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One hectic week in June was all it took for the Tesla Roadster to make a lasting impression in northern Europe.
First stop was Norway where the environmental organization Bellona had invited Tesla Motors to show the roadster to European VIP’s at the C8 Climate Summit. The interest was overwhelming and VIPs like the former Norwegian PM Gro Harlem Brundland, international environmentalist Fredric Hauge and a number of CEO’s from the major oil companies took the roadster for an enjoyable spin.
At the Technical University.Modifying the mobile connector totake 32A instead of 12A.
Next stop was the Norwegian capital Oslo. A number of lucky Tesla customers got a chance to drive their future sports car for the first time. Tesla stole the show at the central square, even though the competition from regional summer attractions was immense, on this beautiful Norwegian summer Saturday.
US Ambassador James Cain and Tesla Director of Corporate Affairs Diarmuid O’Connell
Sunday Tesla arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, where impressed professors from the Technical University took a look at the car. The battery and on board control software, in particular, made the jaws drop. Tesla was welcomed as an important milestone in the evolution of the electric vehicle.
Monday the US Ambassador James Cain hosted a reception at his amazing seaside residence in honor of Tesla. Many local VIP’s got first rides, and a number of cars were sold at the occasion. The press absolutely loved the car, and Tesla got 12 minutes primetime in the Danish Today Show, front pages in national newspapers plus articles in Car magazines, lifestyle magazines and financial newspapers.
The appeal of Tesla on the Scandinavian market is not only due to the fact that the vehicle is emission free, silent and great fun to drive. The Scandinavians have high environmental awareness. Electrical cars also get to drive in bus-lanes, get free parking and road tax but most importantly – they don’t get taxed on sale in many Nordic countries. In Denmark particularly, new cars can be taxed up to 180 percent. The Tesla costs about the same as a BMW 5 series as a result of the tax break for electric cars.
Posted in the categories: On the road
Skønt at have en dansker med i organisationen. Hvis i får brug får en lidenskabelig medarbejder vest for Storebælt, er jeg med på den værste. Desværre er jeg med min nuværende lønpose nødt til at vente på enten whitestar eller bluestar. Håber der er noget nyt om de 2 inden for kort tid.
Congratulations for this important step. Finally the revolutionary and legendary Tesla Roadster gets the nationwide attention it deserves here in Europe! Thank you for your update! Please announce it on your website, if and when Tesla will come to switzerland. I’ll be there!
Felix
As a dane in California myself, I can fully confirm the above. I think the roadster will sell well there (considering the price tag). Fabulous!
Congratulations on selling more Roadsters!
GOOOOO TELSA!!!
Hello Tesla Motors Team, I am glad to hear the presentation went well in Scandinavia. Not only have Scandinavians a good environmental awareness, they are also relatively wealthy. Good place to start
But at the same time you will also face some competition. Think Global is already selling their Th!nk City in Norway. Not quite the same car as the Roadster, but both companies want to produce a mainstream sedan in the near future. I wish both good luck!
Did you know that the Roadster has their own discussion forums? www.ecocarforum.com or www.teslamotorsclub.com
It seems demand for Tesla Roadsters is staying high, and not just a momentary fad.
By contrast to these taxation policies, Oregon is considering using GPS to tax everyone for road use. In the current plan, you get charged the same regardless of vehicle size or fuel usage. Apparently, the move to more efficient vehicles has them very worried about revenues.
Great - international presence will help broaden the appeal of Tesla. You know what else will broaden that presence? Whitestar. Where is all the information on that?
I am glad your tour went so well! Did you hear about what went on this week in California? Senator McCain proposed a $300 million prize to who ever came up with a viable battery for electric cars. Well, gee, when I heard that my first thought was “great! Its about time incentives were proposed to wean us off of oil” My second thought was, “This guy (Mc Cain) obviously has not heard of Tesla motors.”
Please let him know about your great success. Maybe some of our public funds could be redirected from the oil industry and put towards hastening up production of vehicles affordable to those who can least afford the costs associated with gas combustion vehicles, yet are dependent on their personal vehicles to maintain employment.
Thank you ever so Kindly,
Dena
It’s fantastic that the Tesla is making such a great impression all over the world - I think it really bodes well for the future of electric cars (and of course the Roadster and Whitestar specifically).
I definitely love seeing how excited people get over just catching a glimpse of the Roadster (take this top review: greenhome.huddler.com/products/2008-tesla-roadster-coupe/reviews/658 or this forum thread: greenhome.huddler.com/forum/thread/1/i-saw-a-tesla-roadster-on-the-road?replies=23). I know I certainly get starry-eyed and I’m sure I’m not the only one looking forward to seeing more on the road. What’s the news on the opening date for the Menlo Park showroom?
The most info on Whitestar I’ve seen anywhere is here:
www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/25/autobloggreen-qanda-tesla-motors-chairman-elon-musk-pt-3-lesso/
That’s part 3 of a three-part interview with Elon Musk, interspersed with commentary by Martin Eberhard. They’re all three quite good.
Anyway, it’s not much, but it’s the most I’ve yet seen.
I agree Andrew. I have been faithfully following Tesla from the beginning. I am really anxious for the Whitestar… where are the updates on that??, I will absolutely get one if it holds true to Tesla form…. unless of course my patience runs out and I end up in a Chevy Volt, ZAP-X, or worse, a used Toyota Rav4-EV - Ugh!… whitestar, Whitestar, WHITESTAR!
“The Tesla costs about the same as a BMW 5 series as a result of the tax break for electric cars.”
Maybe Tesla is going to have to build a seperate factory for Scandinavia?
Be sure to stop by the UK w/ the Roadster and get it on Top Gear so the Stig can take it around the Top Gear Test Track
Dena perhaps you should read more than the headlines. In the evening, after McCain announced the $300 Million prize for breakthrough battery technology, he held a town hall meeting in front of a Tesla Roadster. He heaped praise on the people who create such technology.
“Electric cars are the way of the future, McCain declared, and to underscore the point met reporters after the meeting beside a battery-powered Tesla Roadster. The sports car goes from zero to 60 in less than four seconds and produces zero tailpipe emissions, but retails for $100,000. The manufacturer compares it to cell phones that cost $2,000 in 1985.
blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/23/mccain_talks_energy_in_califor.html
Now he is getting criticized for praising a car that costs way too much for the average American.
As to the $300 million prize, I suspect Chevron (ECD or Cobasys) already has the technology in its research lab, so we would just be giving it away to big oil. However, I do favor his proposal for tax breaks for folks that buy All Electric or Plug-In hybrids. If people buy cars, the battery innovation and deployment will take care of itself and I can afford a Tesla.
I’ll second Felix’ post. Great to hear that you’re showing the roadster all over Europe. Please post it on this website as soon as you have dates for Switzerland. Thanks!
Will the car be crash tested in EURO-NCAP standards? Purchase price is only one thing of the cost, roadtax and special roadtax (Stockholm) which favors this car are another cost you have to look into if buying one in Sweden.
Further more, what about studtires (used in winter here in Sweden with small metal studs incoporated in the tire) will the Tesla be certified with this? SMART cars aren´t and this is a problem if you intend to use it during wintertime.
Alexmcfire - I know that some of the testing Tesla did was in harsh winterconditions in northern Sweden: www.autobloggreen.com/2007/01/26/video-of-the-tesla-roadster-testing-on-ice/ and that was way back in January 2007. Therefore, I expect them to have obtained all approvals prior to the European launch.
Hansen, approvals yes, but the SMART microcar is roadlegal in Sweden using non studtires, which can be a problem in wintertime. Quite a few people has bought SMART microcars and said the wanted studtires, but the salesman changed it
into “wintertires” which means tires you can drive all year round with no studs.
Also the Euro-NCAP isn´t mandatory, but a very good sales point if you score good points.
Hey Tesla team
We are 3 danish female designers working with Fair Trade and sustainable design.
In an interwiev given today, we have just pointed out - your wonderfull car, which we love for the design and the technical achivments. Now the newspaper ask if it is possible to get a picture of us and the car!!!!
The question made us browse the web and we realize that just maybe there is a TESLA in Denmark at the moment, The technical universitet is just next door to our workshop….
Are you still around??
And would it be possible to get at picture?
Best of all
Fair Trade Designers
Pil Bredahl, Liselotte Risell and Henriette Melchiorsen
www.fairtradedesigners.com
Oh yeah, not to mention, that gasprices in Denmark are about double up that of the US. If americans think they have a hard time with climbing gasprices, then try to imagine what its like here :-/
Here´s the link to the first buyers in Sweden, www.svd.se/naringsliv/motor/artikel_1675761.svd
Svenska Dagbladet roughly translated to Swedish daily news is one of the major newspapers in Sweden.
A reporter from the same newspaper claim it´s a bit heavy to steer in lower speeds and question the longlivity of the battery,
otherwise positive and compare the car with Porsches.