an old Porsche 911 for some time… I know, it might be contradictory, but hey, I’m only human!)

Hopefully, this car just looks like the one I’ve been waiting for many years now… I just wish you would quickly sell it in France, were I live -and produce this model to a plenty, so that the price become more affordable

At last, being a journalist in a local newspaper, I just can’t wait the day I’ll do some report about your car.

Best, best regards!

Congratulations on your public announcement! I hope you’ll soon have an event in the Bay Area (where you are located) where people can marvel over (and buy!) your car.

By the way, your incentives page has a picture of a YELLOW carpool lane sticker used for hybrids rather than a WHITE one used for electric cars. Please contact me if you want to take a pic of a WHITE one, as I have one I have not yet affixed to replace the faded ones on my RAV4 EV.

I note that the 177 Wh/mi is better than the approximately 270 city and 340 hwy Wh/mi rating for the RAV4 EV and comparable to that of the GM EV1.

I reckon you’ve hit the nail bang on the head. Here in London people are buying electric cars as fast as they can get hold of them as the parking and congestion charge incentives are so good. The one thing I come across time and again is ‘can you drive that car with confidence?’ It’s all about driver appeal, amongst both the buying public and the motoring press. Send us the Tesla and watch it fly out of the showrooms..

I work in the oil industry here in Houston, Texas. We have probably seen the end of cheap oil and the US dependence on foreign oil is incredibly short sighted.

Yes the US does have an abundance of energy sources that can be used to generate electricity (coal for example), but the key here is that the Tesla (and other electric vehicles) will allow us to utilize these other sources of power for individual road transportation. Clean electricity generation can be worked on in parallel.

I did test drive an EV1 for 2 weeks back in 1996 - would have bought one if I had been allowed. It was fun to drive and a very effective vehicle for me in Houston, even with an effective range of 80 miles. Batteries have obviously improved since then.

But, going back to it. A switch to vehicles like the Tesla (I would keep my SUV/Van for the weekend getaway (though battery charging may come of age in the future)) would allow the following for the US:

1. Weaning away from foreign oil (Iraq and the middle east along with Venezuela become less important and have less money to spend on…)
2. Cut emmissions and reduce Global Warming
3. We could perform all of the activities internally - good for the economy
4. This would also reduce the trade deficit

In all this looks like a hell of an energy policy and the cars would be so much fun to drive.

When can I get one in Houston???

Regards

Colin Leach

Congrats guys

We are so proud of your vision and ability to make it happen

Go big - Mark

Great work! I really dig the car. Wonder how much it cost…cant seem to find the exact cost. Would be really nice if it was at everyone’s reach…then there will be all of us doing our bid to save our world.
So, Tesla Roadster Unwrapped…finally!
www.hybridcarnews.org/entry/tesla-roadster-unwrappedfinally/

Just a question. What’s the total weight of the Tesla Roadster?

THanks,
Roberto

This is a really nice looking car and those specs certainly read well.
I would be interested to know if you plan to sell to the UK as I’m sure there is a market for this.

great job, folks. Have you considered applying the same hi-tech to motorcycling? any chances os seeing, say, “tesla scooters” around anytime soon?

I have to say that this car does look stunning, and the performance specs are impressive as well.
It’s encouraging to see that electricity is a viable alternative to fossil fuels, particularly with regard to range and raw performance.
I wish everyone in Tesla Motors the best of luck in this venture and hopefully you can lead the way to a cleaner and more environmentally friendly driving future.

This car can’t come soon enough. I’m going to buy one for sure (your making them right hand drive? I would assume so being built be lotus). All I need then is to put up a wind turbine behind my garage and my conscience will be clear.

Martin, You have created the vehicle that I have been pondering for some time now. I can’t wait to buy one.

Finally the right attitude for an EV! If your development program includes an ongoing effort to take advantage of developing battery technologies and allow for the easy retrofit of previous models, you should have a winner.

Best wishes, I look forward to a test drive,
Al Levesque
Jupiter, Florida

I spoke with one of you (darn if I can’t remember who) before you moved to your present location. At the time I recall having a sense of high expectation and confidence you were going to come up with something good.

Well! This isn’t just “good,” this is “Oh… My… God…!” You’ve just created the sports car of the future, with zero compromises. If I were planning to buy a (you know which marques) any time soon, I’d switch gears and send you guys a deposit instead, and count down the days with eager anticipation.

A colleague of mine has a serious taste for motion. He also hasn’t much patience for the usual electric vehicle offerings. I heard your specs on a radio interview on Wedsnesday, so I told my colleague, “There’s a new EV being unveiled today.” He looked at me like, “yeah sure…” I said, “top speed around 130, with 0-60 in four seconds, and over 200 mile range.”

He said “Now THAT is a car! That is a car I’d buy.”

About those “other” electrics. I wouldn’t refer to them as “unappealing punishment cars,” but rather as “mundane compromise cars.” They are after all useful in a strictly utilitarian sense. But they aren’t designed to appeal to the spirit of the open road, the feeling of boundlessness, and the taste for performance without compromise. They serve their purpose in trips to town, but clearly aren’t the vehicle for an exhilarating spin along the coast or a weekend trip where the drive counts for as much as the destination.

It’s pretty clear what’s going to happen here. Your first buyers are going to hit the road and heads are going to turn like nothing before. When drivers of (those other marques) see something approaching them from behind, passing them faster than a jet, and leaving a silent streak of two black lines out to the horizon, they are going to pinch themselves and think they’re dreaming. Then they’ll get online, look you up, pick up the phone and call. There will be a lot of (those other marques) turning up for sale pre-owned, with their previous owners saying “It’s a fine car, but I just had to have a Tesla.”

There’s another thing about the Tesla that’s inspiring. It’s proof positive that the future doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. You can have fast, luxurious, sleek, sexy, powerful, AND green; you can be sustainable without feeling confined; you can put the joy back into driving and hand the keys to Planet Earth to your grandchildren.

Rarely does a new automobile come along that changes the very rules of the game. Congratulations, you’ve just done it.

-George

It is about time someone had the guts to make an Electric car that is appealing to the driving enthusiasts.

Way to go!

Cheers.

Nice Car!

Want to race?

Cliff Rassweiler
Driver of the Electric Imp

cool-I hope you have a lot of luck. I want one of these cars on Nantucket. Nantucket would be a perfect place for an eletric vehicle.

Hi,

I’m a real EV entusiast but also a real petrolhead. The Tesla sounds like the car for me. Well done on all the good work.

I have a question: Have you looked into using ultracapacitors? I know the problem is in controlling the the discharge rate but it did occur to me if anyone could solve that problem it would be someone in silicon valley - just a thought.

Cheers.

JP.

There are two problems with Tesla Motors: 1) You won’t let me invest in the company. 2) I was really hoping to be able to pre-order one when the site went live.

With gas at $3 a gallon, the middle east approaching a world war, a president that did nothing but run companies into the ground (spectrum 7, arbusto, harken energy) before doing the same with this country, and another hurricane season upon us — things on a global level appear so bleak that it seems silly to think about buying something that could appear so self-indulgent to so many. Yet at the same time, this car is such a big step forward in the right direction that it offers a golden ray of hope against an otherwise dire backdrop.

If GM or another of the “big” 3 comes and offers to buy your company, please tell them to shove off.

Forget it… I missed the place where you explained that it IS already integrated… sorry…
By the way, do you have plans to commercialice this in Europe too?

Congratulations to you and your team Martin! I hope you succeed where others have failed… your product seems very superior in addressing the wants of performance drivers.

What do you expect the weight to be?

Beautiful vehicle, I live in NY how can I see one? and what price range will this fall into?

Very Interested,
Lance Laviano

Congratulations, Martin, to you and everyone at Tesla who’ve worked so hard to get to this day. Your efforts in designing and bringing to market this car, and the care and thought you’ve put into every step are evident to a one who wished he could have been in Santa Monica at your unveiling. Your website is a model of effective presentation of the most important information that both customers and fans are looking for. And your pitch and photos are in the great automotive tradition of inspiring lust in the buyer’s heart and mind.

If anyone has a chance to change public perceptions about electric vehicles, it’s your team. As I hopefully said in our posting announcing your launch, as you produce successive generations of ever-more affordable and compelling Tesla cars, we’ll all be trading in our hybrids and, perhaps, our plug-in hybrids!

Fellix Kramer, Founder, The California Cars Initiative (and your Silicon Valley neighbor)

Hi Martin, congratulations on the building a car of the future. Your figures of range and speed and enviromental concerns are what this world needs. I will be eagerly waiting to see what the motoring world and indeed the big oil companies make of your product. (Not to mention the governments of the world who reap $$ of tax from normal fuels.) I suspect it will be a while until the petrol car fades away, but the way fuel costs are going - who knows?

Yours sincerely,
Terry Amos

The Roadster is a Very Beautiful Electric Car,made for the Person who LOVES to Drive.The Future looks Wonderful.Remember—For Every ACTION! there is a REACTION! Like + & - Forces. So Maybe we will have Real Electric Powered Cars,And Real Air Powered Cars.(May The Force Be With You)
Peace,
LoneScout

The car looks awesome & the technology extremely finie. I will look forward to being the 1st Tesla Offshore employee to own a Tesla Motors sports car.

A rough price range would be a nice thing to have on your website. I’d like to know if this vehicle is something I can even consider without a movie star salary.

Martin, great job to you and the team. It really is amazing how innovations in the electronics industry (i.e. laptop batteries, etc) can be applied to the auto industry. The big boys in Rock City need to learn a few things.

Did the not so economical hybrid automobile finally become economical?….hmm..whats the estimated price range for the Tesla?

Thanks to you and you company we now have an electric car that not only has sound engineering, but always looks great. Best of luck and maybe with a little magazine/television advertising this could really take off. I may have just found my new favorite car.

Great car, can’t wait for introduction in Europe, especially the Netherlands. The Dutch governement stimulates new types of energies, als in combination of transportation due to environmental issues.

Awesome car. I think Porsche had an Electric all wheel drive car in the Late 1800’s which was kind of neat. I beleive the US government should fund all your R&D costs and create an assembly plant immediately. They also should subsidize every AMERICAN car you build and create a gameplan for the infastruture on U.S. highways. They also should bring over the greatest engineering minds from M.I.T. and help you grow. I think when Ford started the government helped and i know VW and Mercedes got help from their government. Good luck Mr. Eberhard and your design team and i hope for your companies success.

Is Tesla Motors following the progress of the EESTOR ultracapacitor,and if this technology really works,would Tesla use it into their cars ? Thanks for your answer

This is about the best thing I have ever seen coming out of the new generation of vehicles. Thank You for producing what I have always wanted: A performance electric car. I can hardly wait to get my hands on one of these.

A Quote:
“If you took the energy in a gallon of gas and used it to spin a turbine, you’d get enough electricity to drive an electric car 110 miles,”

It begs the question: is it possible to put up a backup enine that would spin a turbine to do just that? Just curious.

This is the right vehicle at the right time. With air pollution at record levels, gas over $3 at the pump and over $9 to our country with the susbsidies and tax write offs, along with the lost lives fighting wars to free the oil. You will change the world.
Nice work, I wish I could afford one. I’d be glad to lease one and drive it and show it off here in Scottsdale the land of the Barret Jackson autions and exotic sprots cars. I bet you I can get over 300 miles on a charge.

Jim

Congratulations on making it this far. I’m looking forward to seeing one of your cars. Do you have plans for the auto show circuit?

How do you rate fuel consumption on this? Will you have a battery meter that projects the current life based on driving styles? Also will you try to incorporate new capacitor based carbon nano-tube batteries in the future? It seems these achieve higher energy density, are lighter than chemical batteries and can charge faster. I just don’t know how far along they are in actual production and achievable energy densities. What is the charging mechanism? Does it merely plug into a standard 120-volt outlet?

It comes as no surprise, really, that Tesla Motors would name the sluggish auto industry and market as their biggest hurdle. There has always been room for innovation in all facets of the auto industry from actual auto design, energy efficiency, driving habits, etc.

It’s refreshing to see a company start from the ground up and create a product with a positive guiding maxim such as “it should be possible.” This car is truly a leap forward for the public image of electric vehicles.

But with just this one model available, the question becomes “Can Tesla Motors make the jump from a luxury sports car manufacturer to a producer of a full line of no-compromise, innovative electric automobiles?”

As Tesla seems to have achieved the only honest and so-far successful attempt to create a truly new and actually marketable product, I hope that they are able to capitalize on initial success and apply the same innovation and guiding maxim to many other models that serve a more massive audience. And we should also feel more than a little pride that Tesla is an American company, at least as American as we can hope for these days. It is time for a new player in the auto industry, specifically one that truly delivers a product of innovation and vision. Hopefully Tesla can become that player

Looking forward to test driving one. 160 miles a day round trip commute. Wanted luxury and occasional performance handling. All Hybrids couldn’t offer both and their real-world MPG didn’t make it the car for me. I just bought a Lexus IS 250 and can get 35MPG real-world with the Luxury I desire for such a long commute, and still have some fun on the weekends. It doesn’t look like a space pod to boot. If Tesla was out, there would have been a new contender. Finally someone understands that a hybrid/EV car can be good looking and offer some luxury and performance.
Note to Tesla: the Lotus Elise is too small, hopefully the Tesla is a bit bigger so that an SUV doesn’t drive over it like a speed bump.

Please show the car at the Detroit Auto Show and/or the Chicago Auto Show next year!

You guys are real innovators. It’s so exciting to see that someone is pushing this technology forward. An important moment in history, and an inspiration to all student engineers out there who are interested in building a better world.

p.s I live in Bangkok Thailand where the traffic fumes can make you faint. I truly hope that Tesla cars will someday dominate the market here.
-m

Sorry, but I can’t find a connection with your Tesla roadster
and the tesla motor patent.
The original Tesla car was supported by radio electricity,
not by batteries.
I think that Tesla roadster is only a name for an interesting
electric car. The original Tesla car is much more..
Nick
Italy

What, no Jacksonville, Florida dealership!!!??

Well Done!

Finally, a sane choice for those who want style and function in their environmentally friendly transportation.

This sure beats walking!

I look forward to driving my own Tesla soon.

olá! Venho por meio desta ter informações de quando este veiculo estará disponivel para venda no Brasil.
Muito grato.

IT’S ABOUT TIME…………THANK YOU .

Hi Martin,

You have an absolute gem on your hands. I’m living in Phoenix, AZ and I can’t wait to test one of these out in the hot-hot desert weather and see if it holds up! I’m sure it will. Keep up the work. There is finally an answer to those who say electric cars are not for red-blooded men with adrenaline pumping speeds. Thank you!

AK.

Martin - this is a great an important step forward in the battle to shift from the antiquated internal combustion engine. Well done for believing in the electric car and converting: “it should be possible” into a showroom masterpiece. All the best to you and your team and good luck!

Mr. Eberhard,

Here is the post I made today at netscape.com in their discussion group on the subject of Tesla car.

**********************************************************************
This is the news I was waiting for, for years!

Hmmm…250 miles range per charge. That has to be the tipping point. The psychological barrier -fear, maybe?= for getting caught without power was the main reason for people for not embracing EV1 and the likes. The hybrids on the other hand are the essential first step towards a totally clean and green electric car.

Rome was not built in a day! So, it will be a while before the technology of Tesla car is proven, and enough units sold to cover the enormous R & D costs, that the prices will come down from stratosphere to earth.

I must congratulate the geniuses behind this project. They definitely deserve the Malcolm Baldridge Award.

Keep up guys, godspeed to you. I will be keenly watching your progress!

****************************************************************
Bravo! A brilliant idea executed with brains and brawn. Your white papers are a must read for anybody who wants to know anything about environment-friendly transportation.

I was very impressed with the thought process and problem solving approach as presented in the write-up.

Equally brilliant is your success of bringing together people who walk the walk and talk the talk when it comes to environment.

I think you guys are going to succeed beyond belief.

Is a 4- or 5 seater, minivan or a similar More-Than-Two-People vehicle in the works?

I wish you the very best of success!!!!!

Finally, someone is getting it right! Put me down for purchase… I want to own one.

Looks like a very interesting vehicle! I’m a mechanical engineer and I’ve been watching with great interest the progress that’s been made with electric cars. I do have one comment however, I don’t know what standing Lotus has in the US but here in Europe and in the UK in particular it is known for producing cars that are amazingly agile and fun to drive. Therefore I’m surprised you haven’t focused more on the collaboration with Lotus with regards to design and chassis engineering, as the prospect of driving a battery powered Lotus is one that will surely have eco-friendly car enthusiasts falling over themselves with excitement! I know I sure can’t wait to see one of these cars on the road in Europe!

This looks like a very nice car. I’ll be interested in knowing how much the final price will be. I’m surprised that Tesla motors dose not spend any effort describing the reason why they chose to use a Lotus Elise as their work bench. In fact aside from the drive train, this is mostly an Elise re-dressed. In fact Tesla could stand to profit from even selling the body shell for those who want an Elise body with a different look.

I have been saying for a while that electric cars are truly the future in terms of existing in the emerging anti-foreign-oil economy and with the looming effects of global warming. This is primarily because of the “true multi-fuel” concept with EVs. I am really pulling for a big interest in this car from those that can afford it now, so that Tesla can afford to develop more mainstream models, and I can eventually afford one for myself!

This is fantastic! I am teacher at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Arizona and I am a sponsor of the Science & Technology Club. In the club we have been involved in a great many things, including building and racing full sized electric cars! Our website has much of this info. done robotics, catapults, Ham radio, and underwater robots. We will be studying your website extensively. Before Tesla, we have been learning from AC Propulsion, and the T-Zero. We are very excited that you are pushing electric cars out into the public conciousness again and doing it with style! I really hope they catch on this time. When we used to do electric racing in the APS Electrics and the Solar & Electric 500, we thought that electric would catch on. The price of oil stayed low so the public lost interest. Maybe now is the right time. Good Luck! My only regret is that on a teacher salary, I will never be able to get a Tesla Roadster! I can’t wait to see one in person, or maybe test drive one! Take care!

Being a EV maniac for over 30 years I’m gratified to see this beautiful car being produced. I’m in the process of converting my 1985 Toyota MR2, designed by Lotus, into a EV. I think you guys have done it right. I would love to have been able to measure is the Pucker Factor the big auto companies excutives must have felt when they saw the Tesla.

You have made the rich folks happy, now what about the rest of us who struggle with the gas prices, and the look alike “affordable” cars. We love to drive too! But we don’t have to do 130 mph, or go from 0-60 in four seconds. Take your design and tune it down, put in four seats, give us a speed of 90 mph and 0-60 in 8-10 seconds and a range of 250 mikes and you won’t be able to build them fast enough! You will go down in history as being the company that did the most to improve the world!

I would like my name on the top of the list for the four seater !!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Steve Richardson
Glendale, Oregon

I

What price range are these cars going to fall into?

To see this 100yr old idea come through is a treat, the car looks great on paper. Will you allow one of the car mags to test it once you start selling them?

At last! An electric car which satisfies the car enthusiast and proves electrics don’t have to be boring! I can’t wait to learn more over the next few months and hope to join the revolution. I’d like to say congradulations on a job well done! A couple questions remain: will the cost be prohibitive for the average consumer (I’ve seen numbers batted around the 80,000 mark) which may kill the cars appeal. Secondly you state no maintenance which is true to a point. After the batteries have run their life you state the owner car return the car to replace the batteries. But at what cost? From what I found so far it seems that batteries are close to half the cost of the car. Do you expect battery technology to progress enough in the next few years to reduce the manufacturing costs for this car and to allow the batteries to be replaced economically.

Thanks again for a great product and you have myundying admiration for taking on such a quantam leap in autmotive engineering!

Sincerely,

Rob Bayan

I want to thank-you guys for finally getting it right. I saw in one of your interview’s that you are marketing to the rich. Fantastic…. they have the funds to help support and advance such technologies. Remember electric windows and air-conditioning all tech that was introduced in luxury cars, today any car can have air-conditioning or power windows. Keep up the good work. Hope to see you in Canada very soon.

The one argument I have heard against electric vehicles is that we use more energy to make the electricity required for the car than the car would use with a conventional motor. In addition, in Southern California they can hardly keep their houses fully powered up. So what happens when everyone in the US is driving around in an electric car? Wouldn’t we still have the same issues, just maybe located somewhere else (ie. pollution by the power stations instead of on the freeway)?

I will undoubtedly never be able to purchase one of Tesla’s vehicles, (never say never!) but after reading through all the materials, even the most technical diagrams and well-to-wheel efficiency calculations, all I can say is “GENIUS.” I even found myself incredibly interested in the Nikola Tesla history on the Wikapedia website. Thanks for the link and thanks for the innovation. Your execution and vision are highly contagious and from a marketing standpoint very viral. I can’t help but admit total admiration. -Nick

What could be an interesting future topic is an analysys of past EVs and what was wrong with them (and what was right).

Thank you for designing an electric vehicle that an engineer and car enthusiast can love. The chassis looks beautiful, the torque/RPM curves are amazing, and the range is acceptable. I like that you looked beyond the efficiency of an induction motor to recognize and exploit its other advantages. I also really appreciate the full well-to-wheel analysis for energy efficiency and CO2 emissions in the white paper. It is frustrating to be forced to search for the numbers needed to assemble a full system efficiency for other ‘zero-emission’ vehicles.

When should we expect the dimensions, curb weight and breaking specifications?

Hello Martin, Just wanted to say Great job and effort your team has made thus far. Creating a Car that is not only environmentally friendly but also very beautiful is an arduous task in itself. After looking at the car I instantly said this “That’s an Electric Car?”
I showed a bunch of people around the office here pictures of the car and they all said it looks awesome. Then when I said “would ya believe is a fully electric car?”

no one believed me so I gave them the website address and a bunch of us were like, “Man id buy that, imagine the looks you get as you blast past someone with no exhaust sound!”
Keep it up, and for sure your site has been bookmarked, and I’ll also post a link to your site on my blog I’ll be checking back often.

Ryan.

Congradulations and thanks for building it! Our World needs this car.
I hope to be driving one in the near future!

A few comments:
Some important “technical specs” appear to be missing from the website, ie: Weight?
Has it been crash tested, and what are the results?
Has anyone done performance testing / reviews, ie: skidpad, 1/4 mile, braking, etc.

I find your vehicle concept fascinating.
Finally an electric car that has useable range. This is instantly a hit., and then you spoil us with sports car acceleration, easy charging, ipod connection, fantastic service intervals, the list goes on…
Its like finally my Xmas list has been read by someone who can actually make wishes come true.
I can see just one down side. I live in the UK !
Now as Lotus does the final build, i am guessing i could go to their factory and see these cars being transported away to those lucky US customers, but alas i am stopped from buying one myself.
Do you have any plans to sell these cars in the UK ?

I think it’s great what your team has put together, hopefully now we can start really thinking about gaining independence from foreign oil, and do our part to help save the planet. Good luck on your business model. However, I think the most important part of your work here is that big auto manufacturers will sit up and take notice, the internal combustion engine is no longer the only choice we have. I would love to drive the Tesla Roadster, but like many, I will simply admire it from afar, especially as I don’t think I could keep up with it.

many thanks.

I would first like to congratulate Tesla Motors on the launching of this new and exciting vehicle. The Tesla Roadster is very impressive, style and performance wise. I have seen many EV’s go down the hole, overlooked and crushed by the SUV craze. The Hybrids of today are very impressive and practical. They are great for the commuters, the grocery getters and the ones that believe in the technology. The Civic Hybrid, the Prius, the Lexus Hybrids, all great practical 4 door cars, but what about people like me? The avid sports car and motorsports enthusiast. There is the new Audi R10 Turbo Diesel LeMans prototype, but it’s obviously not practical and not nearly affordable. The Tesla Roadster is the solution. Zero Emission in a vehicle that you can enjoy on the weekends to the beach, carving the corners through HWY 1, and even to and from your home to the office, while at the same time never emitting a single emission.

I will not be suprised that the Tesla Roadster will become the benchmark for sports cars in the future, for the street and in motorsports.

love, love, love it!! just what so many have been waiting for !! congrats on a great job, guys!! Style and performance without compromising environmental/ecological responsibilities. Can’t wait to see this thing in person!! In the meantime I’m gonna do what I can to get the word out (and start saving up)!

How are you? My name is Vanderlei Cadore, is Brazilian, lives in the State of the Rio Grande Do Sul, the city of Dom Pedrito, fronteiro with Uruguay. Well, always I imagined that the eletricos cars would go to change the world and to unpollute the half-environment and that the proper nature and the knowledge of the laws of the fisica if would put in charge to explain for the men as to make it without that let us maltreat the mother nature. I was astonished when I read on this project of electric car e, it forgives my ignorance, perhaps therefore already it knows of that I will be telling, perhaps can contribute with its project of an idea that always I had on a body in movement. We go that it interests: I read that its necessary battery to be recharged, being projected with lithium or another harmful component the nature, but I am certain of that makes it in safe way. Well, my tip is on the laws of the fisica and that perhaps, for the complete unfamiliarity of the theory, I can say some bobagem, but I wait that it understands what I want to say to them. If all body in movement generates energy, I thinks that the car is a taken body of clean energy and, not pollutant, excluding combustivel that it is used in it, then, goes for the electric energy. Already it thought with if it generates energy in a hidroelétrica plant? I already, therefore already worked inside of one. As I think that the process occurs: the water is that it makes the pressure in the turbines so that this enters in movement, generating great gravitational force, consequentemente eletrica energy, more details the engineers can explain better. Now we go for the car. Already it thought which part of the car generated greater I number of movements for second, beyond the turn of the engine? One is about a external component to the engine… Yes, the wheels, the tire, its system that allow the car if to put into motion with easiness. The will can laugh… But all fantastica creation made by the man already was absurd some day. But it sees well, if a necessary hidroelétrica plant of a great turbine to generate thousand of megawatts of energy, I believe that through the wheels of the car and a turbine can pernamente generate the energy when in movement so that this twirls thousand of kilometros without recharging it. How it would make? I find that until brake records they could become in electric power plants, the gears, the rolamentos, because not to create a pipe between the wheel and system of movement that generate small attritions with some metal or type of fiber carbon or something super resistant to the attrition that could order energy the battery that the energy stores it car to be able to bind and if put into motion? Well, I find one in such a way maluco also, but if to be alone in my head nobody will be able, if to function, to usufruct of this wonder of the nature. If to give certain. I will be happy in improving the world and unpolluting the nature. A great one I hug! I am Latin, aguenta however… Vanderlei Cadore P.S. Excuse the English, I had to translate.

Congratulations on your rollout! I’ll forgive you for “dissing” the EV1 on your “charging & batteries” page; it was anything but a “punishment car,” and had plenty of range for most folks’ real-world driving without worry, but your lovely little addition is leaps and bounds beyond. The one unforgivable flaw the EV1 had, for me, was that you couldn’t actually buy it, only lease it, so it was never more than three years from a date with the crusher. You could, if you like, trumpet the fact that the _drivers_ will own your cars, not you! I hope to be a customer in a couple of iterations, when the price is less than my annual salary, but I of course understand that starting at the top of the market, with a product that meets those folks’ (high) standards, is a much better way to grow the company for the long term.

By the way, the URL for the former EV1 page listed as a reference on that “charging & batteries” page is

www.gmev.com/specs/specs.htm

(one more “s”); you can still find various previous versions of that webpage via the links on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine at

web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.gmev.com/specs/specs.htm

Except for the last link, that is, which is from late 2004 after GM redirected all gmev.com traffic to gmability.com (more like gminability.com!). If you go to a gmev.com address these days, it takes you to a posting on GM’s FastLane blog from June 23, 2006, written by Dave Barthmuss; he was their mouthpiece defending the crushing of the EV1s, and here he responds in that capacity to the current movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Pretty pathetic to read; I am glad to see that you are making such a splash _resurrecting_ the electric car! (Just get the price down quickly–I said I “understand”, not that I’m “patient”!)

Finally someone gets it! Build a car based on Lotus’ foolishly ignored chassis technology, state of the art AC drive-train technology and the latest reliable lithium battery technology. Oh yeah, and make it LOOK GOOD for a change! If all goes as planned, this car will be the “HD TV” of cars. The revolution many have been waiting for. Sure the price will be considered high to most at first, but the market is still there. This is, assuming that this won’t be Venturi-Fetish-buy-the-whole-movie-theater high. If the car can be kept around $80-$100K, I bet they’ll sell, and quantities of scale will push the price down and make this work long term, opening this to a much wider market. It’s nice to see that you’ve really done your homework on this one and planned a car that will both technically work and is desirable – a real breath of fresh air in the EV world. Can’t wait to hear more about it!

Martin

I hope you will develop a manufacturing model worthy of your brilliant engineering. If suggestions are welcome, think modular! Modularize components - body, chassis, propulsion, battery pack - and sub-contract them with maximum competitive bidding for highest quality/lowest cost. Final assembly should occur as close to the customer as possible - even at the dealer - to avoid the pitfalls of massive industrialization. If you can do this you’ll be able to keep your structure extremely flat and efficient, focusing on innovation rather than empire-building ala Ford, GM, Microsoft, and various other dinosaurs.

Good luck!

Charlie McClain

Congratulations on your unveiling. I no longer have to hate the automobile, knowing what it’s future is. Brilliantly done.

I won’t be able to afford the Roadster any time soon, but how about a Tesla motors T-shirt?

Very exciting! But I do wonder about the safety and CRASH WORTHINESS of using Li-ion battery technology. Especiall en-masse. Those cells can cook off spectacularly when only slightly damaged. Like fireworks! I’d love to see how this is being addressed in the design (as I’m sure it must have been) — but there’s no mention of it in the FAQ section. I’m also just as sure I’m not the first person to ask this question. I really hope that the reason this issue isn’t referenced anywhere on this website, is not because it’s a potential “achille’s heel” for this car.

‘Cause I want one

Having followed the Tesla announcements with great anticipation, I am thrilled to discover that your product exceeds my high expectations.

It’s an incredible and yet utterly sensible fusion of dozens of good ideas - the focus on performance, the power controller design, the motor design, the commodity components, the global product development team, the battery economics, the Silicon Valley culture of innovation. You even got the aesthetics right! It makes me proud to see that engineers in America still have something to teach the world.

The product launch is incredibly timely as well. The auto industry is in need of disruptive change, and I hope this “electric shock” will act as a defibrillator.

How will the Tesla vehicle change the world? It seems to be much more than a fast car - it’s a great product. A good product offers superior performance and value. A great product, however, presents an experience so compelling that it reformulates industries, markets, legal systems, social norms, and the individual’s relationship to his or her community.

You’ve created an example of what talented and conscientious innovators can do to alter the course of history. I hope your example inspires others with insight and passion to take on the serious and enduring problems of the world. Thank you.

-Paul Yarin, Blackdust Design

This is one very cool car. Not just the looks, either. Everything. I can only hope that you will be expanding your dealers to other areas around the country, including the Twin Cities, where I live.

Perhaps you could address that issue at some point — does your company have longer range plans to make the Tesla or the follow-up sedan that was mentioned in some of the media articles available in other regions?

You have made tears of joy come to my eyes!
There will always be a place in my heart for my Honda EV Plus,
may she rest in peace, but now I lust for a Tesla Roadster!
This time they will not take her away!
Sign me up!

Tesla -

1) Thanks
2) Let’s see the trunk.
3) Do we get to avoid paying parking meters?
4) Can we drive in the HOV lanes in CA?
5) Were these the same batteries that BAT (now defunct Costa Mesa electric car company) created and won Pike’s Peak with?

-Brent

I hope history looks back at this day.
MHT-

Awesome! I’ve been hoping this day would come soon and I’d like to give everyone at TESLA a BIG high five!! You’ve identified and produced the greatest disruptive technology that could hit the automotive industry today. I believe it is imperative for a startup to target the high end performance market which has the consumer base ($$$) to increase volume and thus reduce battery, carbon fiber, and motor manufacturing cost while providing excellent margins that will support a growing company.

I’d like to encourage everyone at Tesla to continue innovating and getting products to market with a greatest sense of urgency. It looks like you have a salesman’s dream product that would be a joy to sell. I look forward to the marketing campaign that will make the Roadster successful in today’s market!

I don’t expect to see a Roadster on the roads in Kansas City too soon but if I had the cash I would sign up quick. Kansas City is a city in great need of electric vehicles because of the large land area and low population density. There are few good mass transit options and the large area also means longer commutes (My commute is 55 miles round trip but I do carpool which is rare here). Also contributing to our need is the over abundance of trucks and SUV which everyone thinks they need, although I rarely see more than one person in the vehicle, let alone any cargo. Our additional transportation requirements and the chemical and manufacturing base in the area also contributes to a very poor air quality per capita. From an energy stand point we could be one of the hardest hit cities if it came to an oil shortage situation.

There is still a great need for general transportation and I hope your White Star product will meet these demanding expectations. (Range ~ Cost ~ Performance ~ Seating/Cargo Capacity) It is clear to me that you should be able to create a battery electric 5 passenger sedan that has similar range, slightly higher cost (higher margin for the company), and similar performance to currently available gasoline and diesel sedans with the clear advantage in energy input cost for the consumer. In tomorrow’s market, once the first oil shortage hits, your cars will be the clear consumer choice and in the current market they are more than competitive.

I really wish there was a company like yours in the Kansas City area, where I could contribute to one of the solutions to the greatest problem facing our civilization. Thanks again for your vision and effort! My wife and friends will be happy to here that there are real viable solutions to the coming (or current?) energy crisis.

Wow - simply amazing. Congratulations!

Any plans to build something for those of us working in the non-profit sector?

dEAR tESLA MTOTORS.GREAT! FOR YEARS AS A ARCH tESLA FAN AND EVEN STARTIUNG A GLOBAL ENERGY INDPENDENCE DAY ON THE BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF NIKOLA TESLA(THJIS YEAR THE 150TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH!) THE TYIME HAS COME FOR A TRUELY WORKABLE AND DESIGN WISE SMART LOOKING VEHICLE AS THE TESLA ROADSTER! CONTINUED GREAT SUCCESS! LET THE ELETRIC VEHICLE REVOLUTION BEGIN NOW WITH THE TESLA ROADSTER! DR. EDSO0N ANDRFEW’ JOHNSON D.D. SUNLAND, CA.

Simply AMAZING !! I want one i want one !!
Great work guys !

There’s an irony here. I’m finding myself willing to drive to Chicago (from Columbus, OH) in my gas-chugging van just for the opportunity to test drive one of these babies.

I have to be honest… this is the first time I’ve been excited about a vehicle since buying my very first POS. Keep up the good work and set up some payment plans.

Is there and electric car racing circuit? Racing has been a large contributor to sport car technology. Why not create or join an electic only racing circuit.

If I can afford one, I would like my next car to be your roadster. I currently drive a gas guzzling 911 964 c4. So much fun to drive, but when opened up, I feel guilty as I can actually see the fuel guage dropping.

Looks like a fun car. I am a sports car guys, have a 99 corvette. I like to drive and to race occasionally (autocross, road courses, drags, etc). You have said this car has sports car performance. Do you plan to prove it by putting on of these in an SCCA event series to compete head to head with other sports cars of a similar nature? This is a proven method for convencing the American performance car folks that a companies claims can be backed up in real life driving. Please do something like this, get the car on the track and prove it can compete as a sports car. If it performs, it will sell. If it performs and the price is comparable to similar performance cars ($40k to $60k, for corvettes, BMWs, etc.) I would buy one.

Even if you’re not borrowing from Tesla’s patent, strictly-speaking — it’s still the PERFECT NAME for an electric vehicle (as audacious as Nikolai!)

This car is an excellent first step. The 200 to 250 mile range is the most prohibitive spec. A car such as this seems to me to be one that people will like to take on the open road. Electric cars won’t really catch on they are designed with swappable batteries and stations along the way where a battery can be exchanged for a freshly charged one. That scenario, much longer battery life, alternative electrical power source or while driving solar recharging are what is truly needed. I do think that people who have the need for a fabulous car to drive locally will be very interested in the Tesla Roadster.
Are there any possible future plans for an IPO or will the company be always privately held? If it is the former then I think that is great. If it is the latter then I think it is inevitable that the principle of your company will profit greatly when it is acquired by a larger company.
Congratulations on what sounds like a very satisfying and rewarding venture.

Saving the environment, a most noble of journeys, like any other journey starts with the first of many steps. To borrow from Martin’s mantra, Saving the Environment, “It Should Be Possible.”

Love the new and forward looking idea of the new Tesla car. Only drawback is that it would be difficult (or at least time consuming) to take it cross country due to recharge time of the vehicle. A possible alternative, or option of using a Tesla turbine to generate electricity could extend the range considerably. I realize this turns the car into a hybrid, but it does eliminate the problem of driving range altogether. If your interested in his turbine design please contact me at my wife’s email. Hope the car is the most successful invention since alternating current.

Good Luck
Steve

I second the comment on opening this up to public investment! I certainly hope you go public, and earlier in your growth phase rather than later. Can’t wait to take a test drive!!!

This tesla company uses the engine motors designed by nikola tesla, the cientist from 19th century?

If this is true, I would feel very confortable, because that guy was a restless, unrecognized genius! The tesla eletrical motors superior to anything else back than in 19th century…an it is still today…

I read his biography, and that man had something very important to say.

Hey Ben, here is a response to your comment RE: why Lotus has not collaborated on this design (Ben wrote on July 20th, 2006 at 9:22 am) :
In fact the chasis is the same as Lotus Elise. Look closely and you can see lotus in the interior as well.

Well I have to say, “Good for you and way to go!!” I’m very proud of your team for coming out with this car. Are you planning to produce more cars? I would love to see an everyday car like the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla type car? I just think that if you came up with those types of cars you really could take over the auto market. I know I can’t afford an $80,000.00 sports. But I could push for a $30,000.00 electric Civic.

Like I said good job and thanks for thinking of the environment.

Stephen Pearce

Steve,
Tesla Motors is the best thing since Apple Computers, both of which I wish I had stock in. As soon as my finances rise or the car price lowers, I will absolutely purchase one of your vehicles. Sorry I can’t swing it right now. Best of luck.

I am interested in starting a dealership in the Boston area. But, there is no mention of any costs involved to pick up one of these vehicles, etc.

Are we just getting the word out at this point? or, is a business relationship possible?

Mark Gauthier

Finally someone who really think on our enviroment. This is the car I was dreaming and the dream came true. I just can’t wait anymore. Please this is the solution for milions of people, make family cars and so on. You will be the first car company in the world in a short time.
When will Tesla be available in Italy?

Keep working everybody is waiting.

I want to be your SCCA Solo II driver!!
I live in San Francisco. PLEASE.

Need a sales guy?

Cost is supposed to be around 85k-130K.
www.leftlanenews.com/2006/07/19/tesla-roadster-135-mpg-250-mile-range-0-to-60-in-4-seconds/

I want one!

Hi Martin,

Stocks??? When??? Warranty?Other Models?(SUV’s, Trucks, etc) and last but not liest, how does the accelerator feel when someone is parking? Did you come up with a speed control mechanism for this so you dont hit the car in front of you all the time? Hehehe… I hope you get to read this and answer it.

Thanks in advance,
Michael Diaz

Your choice of a name for your machine is interesting. As Nicolai Tesla was known for his advances in a coil for storing large amounts of static electricity. Is there any connection?

Simply gorgeous. I would be a very proud owner of this vehicle.

Congratulations on what appears to be a Home Run! Here’s hoping you can keep your eye on the prize and build a profitable, functional, and organizationally supportive infrastructure utilizing the same thoughtful and much-needed innovation.

To paraphrase an earlier blogger however, I do wonder about parts and “things” of limited life; Brakes, Shocks, Springs, Suspension Parts, Bearings, Wiper Blades, Light Bulbs (LED?) etc. Will parts be mail order? What about A/C maint., Window , Wiper , Washer or Fan Motors? How about Switches or Circut Breakers/Fuses? Are all these types of things covered by you? What’s the expression? The Devil’s in the details?
Love what I see though - I can’t wait until you come to NY.

This is the car I’ve been building in my head, Ah, my brain is now free. When can I test drive one?
I have been monitoring the EV drag-racing hoping that the technology would improve to the point you have now reached, NO exceeded. Congradulations I believe you have a winner!!!!
As much as I would like to have the Roadster I will be waiting patiently for the Tesla family ride.
As I am sure Detroit is paying attention to your progress I have two words of wisdom: DeLorean, and Tucker.

Good Luck

I love the car!!

Just a couple of questions: What is the curb weight? Weight distribution?
I read that you need a PIN number to start the car and I see there is a key port in the column. Do you need both to start the car or just the PIN number?

Either way i’m into it. Now all I have to do is find a spare $90,000. Hmmmm….

Congrats, Can the electric vehicle be partially charged, and would the volts be 220 or 110, also single phase or three phase?
Thanks, Don

HOW MUCH COST ITS GREAT

The answer to the crisis in the Middle East is to make ourselves energy independent and tell them to stuff their oil. A fast and sexy electric sports car will cause a tidal shift in how people think about the electric car .

All I can say is “wow….”

I hope this is the disruptive technology that turns the American auto industry upside down. It’s clean, practical, and most importantly, it is now. I’m a poor college student, but two or three models down the line, when this reaches $30-35k, I will be your first customer. I’d love to see this technology in a pick up truck, even a small one. You gotta throw something in the product line for the South. Thanks guys.

I knew I had been putting off buying a new car for a reason.

The car, of course, looks fantastic. And the “around $100,000″ price quoted by Green Car Congress isn’t bad either, considering. And you’ve done it without any serious technological breakthrough (not to discount your engineering accomplishments, which are also amazing). I predict you won’t have any problem selling these little jewels. So, when are you going public as a company?

Where are the door handles? How about a cup holder for my coffee in the morning? Will you put stereo controls on the steering wheel?

I’m an advocate for EVs for all the reasons you have cited on your site. I also have the added insight of working for Noble Drilling as a Deck Officer on their drill rigs. The simple truth is that you will not find eco-corruption in such a large scale as the oil companies. Nothing would make me happier for your company to not only be sucessful, but for Southern California residents to show the rest of the country the future of personal transportation. EVs are the only answer to so many ills with ecology, corporate and polictical corruption and war.
EVs that use the same drive system as yours would be a real benefit to the power companies in leveling out peak loads. Since most homes now have computers and the internet, there is no reason the power companies can’t employ sliding rates as dictated by demand. Loads could be activated at certain price points throughout a 24 hour day. When you return home at peak demand time, power could be as high as say $0.30 kw/hr, you would plug in your AC motor powered EV and run the house on it till rates dropped. When rates are at the lowest, your batteries would start charging.
I current;y have (3) vehicles, (2) are pure EV and the other is diesel. If I was still working in the oil industry, I could have afforded a Dodge Viper for my fun car but at the same price would buy the Tesla hands down, no contest. However, I gave up that income because the attitudes of the oil industry were at odds with mine in respect to politics and Earth. I would rent your car if given the option but am unable to justify buying it at this time. I will not buy another ICE period. Mitsubishi might have something in the $35~40K range in the near future that I would buy when available.
Keep up the good work guys, and when Bush is out of the picture, the EV climate will become more favorable.

Bob

i love it….i am also 6′5″ tall and 300 lbs. am i going to fit in it? it’s way cooler than my 9-3 convertible..

I’m very excited about what your company is doing. I’m certain that you will have a huge backlog of people wishing to buy the Tesla Roadster. This will be a very high profile vehicle that will generate a lot of buzz. The market you’ve targeted is insightful. I hope that you spend a good amount of your resources on making this car even faster, a world beater. It’s pretty close right now but let’s leave no doubt. The electric motor has capabilities that not only excede that of an ICE but far excede it. You can make your car a source of embarrassment for Ferarri, Lamborghini, Porsche, et al. I think that is a worthwhile goal. It will have positive social ramifications.

First off congradulations on giving hope to people who love the environment and also performance. Secondly although this car will not be priced in range of the average consumer, you must realize when the first combustion engine cars rolled off factory floors that they were not either. Innovation is expensive. But the wealthy fuel the production which lowers costs to spread the technology down to everyone. It is cost prohibitive to get a flight to space for many these days but guess what, after the market is established then the price comes down. I equate this car to a spaceship and what the mainstream car market supplies us is a Fred Flintstone Special. Internal combustion engines, regardless of the fuel, need to be buried with the dinosaurs.

(BTW hopefully I can afford this someday soon, if the company is not bought-out and squashed into mediocrity.)

Stunning! WAY MORE than I expected ! Should go bigger than Microsoft!

Now we can drag race on the moon! and zero polution!

Great start kids! dont stop!

Very, very impressive machine. The Lotus (engineering philosphy) connection puts it right in the sweet spot for this long time weight to power afficianado…particularly because you have addressed the one short coming of the Elise…its baroque body design. By eliminating the contorted scoops, dams and do-dads of the Elise, the Tesla slips into one very smooth groove.

Love it! Congrats on a great website and the beginning of a dream….
As in the previous versions of the Telsa Electric Car Myth:
“We now have power”!
Let’s Go! The World is watching…

how much?

Oops forgot … congratulations !! on getting the engineering and finances doen - now I hope you can sell a bunch of these to the rich as you stated … in your plan.

How do I invest in your company?

Wow, what an amazing vehicle! It’s very exciting.

My first child was born on July 5th, and I named her Tesla ( www.akuaku.org/archives/2006/07/tesla.shtml ). I had not even realized that her namesake’s 150th birthday anniversary was approaching, and now this comes out. I certainly know what make of car she’s going to be asking for in 16 years!

Err, maybe you could have a discount for customers actually named Tesla?

Also love it. it’s well out of my price range, but as a car enthusiast I have to say bravo. When you bring this technology to a $ 25,000 hot hatch ala GTI, Focus, A3 I’ll be first in line. Meanwhile looking forward to watching the progress of your vehicle and company. Cheers.

Great!!
Electric car is no more a synonym for ugly machine.
I hope to see it soon also in Italy.
I love it.

Good luck.
Angelo
Rome, Italy

Looks great…but can it carry 2 golf bags?

Thanks for the excellent and clear presentation on the advantages of electric vehicles in your white paper. Please distribute it widely to to our elected representatives!

Pretty cool design and great job!

when will you export to other countries outside the condinental US?

Asia especially China is a very big market for your cars. Family sedan shall be taken into account for further range.

Congratulations to you and team again!

May a greater success.

Congratulations and sincere wishes for spectacular success.
How will the car be heated in winter?

Don’t ever give up,
Simon

Thank you for making this car. I’ve always had conflicting views about my love for sports cars and a firm desire to better our world. I raced for years, and I’ve owned a lot of sports cars, most recently a Lotus Exige. I always loved light and efficient vehicles, but are often stuck with cars that leave any driving enthusuast cold (Prius, Insight, etc). You have taken the right approach. Right now I live in Chicago and own no car. I’ve found I can’t live completely without a car. This is the perfect fit, and it has the elise/exige chassis! I couldn’t ask for more. Sign me up!

“cool car. i just hope it won’t get bought and squashed.”

Ugh. The sequel to “Tucker” and “Who Killed the Electric Car.” Too frightening and sad to ponder.

Here’s hoping your car makes some waves, and helps to refute the “no market for electric vehicles” propaganda. I’ll still be more than happy w/ my Prius, once I can plug it in (and maybe eventually run it off of E85+), but am thrilled to see the market get some Oomph!

(Now, if the gov’t could be run by someone other than oilmen, we might stand a chance.)

COOL!

All of the past EV’s were dogs. Yours looks promising.

Now if someone could just come up with a good, no frills, hybrid pick truck / van chassis. I say hybrid because of the way we use trucks. when empty ( a lot of the time ) the truck is relatively light and battery might suffice, but under load , especially in hilly terrain, a small multi-fuel turbine-alternator would be needed. That’s how railroads have done it since steam went out. The hybrid just incorporates current storage.

I agree that there are those who would, if they could ban our personal vehicles. Hopefully comanies like yours can stem their tide.

Sincerely,
Patrick Millius
Pacific Point-of-Sale

I don\’t work for Tesla (yet?:-) but I\’ll venture some wild guesses as to answers to a couple of these questions….

1) What\’s it sound like? At city speeds, probably utter silence inside and outside. At highway speeds, probably like being onboard a jet aircraft: the rush of the wind. From inside the other cars you pass on the highway, like a gust of wind as it leaves everything else in the dust.

2) Why build a car for the wealthy? Think of the R&D costs that have to go into any truly revoutionary product, and the engineering costs that have to go into a new automobile design. The only way to recoup those costs in a way won\’t scare off investors is to aim the first product toward the high end of the market. Once that\’s been done, it becomes possible for a company to reinvest in products for a wider audience. I have full confidence we\’ll see a reasonably-affordable Tesla family car and other models in due course. (Hey guys: a tradesman\’s minivan at about $30k with 200 mile range would be an absolute win in that market sector and will also pick up fleet sales.)

(I can\’t afford a roadster either, but I\’m a patient guy and will gladly wait for additional models to come along in the years ahead.)

3) Another point about aiming for the high end of the market: The performance of this car will forever change the public impression of electric vehicles from \”compromise cars\” to \”the hottest thing on four wheels.\” To get that kind of performance, with zero compromise, necessarily means a high-end price tag. But that in turn will open up the market for electrics like never before, resulting in affordable high-performance electrics for everyone.

looks very nice, like a Lotus I saw once. 250 miles per charge. pfft!!!! [expletive deleted] where do you plug it in while you are at work? so much for those trips from Washington DC to New York City you will have to stop in Jersey about exit 7 to recharge. well its a start and hopefully your short comings will be compensated like the guys who drive those nice SUV\’s

This is an historic moment in automotive history, and a technological turning point. It will be interesting to hear the major auto makers’ excuses as to why they could not accomplish such a feat with all of the massive global resources at their disposal. Once again, a small group of talented, intelligent and motivated individuals accomplished something (in a very short time) that the major corporations could, or would, not.

I have always maintained that the early electric cars were purposely designed to be painfully ugly and frustrating to drive. If nobody wants to be seen driving around in one of them, they won’t buy them, and the auto makers can complain that there is no market for electric cars. The big carmakers never really wanted to build electrics in the first place.

Now the challenge will be to reduce the cost through economies of scale, so that average suburbanites like me can afford a Tesla. How about something between $30K and $40K?

You also might want to address the issue of sound. Ultra-quiet performance cars may not be such a good idea. How many Ferrari owners drive with their sound system off, just to drink in that beautiful exhaust note? Maybe you could introduce a variety of pre-recorded sounds linked to the engine RPMs to fill the cockpit. One day it could sound like an Italian V12, and on another like a Detroit V8. Or maybe a Sci-Fi space ship whine? We need feedback from the car. Driving is a relationship between man and machine and sound is important.

Congratulations! The car is fantastic is every way. Well done!

These will be $80,000 - $120,000 !!!

OK for Hollywood types and other rich people.
I can’t get too excited until it is the same price as a Prius.

Tesla Roadster unveiled in Santa Monica
www.autobloggreen.com/2006/07/20/tesla-roadster-unveiled-in-santa-monica

I love that environmentally friendly and design are now one with each other. I look forward to more cars coming out from Tesla.

Love the car! Question - When figuring emissions do you also account for the emissions generated by the power plants that are burning fossil fuels to make the power for the car? Granted nuclear and renewable energy sources could solve this issue and hopefully will. A kwh is cheaper than a gallon of gas but that is probably because it is taxed less. Taxes on gas more than double its cost and are a huge source of revenue for the government. What if the same tax rates were applied to electricity?

It truly inspiring to see such a amazing technological advancement make such a bold, creative statement. It’s nothing less than revolutionary. I look forward to driving the car that changes our world.

-Mike

Racing and speed seem counter to what an electric car stands for BUT, it is the fast, sleek car that sells. I hope this car does well and attracts a lot of attension. Batteries, batteries, batteries. Getting a 250 mile range solves so many problems, especially for the rich folks that would buy one. I can only hope that the technology that drives your car can spur you or another manufacturer to build a drive train / car that will be aimed for the masses!

Great work! I hope to see the Tesla in Europe (Italy) very soon and I’m sure that there is a lot of space for battery technology advancements in the future (lighter, more powerful and easy to recycle battery packs). Se You Soon!

From an enthusiast’s point of view there’s one rather large problem with any electric sports car…the lack of a soundtrack, which just makes it seem like you’re in a really fast electrical appliance…something with no soul to speak of (don’t get me wrong, I love my fridge). Guess this is the second EV sports car to come out apart from the one based on the Ariel Atom. Can’t remember what that one’s called and if it weren’t for the name of this one I’d likely forget too and just remember that it’s the one based on the Elise. So now all the celebs will buy one of these and keep it right next to the Prius, Escalade, H2, private jet, etc etc etc…Posing aside, this is no doubt a great engineering exercise and another step in some direction…right or wrong is still to be seen. Still, good to see that at least someone is thinking creatively and trying to innovate. I just hope this thing still corners like an Elise…it would be a shame to waste such genius.

Hi Guys

I have dreamt for yars of making a kit to convert the Elise to electric and now you have done it for real, and a great job by the look of it.

I use my Elise to commute 80 miles a day and you car is the perfect replacement. Please Please Please let Lotus sell these things for you through their dealerships in the UK! When?

Are you talking to Lotus about their family car platform that they showed last year - same light chassis etc - this could be the basis of your next offering - it also looks cool and is large enough to be an option for the SUV lovers!

I wish you all the luck in the world and don’t be put off by the critics whining about it being a sprot car and not a family car. You have made a fantastic start and proved what is possible. You have basically shown the existing car industry up as the dinosaur that it is. They will have to move on EV’s now you have show them to be technically possible, I reckon you have about 5 years before they catch up (and only if they put their mind to it!)

All the best
Phil

So many positive comments, I have to criticise a little:

First, when you speak of efficiency you have to take into account also the energy and resources necessary for development (!) and production not only when driving. So for real USD/km you have to include the purchase prize as well.

Second, in the FAQ you say that one could recharge over night, and that approx. 500 recharges are possible per battery pack. So every 1 and a half year one would need a new battery pack. Again a lot of energy is needed for that production.

This said, it is a great looking car and I love new approaches and I hope you will not “moderate away” my comment.

You and your team have done something truly remarkable. As a military guy, I have to say thank you. As a person who won’t be able to afford one of these until the celebrities and buzz grow your market to the point of volume efficiencies, thank you for giving me a “dream car” I don’t feel guilty lusting for. Lastly, as a technophile all I can say is “It’s about time.” I’ve been waiting for a product like this since my childhood when I used to race little electric cars on snap-together sections of charged track.

This car is incredible! Congrats guys!

We are so proud of your vision and ability to make it happen!

Wonder how much it cost?

Good approach! Have you thought about the Indy 500? What will it take to win? To place? Your approach and a win at Indy are what EV needs.

Seriously even if you have to rent the Indy raceway and run the race between yourself and the last Indy winner (shamed and goaded into competing). Imagine the PR! In fact you can run against the numbers with no one else on the roadway, produce a documentary and get tremendous PR.

A possible Indy design with a single seat and of course a modular battery (pack )plate for fast fueling stops and minimum overall weight. Key design elements would be a motor on each wheel no transmission, variable profile wheel, no steering gear, no differential, active suspension, all wheel steering, no brakes, modular battery slab(with two turn lockup casters) an inch off the deck. SINCE THE WHEEL/MOTOR/STEER/SUSPENSION ARE IN ONE QUICK BOLT UP MODULE A PIT STOP IS A COMPLETE MOTOR AND ACTIVE SYSTEMS OVERHAUL. Nothing else could touch this baby! And it would take major body damage to put it out of the race.

The Model T (for Tesla of course) for the rest of us would be a system vehicle with enormous economies of scale arising from the core components, pancake motor wheel modules with steering, and suspension. Two, four, six, eight or “n” wheels to meet load and application needs.

Have fun with the sports car! Change the world with the modules (and become as rich as Croseus in the process).

A Berkeley Croatian descendent of the original Tesla

A few questions:

How do you charge it? Can it be doen off regualr household current? What’s the battery life? (Range and number of years before replacement)

I heard on NPR that you’re planning on making a family sedan. I’ d like to see something like that built here in America.

I’m thrilled to see an electric car that is designed to be an enjoyable drive! Congratulations!

Hi Martin!
Your car is really the coolest invention in the car business of the last two centuries!
But… I live in Europe/Italy and I know that your compay will NOT SELL your car outside USA.
WHY?
Perhaps have you an agreement with Lotus?
Will Lotus sell the car in Europe?
Have you an agreement with some European car company (such as SMART Car) that will use your electric engine?
And more, are you planning to produce a non sport car that will use your engine?
I suggest you to add my questions on your FAQ!

Anyway I really hope that you will brake the iron wall of the cars Mayor companies!!!
I hope that you will answer me.
Best regards and greetings from Italy,
Luca Oleastri

I applaud your insight, foresight, and entrepreneurial spirit! Like many others who’ve added to this blog, I too would jump at the chance to invest in Tesla Motors stock should you go public. Please allow interested small investors to sign up to be notified the second you make your IPO.

Super-cool car. I know because you’re a smaller manufacturer, the costs would likely be higher than a volume-produced car. I hope the price isn’t going to be something like $100,000. If it were $50,000, I think that would be a reasonable amount, and get you plenty of customers. Even though it would still be out of my (current) budget, I could definitely see myself in one of these in the next 5-10 years. For $40k, you’d have people stampeding into dealerships! I wish you guys the best. Something like this is long overdue!

Finally, Nikola Tesla and his genius are recognized. Best wishes.

What a cool car, Overland Park , Kansas

This would be a hit in Canada, where small-vehicle (ie. highly fuel efficient) sales are growing by leaps and bounds every year….but I wonder how it would last in a -30C winter?

Somebody finally figured out how to market an electric car to the USA — Electric Hot Rods. Kudos - can’t wait for an entry model to make may daily commute less painful on my wallet.

I have read your dissertation on the efficiency and emissions of the Tesla vehicle and am disapointed that in the full cuycle emission accounting you made no effort tom include the emissios created in the mining, manufacture and recycling of the lithiumion batteries.

Additionally the fact that a couple of toy cars will not impact the electricity grid but any significant replacement of gasoline powered cars will have a significant impact and I beeive taht you should have made reference to that

The car does offer an interesting insight into electric vehcle usse but is a long way from a panacea for our transportation needs.

How about changing your website \’look\’ from a white on black to black on white. OK, it\’s not cool, but I\’d guess that many people have [expletive deleted] monitors and can\’t even see the pictures, let alone read the text without straining…like me.

Or maybe an option for those of us who do have the above mentioned monitors might be able to \”change skins\” to see it better.

I\’m looking forward to learning about the Telsa, but I gotta be able to see it first!

Thanks for letting me rant. I DO want to learn about your car.

Grantman

I am curious about the origin of the name of the Tesla roadster. Was it inspired by Nikola Tesla? If so, is there some particular reason to associate him with automotive technology, or it just a general reference to his genius for high-power electromagnetic industrial applications?

Your Tesla car is GREAT! I am going to try and convince my husband to buy one. Here’s my question. As a mother with kids to drive around, when will you have a four seater that is not a convertible.?I just saw the movie “Who killed the electric car” and would love to have the EV car (was it the RAV?) that was like a mini SUV. As soon as you make one, I’ll buy it!

What is the imact of a rainy day on range assuming that you have to usse the same bathery pack to generate heated air to demost the windshiled?

What provision doo you have a for a cool fal afternoon?

Now that you’ve made the “sexy, cool, high performance” carheads happy hurry up with an affordable family sedan and really make a “cool, high performance and sexy” impact on our enviroment by giving access to many more people!

I’ve got to echo AJ’s comments (July 20th, 2006 at 1:20 pm) — can you provide some information on how the car handles, especially with some real world race track tests? 0-60 (and faster) is one thing, but we also need to know how it goes around corners!

Did someone actually comment that this car should cost no more than $25k? And then there are comments about it’s practicality when it comes to thing like shuttling the kids. I seriously doubt that many Tesla buyers will be struggling with the decision of whether to buy this car or a Camry. The fact is there is no one car that suits everyone. This company is only making one car and they’ve scored a bullseye with their targeted market.

This article answers some of the questions for folks who’ve bothered to scroll this far down.

www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/mechanical-resonance-the-tesla-motors-press-intro-complete-with-governator-188590.php

You really think the big boys won’t try to shut you down ?

As a European why do I believe in America? Because of this new car, because of nanosolar.com (developed new generation of solar cell that is 20 times cheaper than solar cells on the market today and generates electricity cheaper than fossile fuel), because of Altairnano’s new Li-ion battery that charges 6 times more rapidly than standard li-ion batteries. The president is terrible, but the American people are great and that is why America is great.

So what about swapable battery packs for longer hauls….just pack an extra pack and get 500 miles. Or 2 for 750?

Please make the Tesla as affordable as possible for the middle income class, and you’re sure to have me as a buyer by next summer! I’m preparing to sell my current cars now. I’ll even have the Tee shipped from California, to avoid the wait for New York. Can you imagine the looks on New York and New Jersey pedestrian’s faces, when I drive down 42nd street b/w 7th and 8th, and on Bergenline Avenue b/w 69th and 39th in a brand spanking new Tesla? As The Rock put it in “Be Cool”, …Scorchin’!!!

A tesla model with integrated solar panels to charge li-ion batteries would be cool. Maybe additional 10 mpgs? 20+ in hot summer days??

I’m in love.

I can’t wait to buy one here in Vancouver.

Perhaps I missed it, but what is the voltage rating of the electrical system, batteries, etc…?

Outstanding, gentlemen.

Your combination of styling, power, and endurance looks to be the combination to ignite the American (if not World’s) imagination for the electric vehicle. And while it is one thing to produce a box on wheels that will shuttle groceries from the store, and kids to and from events, you’ve touched upon that raw nerve, that deeply imbedded, almost primal afection and affectation that people have with the automobile, and you have re-defined the rules of the affair.

And starting with the visceral is an extremely astute move. It’s a good guess that you’ve surveyed your target markets, and have not failed to notice the quantity of ’sexy’ cars that fall in the price range you’re asking for your vehicle - all the while grinning to yourselves, knowing that your product , with its performance stats, ease of maintenance, performance stats, stylish good looks, PERFORMANCE STATS…um, er…will no doubt have used car lots and for sale ad sellers flush with traffic from folks looking to unload their Beemers, Porsches, and Vettes. Or, at least, more than enough of them to ensure yourselves sufficient orders for full production operations.

My guess is that the next steps will be to take a look at the feasability of wrapping something “practical” around a 200+ HP/200+ mile range powertrain - maybe even something that looks like an “SUV” (which could probably tote more battery load for more range, etc). Pull something like that off for 50K or less, and the big automakers will no doubt put out contracts on your heads - while they scramble to try and reverse engineer their own offerings to compete.

Actually, however, get a big enough jump, and they’ll be left at the line, just like your current product does to theirs already. Probably the biggest thing you have to watch out for is the likes of someone like Henry Waxman coming along and beginning to insist that some sort of speed governor or limiter be incorporated on the vehicle (after getting a case of the “it goes HOW FAST?” vapours)

Congratulations. You’ve just built a car that makes me actually think there may be something to trade UP for from my Porsche.

I am also EXREMELY DISSAPOINTED at the price. I completely understand the price (80 grand at max anyways), but this car is being priced away from those who could really use it. I think everything you’ve done with this car is absolutely amazing, and the tech is great. Please, I’m begging you to use this tech in a car that is affordable and practical. I was hoping i could somehow affor dthis car as I am a big environmentalist, but I need a car to drive from school to home and work. I think it would be very smart to build a more affordable car as well as your roadster. Please keep up the good work!

All the best guys !

If all goes well Tesla Motors will become one of the biggest companies

on earth.

Suppose I live in Sunnyvale, and I want to take my date up to Marin for the day and suppose we want to drive around in the wine country part of the day. It doesn’t seem like there would be enough energy storage capacity in the batteries to last a whole day of drivng around.

My date my be impressed by the car’s looks and performance, but she’s going to be a little pissed off when the care runs out of watt hours. How is this going to help me get her into the sack. And, that’s really the whole point of this isn’t it?

TO HYPE THE TESLA ROADSTER 1. GET A SHOW LIKE COASTTO COAST AM IAN PUNETT9HE KNOWS ME!) TO HAVE THE TESLA MOTORS DEVELOPERS ON AIR. 2. GET TO THE TESLA SOCIETY WEBSITE THEY’LL PUT THE TESLA CAR UP MON THERE WEBSITE FREE!(MENTION EDSON I’AM A MEMBER OF THE BOARD) 3. GET ON LARRY KING ETC IF YOU CAN! SELL THE TESLA CAR BUT ALSO HAVE RECHARGE STATIONS IN SHOPPINBG MALLS, ETC. THE FASTER THE RECHARE THE BETTER EDSON ANDRE’ JOHN SON D.D.

For all I know, this car has not been tested. There are no exact performance spec. It is a great car however, please don’t get me wrong. But this car is an almost identical copy of the Lotus Elise. Why? It uses the same MOMO steering wheel, the whole interior is almost the same, the seats probably use the same skeletons. By looking at the car it is possible to tell that the chassis is exactly the same. And no price yet.

Amazing car though, I love it.

I heard of your car at Washington Monthly. I’m putting a link to your site on my blog. We just bought a Jag wagon, and my plan was to get a second car in a couple of years. I was thinking something smaller, that I could fit clubs in–but really fast. A used 911, or a WRX, or the like. Now I’ve got something else to consider.

Can I fit a set of golf clubs in your Tesla?

Capitalism pervails…good on you guy for sticking it to the fatcats. I just hope through mass-priduction you can get your costs down and streamline the production to the point where low-income families can afford one of your models. Also, sell to CANADA ASAP SVP, Merci.

Nice car!!!! I am planning on buying one at (almost) any cost when they are available….
Have you considered the new Toshiba fast charging lithium battery technology ???

www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=8033

That should reduce charging time substantially……

When are we to see the MSRP??

Thanks for all your efforts and good luck with this venture…..

Tom

I can see plenty of potential for this mode of transportation. Mucho kudos.

Some more work on the engine will see some spectacular gains all round, regardless of improvements in battery technologies (which should provide synergistic improvements).

I can also see the future in all wheel and four wheel drive applications.

Very nice; an excellent platform for the future.

Keep up the good imagineering!

I live in Hawaii (Oahu), and I can’t think of a more perfect car for these islands. The weather, the atmosphere, but most importantly, you simply can’t drive 250 miles from anywhere…unless you circumnavigate the island twice. There are a lot of wealthy people here; consider a “show franchise” here.

Howdee folks.
This is an exciting product for those of us idealistic driving enthusiasts.
I hope it can all come together and last unlike many dream vehicles come and go quickly.
Often times it ends up being greed, corporate egos and disillusioned investors that end the party early.
Look at what happened to the Corbin Sparrow products, the Vector WX-3, or the endless development of the Moller air car.

With regard to the current prototype, some questions:

Does it have regen on the front wheels? As you know, during braking the weight transfers to the front wheels so regen on the rears only (through the main motor) would miss out on a lot of engergy going to the front wheels.

Are there concerns that the carbon fiber body is long term durable? Some Porsche-philes have mocked the Maclaren F1 as being a race technology body that slowly melts over the years. Carbon fiber is great for a one season race chassis, but is it really appropriate for a vehicle expected to be on the road for 5-10 years? I hope this isn’t a concern.

( Please don’t censor this posting! )

Thanks - and three cheers for this project / company! It is great to see some dreams come true.

I want one!!! - no three, so difficult to chose the colour!

Heated windshield?

Truly a must for an EV…

The Tesla is another reason for Bush to pull out of Iraq!

All I can say is………………. I’m fully impressed and I hope to be able to claim one in the near future…….I’ll probably want to opt for the solar array system, since it will take about 5-6 years to pay for it’self , and then the energy is all free for another 24 yr.. ( read this in another car mag)…
Hope you can keep the performance up and the overall cost of ownership down..
Kuddos to your company and collaboration with Lotus for converting a great dream to reality.
Love the design and hope the performance around a track are close to the lotus elise…

A truly amazing-looking product, with a solid technology behind it. It wil be interesting to watch this concept take off, and dealerships dot the map….how about putting one in North Carolina? It won’t be soon enough for me! I am definitely interested in owning one of these. Keep up the good work. Ed

Great looking vehicle. Innovative. If the price is kept below $30K ( more like $25k) it would be a great investment. I suspect, however, it will be more. As you know, it will take longer for the cost of the vehicle to out weigh the benefit. By that time, most people are looking for a new vehicle.

Very nice! I read through the site, and have a question…

The original drawing is very cool. The first clay model differed from it greatly. Why? Was there too little wheel clearance in the drawing? Did it have to be changed to fit a specific frame? Did the drawing offer too little head-room? Just wondering.

very cool car.I love it.

Sad to relate, electric vehicles are a hoax. Their batteries must be charged by plugging their charging cord into an electrical power outlet. Where does Mr. Eberhard think the electric power for the outlet derives? From a nuclear, or coal-fired, or gas-fired, or oil-fired electical power plant, of course. Additionally, there is no coefficient of performance (COP) with the charging and discharging of the car batteries, as does exist with electrically-powered devices such as refrigerators and air conditioners. I too like cars, and if those who need to drive cars would all drive minis that achieve 50 or more miles per gallon, the US could become energy independent.

Wow. I was amazed by the idea when I heard about early this year but finally having details got me so excited. I talk about it to friends at every occasion. Can’t wait to have the opportunity to buy one. Are you going to have Sedan and SUV types too? CONGRATULATIONS and take that in your teeths Big Oil Business!!

What can I say? You launch something close to my ideal car on my 40th birthday!

So, when can I get one in Europe?

Take care and very good wishes!

Hi Martin. Good luck with the new venture.

I hope that future topics on your blog (or on the company website) will include more detail about the car’s engineering and performance.

For example, the manufacturers of competing sports cars will typically provide information about the steering, suspension, weight distribution, etc. of their cars. This is information that gives someone who knows cars the ability to predict if the car is going to handle more like a maserati or a minivan, and thus decide if they want to go to the trouble of a test drive. This would seem to matter in the case of your company, since test driving opportunities are likely to be harder to come by than say, with a porsche.

I am also wondering about the weight of the car. With the engine being as light as it is, and the carbon fiber body and aluminum frame, I don’t understand where the 2,500 lb. weight is coming from. I am assuming the batteries make up the bulk of it, but would really appreciate some elaboration.

Also, following up on TEG’s comments above, I am also particularly interested in how the weight is distributed between the front and rear axels. It appears that you’ve put all the weight (batteries and engine) in the back of the vehicle. Since the engine weighs next to nothing, my guess is that the bulk of this weight is from the batteries. It seems that you have the capability to spread the batteries, and that weight, around the car any way you would like, so if the weight isn’t spread around, I would be curious as to why.

Finally, assuming I like the way the car runs, I fully expect to buy one, since I’ve been driving roadsters, and waiting for an electric version, for years. Note that I live in Washington State, so I am not your target customer. I expect I am not alone in having both an interest in your product and the good sense to live somewhere besides a huge US city.

I hope you can find it in your heart to make the cars available in places besides the regions you’ve identified without financial penalty.

what you need to do is to make it the next James bond car or have it featured in a slick film. that will solidify it as a sports car to own an lots of guys will pony up the dough to get it. Show it out performing a regular sports car and Bond using it to get away and you will have lots of orders for this thing.

Congrats on doing something that Porsche, Audi and other roadster manufactures keep telling us isn’t practical for the two-seat sportcar market - a performance EV. However, until you can come in a compete at the same entry point as a Boxster ($43,000) or better, and Audi S4 ($35,000) you will remain a playtoy for the rich. Nice to hear that you have an econo-box 4 seater in the works, but why do the car companies insist on going to the market extemes with this technology?

I want a A4/S4 or Boxster (non-S) replacement, fully electric and under $40,000. The reason the Boxster does
so well is beyond being a great design is because it’s affordable. At $90,000 you’ve got your work cut out.

Good luck.

Great car! I’ll be looking for one a few years into my practice (I’ll take it in silver please); Goodbye pumps!

it’s a great idea and a great product. good luck!

I wrote some of my thoughts here: www.justinlee.name/2006/07/23/silicon-valley-earths-innovation-centre-the-tesla-brand-is-born/

do check it out and let me know what u think?

A little late to the party but thanks for doing the right thing. The Tesla Roadster has definitely raised the bar in a hurry. I suspect, because of the price point that you will have a lot of competition in the field in a hurry. Not to worry, I’d buy one now if you were shipping. Thanks.

I would love to read all about this, but white print on a black background is deadly. I am a senior and cannot read it! Please change to black on white! I love technology and want to know more

Very impressive. The car looks great! The beltline is a little low, and I’m not crazy about the cockpit (most sports car owners are used to a wide transmission hump/console, even if your car doesn’t need it).

I imagine that starting out with 100k version today means that eventually you’ll have a version in the $40,000-50,000 price range (Corvette/Boxter range). Hummer did that with the H1/H2. At that range, I would definitely consider the car.

This is exactly what the entire world needs not just us here in the USA. Great work, keep it up! Thank you

Awsome! I am a gearhead myself and I have said for some time now that someone ought to be able to develop an EV that provides performance and endurance. I want one. I also would like to invest in your CO. Is that possible? Good luck keeping up with the excitement and demand that is being expressed.

As an Electrical Engineer and a driver in the 1990 GM Sunrayce from Florida Institute of Technology I’m really looking forward to owning this vehicle. I put off getting an EV1 until they changed the ‘lease only’ policy so… it never happened. Although I did get to test drive one at Stanford when I worked at HP. I hope your ‘attitude’ and strength of character are enough to keep plugging away even when the going gets tough. Don’t let this become another vapor-mobile!

Battery selection and design are always the most difficult obstacles to overcome. Your numbers sound like you really have something new that hasn’t been tried before. If any of the numbers are marketing hype shoot the marketing dept make the corrections. It will be impressive if you can beat the numbers posted on this web site by the time the car goes to production instead of appologizing for why you didn’t meet them like most electric car start-ups.

Your web site is so professionally done and good looking I worry there could be more hype than substance but I am someone who has been disappointed before. I wish you luck and good fortune and hope to be driving one of these vehicles in the near future!

Gordon Aplin
Dallas Texas

Jaw dropping news. Read about the car in depth on your website, and it was jaw dropping all the way through.

By the way, don’t engineer yourselves out of the option of installing right-hand steering and controls. This car, and other models as you progress, will sell well in Japan, where gasoline is currently around $5.00 per gallon and rising.

You are onto the right future. Hybrids don’t deliver what they promised, and they already are looking like a dead end. Biodiesel looks good, but it may eventually be ruinous to agriculture. Complete independence from hydrocarbon fuel is the way. Now if only we can figure out how to do that with electric power generation.

What is the full storage capacity of the battery(s)? How many watts does it consume? It may take 3 hours to \”juice up\” but how many volts does it hold? YOu never talk about that.

It must be exciting to work for you guys but you set criteria so high. I wonder how (un)traditional you are.

Great car, but for me I’d need more room, more simplicity , and a lower price? Any chance of coming out with a sedan that is inexpensive, only goes eighty five mph, and will go three hundred miles on a charge? My brother and cousin would buy the sports car, but most folks have to be more practable and go for function over style? I also have a 9KW solar panel system on my roof, so my electric car (whatever I end up with, leaning towards a plug in Prius if I can’t get an affordable all electric car) can be fueled by the sweet ol sun. Adios Rich

I am thrilled to see a serious effort to design and build an electric car for the American highway and American drivers. The auto industry will not move forward for the simple (and understandable) reason that the business can’t break the inertia of a hundred years of making gas powered vehicles. Change must come from elsewhere and from people that bring a vision that is unencumbered by the status quo. A new Henry Ford to lead this industry into a new era. The timing is right for one to emerge soon. Will it be you?

I do understand why you are starting with the roadster. It makes perfect sense from a business point of view. Wealthy, social and political progressives will be a reliable and helpful test bed so that you can refine your product and integrate new technology before selling to the broader market. Besides, the economy of scale that would allow the production of an affordable sedan for the family market won’t be possible until the costs of batteries and the other components come down. At that point, I expect to see you incorporate what you’ve learned into vehicles that will be competetive. And at that point, I will be waiting. I’d rather it be an American Company that I”m buying from. Good luck. I’ll be watching.

This project appears to have successfully synthesized best of breed technologies. The result is a low development cost, at least compared with the $1 B spent by GM on the EV1. Kudos to you and your development team My thoughts are as follows:

First, I have to think that there are at least 5,000 bona fide customers per year for this car.

Second, this project showcases just how far electric vehicle technology has come in ten years. While the AC Propulsion system has been around for a good portion of that period of time, thanks are due to the laptop and mobile industries for developing the key difference between the Tesla and the EV1; high capacity batteries of low weight.

Third, inaugurating your company with a superlative sports car is brilliant. Unlike the SUV market, demand for over-the-top performance continues unabated. Selling a 500 horsepower car is commonplace now, even as gas approaches $3.50 per gallon. Tehre are few SUVs priced in the $8o $120 k range. There are a number of high-performance cars.

Finally, this is a road course car. Acceleration is a rush but any steroid-enhanced jalopy can turn a quarter mile in 12 seconds. Top end may be up there but most people don’t drive every day on an oval track. This is a car for the Glen. Match it up against Carrera 4, Z06 and Viper to see who can turn the best times in the twisty turns and flat-out straights. I suspect that the Tesla will be a strong contender, if not the overall winner.

Such is the true test of a GT class car. Road & Track wil sell this to your market a whole lot faster than NPR.

All the best

I love your sports car, but can I get a Dodge Grand Caravan version? I have 4 kids, yet I would love to zip around with that kind of power. Also the roof would be far larger for your solar cells. (Now I want to beg, but I think I made my point, and so has your company. Thank you)

John

I heard about Tesla on Marketplace on NPR. I had, two weks earlier, been looking at EV’s because of the new movie. I do not live in any of the new potential markets for the vehicle and this saddens me, because my family fits the profile, we drive about 250 miles a week, most is commuting, but don;t want a car that looks like a roller skate and drives like a bicycle.

In my market you are probably looking for people with deep pockets to establish a franchise. If Isuch a consortium could be put together, would you consider Baltimore-Washington as another 2007 market? What would be the financial conditions/automotive experieince conditions of such a consortium to get your attention?

As to the question why a high end $80-100K version first? R&D costs need to be recovered. It is more lucrative to sell a few high end vehicels, and less risky, than to produce thousand of mid price ($35-50K) vehicles and end up, dare I say, like let’s see: Yugo, Daewoo, Oldsmobile, EV1, even DeLorean took his vehicle to high end buyers. And the discretionary money is more readily available from those who can afford a $100K roadster, look at the list of those units already sold. So when you recover the costs, I will be waiting for the chance to
A) purchase the vehicle in my market
B) buy the franchise
C) look forward to drving the first of what is hoped to be planet saving vehicles

I’ll keep an eye on you, for now.

What steps have you taken to insure we don’t end up with another “delorean motor company”
seriously, Bricklin, etc. all had great ideas, and well funded. please let us know.

The product looks truly groundbreaking. Hopefully, with the upcoming battery technology breakthroughs, you can drop the price, extend the range, increase the safety, and even drastically reduce the charging time. I’m sure you’ve seen them, but A123 Systems seems to think they have all these battery limitations solved with their MIT licensed LiOns.

I can’t wait to see it in person.

I saw a clip on CBS news about Tesla Motors yesterday …. A W E S O M E ! ! !

I read your White paper posted in the electric car discussion here investment.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/1104/6-9
Very good analysis.
Are you using Valence Technology Li Batteries?
investment.suite101.com/article.cfm/valence_technology
investment.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/1329
I’ve been trying to figure out who has the best battery for this type of application and that is what I’ve found so far

Good luck!

Congratulations,

This is racing machine

I would prefer that you developed every day vehicle, with 30-50 HP, based on smart roadster, and with price tag about 20 -25 K.

Something like that would be much more affordable, for the rest of us.

Can we hope to see something like that ?

IIts great to see that someone is acually selling the electric version of the Lotus Elise. What a shame when the latest significant nnovation in the car actually comes from England, just after the British owned manufacturers have all given up. All that the UK has is BMW, Ford, Nissan, Honda and Toyota assembling their products. Maybe it will be a renaissance.

i might just buy one of these.
i would think that GM would purchase your company in a minute, and honda is going to copy you.
looking at your board i see paypal etc.
to put it another way, a lot of people who became wealthy selling their start-ups.
there is nothing wrong with that…unless they buy you to squash you.

the concept to obvious.
lets meditate on why no one has done it before…
i wish you all the luck in the world and please make sure if GM buys your company they
will take care of your former customers.

I’m counting the days until we can see one in person. It will be great if the TV and media cover any display and test drives. This is a big step in auto history.
Jim

Can’t wait for you to offer the family friendly 4 door!! I’d buy it now if it were available. Fort Mill, SC

I have heard rumors that this car is going to be released at 80 to 120 thousand bucks! What are you guys trying to do? You are coming into the market with something new and fresh and something that I have been saying for a long time, which is if someone could make a car that looked good and had hybrid or electric technology that it would sell, it i the refusal of all these other companies to conform to what peole want that is the reason for the dimise of these other cars. This car may perform well but pricing it that high will make it infinately underperform other vehicles in the same price bracket, therefore making this car way too high of a price for what it is trying to accomplish (if you are truely more concerned about environment and freedom from oil than the almighty dollar). I think that you guys have come out with a good concept but I do urge you to read the history books, and put special emphasis on the chapter about a man named John Z. Delorean! I hope that you guys are successful, but I know that i will not buy one, not because I can’t mind you, but because if I am spending that kind of dough on a car I better be able to do everything I want with it, including drive 300 miles in one shot. Good idea, Good Luck

Chris B. California

The electric vehicle has a very stylish look and feel. I’m all for removing my dependency on oil! Great job!

The million $$$ question is… How much is it going to cost?

If it turns out to be reliable and has a low cost to maintain, look out. You will have a winner.

Sam

it’s about time that an exciting electric car is built… this could be the start of real energy independance while retaining the fun and excitement of DRIVING… best of luck! can’t wait to see them for real.

I read a wonderful biography of Nicola Tesla-he was such a genius he made my head spin and so ahead of his time-on some things he still is. I was thrilled to see a news item re: Tesla Motors on TV last nite so I googled you up to find out more. So glad car company is named after him-finally this man is getting some recognition and with the high cost of energy-blood money and war I expect all forms of alternative enery to take off fast. Best of luck with this new car company-its so exciting.

Finally……………….the truth about Marconi has again surfaced. Thanks for bringing
Mr. Teslas name back into the American mainstream.

This is the future. Please go public ASAP so I can buy stock. I have no doubt this is the catalyst for the next evolution in personal transportation.

We are located on Long Island, 40 mins away from Manhattan. Please feel free to email me… my company would love to work with you in your efforts to build a marketing presence here in NY. I’ve already sold two roadsters for you.

BTW - to people complaining that Tesla Motors should have built a family sedan or mini-van, get a clue! You need to understand that a company that is trying to change the world needs to get ATTENTION. Sales to wealthy people will no doubt fund the R&D required to make better, and more importantly AFFORDABLE, electric vehicles for the masses to buy. Telsa Motor’s approach is nothing short of brilliant. I am continuously amazed at the lack of insight in the common consumer, but I suppose that’s exactly why they aren’t among the wealthy.

I’ve looked at the Lotus Elise several times over the past few years and I still don’t fit as I’m too tall, very disappointing. Don’t get me wrong I love small sports cars and absolutely abhor pick-ups and SUV’s I’m just “cursed” with too much height for many vehicles. After reading much of this blog and looking at many photos, both here and on other sites I’ve come to the conclusion that the Tesla is an electric Lotus Elise. However at its 80 to 120 thousand asking price I could purchase two Lotuses’s $51,600 and still not fit. So until there is a realistically sized alternative to the internal combustion engines pollution of the atmosphere I will have to continue to purchase vehicles designed for full size adults. Porsche designs all of their vehicles for “real” people from the Boxster S $54,700 to the 911 Turbo $122,900. Does anyone remember the MGB? It had plenty of leg room, but the US government regulated it to death. Volvo had its 1800E/ES, again plenty of leg room. Mazda came out with its Lotus Elan/MGB wana-be Miata, too small for many. Ford has it’s designed for women’s proportions Mustang, again too small. Have designers neglected to remember that the vehicles they are designing have to be large enough to contain the market segment driver they were intended for? Great idea the electric car and I wish you well, however not everyone is 5’-8” in height.

Why could not you include some solar battery?

Congratulations!
1. You have a huge potential market for an affordable EV.
2. Your approach to motor vehicles threatens the conventional car companies, and the oil companies. You now have a great big target on your back.
3. If you can’t be bought, sued, or co-opted, every effort will be made to subvert & destroy you.
4. 3 books for everyone who wants to see EVs succeed, and the fossil-fuel stranglehold broken, are The Car That Could, Michael Shnayerson; Taken For A Ride, Jack Doyle; The Electric Vehicle And The Burden Of History, David Kirsch.

You stand on the brink of an historic breakthrough. Be Careful, Be Wise, and don’t let them break you before you succeed.

If you’re interested in the services of a Transportation Sociologist, I’m available.
Good Luck,
RC Stilwell

Los Angeles citing:

I had the opportunity to see the vehicle at the car museum this weekend. For those who haven’t seen it ITS BETTER IN PERSON! I am intersted to see how comfortable the seats are since I couldn’t get in it. They seemed very thin…

The interest in the car seemed blazing hot - the sales lady was intelligent and informative. Great idea with the “signature series”.

Overall 10 out of 10.

Great Job!

Nice job folks, but I’m waiting for the first Tesla aircraft to appear. Solar panels on the wings to charge the batteries. I will test fly it for you.

These are exciting times.

Herb Holmes

Can you comment on your motor technology and how it compares to the system (made by ac propulsion) used in the wrightspeed car? On the surface, it seems that performance, range and efficiency are in the same ballpark as for the wrightspeed car (except, of course, that the wrightspeed car strictly a race car).

In addition, any load monitoring/modulating tricks that might be applied to increase range
would, I think, be a valuable option for those who may be willing to trade off performance for range. I will guess that potential market size will increase exponentially with range.

Awesome work done by all involved! I am glad that your company is able to build more “environmentally friendly” vehicles and still keep in line with expectations of a sports car. I would very much be looking forward to a 4-5 passanger elctric car that delivers on what is expected from a “people mover”, still produces good numbers, and is more affordable….something that the average person in the USA can buy. Still, this is a great accomplishment. Good job!

When I first gazed eyes of your conception of perfection almost shed a tear of joy, over 100 mph and long range capabilities, you have to excuse me I am tearing up now. Okay, how can an unfortunate bloke like myself, join the bandwagon and setup a sales outlet in north Florida? Thanks, and keep up the excellent work.

T.

A well known actor bought an electric car for over $100,000.00 I read. Zap is saying they will import a high performance electric car from Brazil next year, for $50,000.00.
What is the price area for the Tesla Motors car?

OhMyGosh, There is intelligent life in the universe. How much fun. I’d like a test drive and to make a deposit. I agree with RC; Beware, they will try to destroy you

Electrics were first, then came Porsche’s hybrid in 1912, the EV-1 and now Tesla!

According to Clayton and “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” you may have answered the trajectory question in analyzing disruptive technology…

The exciting thing about electrics before Tesla was that they were worse: lower top speeds, shorter range and very slow 0-60 times!!! That met the definition of disruptive!!! Big companies cannot afford to pursue new markets with worse technology.

That opens the door for Tesla…But Clayton’s analysis shows that the most successful companies make markets, find new markets, and improve the technology. For example, flash memory had less capacity but then came the iPod killer ap, new market and boom, flash will probably kill the spinning drive industries…

You may think your customers are Ferrari owners or automobile enthusiasts or even environmentalsists, BUT FOR ELECTRICS TO DISRUPT THE AUTO INDUSTRY according to CLAYTON’S INNOVATOR DILEMMA, YOU OR THE CUSTOMER DOES NOT KNOW THE APPLICATION FOR TESLA TECHNOLOGY YET…

In summary, I encourage you to develop a learning organization and I applaud the entrepreneurial discovery that you are making, for example with the motor showing us that bigger is better in more than one way…

I look forward to related and supported industries and Valley technology birthing new exciting unknowns in the future of movement and electricity, CHEERS AND GREAT START!!!

From what i have read on your website, you guys have done a truly amazing job. probably the most impressive vehicle ive seen ever. congratulations. only thing is i hope you guys can keep the price down out of the hundred thousand dollar range so that i can buy one. i was amazed by this car.

I cannot wait to purchase the Tesla…after all I invented the battery operated hat (aka Laser Hats) and Shoelaces (aka Laser Laces) so I can relate to battery life.

This innovative car is bliss in its finest form. Regardless of some negative spectators views it is excellent to see someone in the world that is creating something that will help with the days of record breaking heat indexes.

It is also great to see any kind of positive development that will allow us to make progress towards a better life for our younger generations.

With all the hate in the world… my hat is off to anyone who is willing to test the power of optimistic day to day questioning.

I look forward to the delivery of the car. Hopefully Tesla Motors will sell several million of them!

Are you planning to field a racing team or supply a privateer support for racing modifications to field a team? This vehicle would be a natural platform for a SCCA class of all-electric racers. I would like to participate in such a program as a privateer if this is in the works, or if not, to help it be…

What a brilliant bit of forward-thinking engineering.

A new documentary ‘film, Who killed the electric car?’ suggests the GM EV1 and other cars came under huge pressure from big oil/big auto who were determined to crush them into history.

With your car, you’ve more or less killed off the ‘poor performance’, ‘milkfloat’, ‘unsexy’, ‘unviable’, ‘no demand’ charges levelled at EVs. Would you ever ’sell out’ should a big-name car company buy you out to bury you?

Hopefully, with a new awareness of electric cars among the public even an attempt to see off a new breed of EVs simply wouldn’t be possible.

That said, having spent hours slowly chugging down the motorway at 30pmh in hire car last night, simply replacing vehicles with non-oil alternatives will not end the encouragement vast urban sprawl nowhere near jobs and amenities, evermore severe congestion and traffic jams, constant road building, help create more safe, car-free urban spaces, etc. I like well engineered cars but in many more densely populated nations there are far, far too many of them, clean or not.

Great company name.

Congratulations for marketing the TESLA Roadster ; it is the most wonderful car I have ever dreamed and I am anxious to buy it as soon as possible.
As I live in Belgium, I ask you for reconsidering your decision (found in your FAQ’s) : “We will not sell a Tesla Roadster to anyone outside of the continental US”.
Such a discrimination can hardly be accepted.
Please hurry up ! Many car lovers are waiting for a TESLA Roadster !
Good luck !

Thank you for your remarkable contribution to the automotive world and the greater world we all share. This is an extraordinary achivement in style, performance, efficiency, and ecology. I wish you the greatest of success, and I look forward to the day that I may have the honor to drive a Tesla.

The car is great and I hope it catches on although I wonder how the power grid could handle the increased load from mass produced electric cars. How do the batteries hold up in cold weather?

Guys I am in love. I want nothing more than to be the first kid on the block with a desirable, high performance electric car. Why?

1. I hate the mentality of the oil companies - sell it and make as much money as possible, before it runs out, and before people finally realise we are destroying earth
2. The very idea of pistons is ludicrous except in the absence of a better alternative. Here is the better alternative!
3. Locomotives, electric tools and my little RC Cars always impress me with the power they generate with electricity. Electric works at every possible scale!
4. Quiet, smooth and simple operation saves money, saves energy, and saves wear and tear.
5. Batteries will always improve - leave it to the mobile electronics industry to make sure of that. Your mobile phone and laptop manufacturers will be paving the way for larger applications of their amazing energy density power systems

Keep it up - I hope the roadster paves the way for family cars, SUVs and people movers too. I hope they all look as good! Love your work

You seemed to have missed us in your list of electric vehicle milestones. Maybe you should look here and redo your “timeline”

www.electricauto.com/prev_mod_00.html

Perhaps now that a company has delivered a practical (range, if not price/size) EV, Tesla Motors could lobby Federal/State Govrernments to sponsor a range solution for all EV owners: Example — If you own an EV you can use (free of charge) a rental car from national rental car companies for use on longer trips (vacation/road trips etc.). This would eliminate most if not all consumers concerns about range, while within probably a few short years, energy storage capacity and charge time will reach a point where such alternatives won’t be neccessary.

If all consumers (American) drove at the least a plug-in hybrids or cars with equivalent efficiency (EVs) would eliminate our dependence on foreign oil plus keep the billions here in America.

I commend you Tesla for what you have achieved thus far.

How many kw/h does it absorbs during recharge?

Nice looking car! Someone who finally decided to take on the biggest downfall of EV, ugly and slow cars, head on and seemingly win.

I echo the sentiments that changing the auto world will require a sedan model ASAP. Take a cue from Toyota and subsidize so you can turn a much bigger profit later. IF you can get the sedan to the market before anyone else and provide a suitable service agreement/area you can truly be an innovator on this project.

I am also interested in one responder’s question about a EV motorcycle. Is there a weight “sweet spot” in that size?

Bring it out to Denver. Good luck and as soon as something affordable hits I’ll be getting one. Even if I have to travel out to CA.

I am wondering where one would charge the battery when traveling a distance of more than 250 miles? Are there electric charge stations around the nation?

I would also like to see a more family or work friendly design are you planning on making one?

I couldn’t find any information on the headlights, what kind of technology you guys use?

Great vehicle, can wait to be mass produce. Now I can say that there is an electric vehicle, that can be looked at. I now conviced that it can be done. keep up the good work.

I’m very excited to see one in person! I agree with the poster that said if you can get this car in the $50,000 range (or less) you won’t be able to make enough of them. Even if the range before a recharge is required is short, this would be a wonderful ‘around towner.’

Good luck!

One of the most awesome cars that I’ve ever seen! Such power out of a electrically-powered engine. Based off such a different, original concept (design of the engine, that is). I find the concept of Regenerative Braking extremely fascinating! One of the best examples of utilizing every “waste” product (even heat) as an energy source.

Keep up the great work!

Good for you. I knew that someone would eventually build an EV that has sales potential in and of itself. I also know that the early adopters of such a vehicle are going to be special people, and I don’t resent the fact that your early adopters will be the well healed. Who better to make a concept like yours a reality. After all, HDTV started with high-end product, too.

I would like to add my voice to others that hope this is a first product with more utilitarian siblings yet to be born. I can’t afford this car, but I’ll be first in line to buy one I can afford. Based on past practice with new concepts, I’ll be writing you a check in, say, 5 to 7 years.

Sono molto contento che nasca una macchina interamente elettrica.
Non ho potuto parteciapre a Santa Monica alla presentazione che era stata annunciata per il 13 luglio perchè io quel giorno avevo il rientro per l’italia.

Congratulations, folks — I think this is a tremendous step forward. One small (but not quick) comment on the battery front. I think it is a mistake to believe that just because you are unlikely to have an effect on the battery market as a whole, that you cannot have an effect on battery development. While it is true that you are unlikely to be able to affect those axis of battery development that are pursued aggressively by laptop makers (wh/kg, safety, price), there are many other axis of improvement that are needed for auto-use (cycle-life, calendar life, discharge and charge rates). Laptop makers don’t need batteries that last 15-20 years — we do.

There are companies that are pursuing those other avenues, and talking to them (at least!) makes sense. I have talked to several of them — for a one-off conversion, the pricing is insane, but for the kind of volume you would be talking about, pricing can come down by a factor of 4. It may be insufficient for your needs, but some of the pricing is certainly within batting distance of the $500/kwh range. Regardless, a factor of four is a potentially large return for a relatively small price(1-2 mil). Some of these guys build batteries with >2000 cycles at >10C discharge rates, and some have some very nice charge rates along with safety improvements — at least look! Here’s a list I can think of off the top of my head (some may not be around anymore, sadly): Kokam, CompactPower (LGChem), EnerDel, A123, Altair Nano, Electrovaya. Then there are the long shots like EEStor — big engineering task to handle the voltage swings, but 50kwh in 400lbs would be pretty sweet. [And that kind of energy storage is unlikely to be pursued by laptop makers — 3500V in a laptop?!….] Note: EEStor is running fairly silent, so, apply salt liberally.

Anyway, don’t sell your lever short — it’s not how big it is, it’s how you use it :>

Best of luck,
-Dave

PS: More info on solar option, please!

Martin,

You and your company have created/engineered a beautiful car whether it was an electric or a gas vehicle. The timing is perfect for your vehicle to hit the market with Global Warming being debated and our dependence on Foreign Oil, but I do have one question which is will a driver like myself who is 6′ 1″ fit inside the new Tesla? Or will your car only accommodate smaller drivers?

I’m just an average guy with an average daily commute and a budget. I would drive more and enjoy an improved quality of life if my gasoline bill was zero. But, even if I take every available tax credit and finance the installation of photovoltaic shingles on my garage for charging it, it would take nine years to cost-justify this car at a price of $80k. That assumes that the insurance and maintenance cost would be the same as for a Jetta GLS, the average gas price for the next nine years exceeds $4 a gallon, battery replacement is included in the price, and the car retains half its value. So, this would purely be a luxury purchase. I guess I need to go pull down a lot of cash so I can have one!

I would by this car if it were available in Portugal.

Europe needs a car like this. The gas prices here are completely unbelievable.

Congratulations for the big moment.

Helllllooo Tesla -
After all of this hype, I am sorely dissappointed in the design of this roadster. I was expecting something timeless and sleek, possibly low and long like a beautiful classic sports car, not a length challenged squished up me-to car.
I would say this car resembles something closer to a Pontiac Solstace than a Ferrari. Sure, it’s not exactly like a Solstace, but it certainly comes closer to that than to a Ferrari.
I would say that you will have trouble selling this car, not because it’s not a great car, which I’m sure it is, but because it’s just not up to the looks of a $100K car. Please prove me wrong, I want Tesla to succeed, but with this odd design, you may have some trouble.
Best of luck,
Don

Congratulations. I’m thrilled to see that someone has taken over where the EV1 left off. It truly was a great car! My wife and I were on the waiting list for the so-called EV2 (EV1 with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries), but they never became available as the “Who Killed the Electric Car?” movie makes clear. It bothers me to see individuals making cost recovery calculations without consideration of the fact that we will be saving the earth. Also, how can one make such comparisons since the future price of gasoline, while unknown, is certain to be more expensive as China and India become more vehicle intensive. The only way to make gas cheaper is to stop using the stuff!

Again, best wishes for much success.

Some people are suggesting recharging or partly powering the car with solar cells/panels on the car. Someone suggested a 300 watt solar panel. A panel of that size (4×6 feet roughly) wouldn’t fit on the car, and it’s not very aerodynamic. Also it’s barely enough to power a weed eater. The car probably wouldn’t even move with that little power (about 1/3 hp). It’s just not worth it.

Having solar panels on the roof of your house to recharge the car would make more sense (in terms of surface area), except you’re most likely driving the car during the day when the sun’s up. When you’re at home in the evening, there’s little or no sunlight to recharge the car with. I guess you could sell the power during the day back to the utility, which would offset the cost of charging the car at night when power may be cheaper.

Congratulations. Each and EVergyone[sp] of you heroes at Tesla Motors have helped to reinspire great hopes of a better future EVeryone and their children can look forward to and hopefuly enjoy, if we truly want it to happen. Thank you each and EVeryone who are collectively making it happen! And remember, it was the ‘City of the Angels’ where the good news first went out to the rest of the world, and at the same time, made a light where the Governor of this Golden State of California symbolically helped to commence this history-making EVent you all had a vital part in. God bless you and keep you strong for the fight ahead. What you accomplish here and now in terms of your engineering skills and technical know-how will certainly impact the future of mankind for good and forEVer. The world awaits your gifts.

If Nikola Tesla were still with us, he most probably would be rejoicing with you in celebration of what you are doing and where it might EVentually end. His own personal efforts and contributions to a dark world may yet sti