Plug and play. If you can plug in your cell phone, you can plug in your Tesla Roadster. learn more

Charging & Batteries

About 220 Miles Between Charges

Before now, electric vehicles typically capped off around 60 miles per charge, relegating them to the status of commuter cars. The Tesla Roadster changes all that. Plug it in at night when you pull into the garage and you can drive about 220 miles on that charge the next day.

Just like the fuel gauge in your existing car, the instruments inside the Tesla Roadster indicate how many more miles can be driven before you need to think about recharging. So unlike the old days of electric vehicles, now you can "drive electric" without the anxiety you'll run out of charge and be left stranded.

How Long Does Your Cell Phone Take to Charge?

If you're like most people, you can't answer this question. You plug in your phone every night, and it's fully charged in the morning. You never think about how long it took so long as the charge lasts throughout the next day. Once you get into the habit, that"s the way you'll feel about your Tesla Roadster; every morning you'll wake up to a fully charged car, ready for whatever is on the day's agenda.

Charge At Home or On the Road

Plug your Tesla Roadster into its at-home charging unit, and you'll be fully charged in about 3.5 hours. But we consider this a "worst case" for someone starting with a completely dead battery. Even after a 100-mile trip, you can be completely charged in less than two hours.* And should you need to charge on the road, packed away in the trunk is an optional mobile-charging kit that lets you charge from most standard electrical outlets while away from home.

A Bonus: Regenerative Braking

Regenerative braking — which recovers and stores the energy usually lost when you slow down — extends your charge even further, delivering higher miles-per-charge on in-town driving. Think of it like engine braking with a bonus. Whenever you slow down, you send a charge back into the battery. It's a much-needed silver lining to red lights, traffic jams, and other slowdowns.

A Better Battery

Unlike the lead-acid or nickel metal hydride batteries in most electric cars — which are heavy and difficult to dispose of — we use a proprietary Lithium ion battery pack. Nickel cadmium batteries were notorious for memory problems, and nickel metal hydride batteries reduced this problem. The lithium ion batteries we use in the Tesla Roadster eliminate the problem. So there is no need to worry about waiting until the battery pack is fully discharged before recharging it: feel free to charge your car whenever you have access to power.

Even with the demands of charging and discharging the battery pack on a daily basis, the batteries in the Tesla Roadster will give you more than 100,000 miles of peak performance driving. After that point, the battery will see only gradual drops in performance over time.

Battery Recycling

Unlike other batteries that came before them, Lithium ion batteries are classified by the federal government as non-hazardous waste and are safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste stream. However, dumping these batteries in the trash would be throwing money away. Even a completely dead battery pack contains valuable, recoverable materials that can be sold back to recycling companies for cash.

But reuse is such a key part of our philosophy, we're doing our best to arrange to have our car batteries safely recycled — even before we've sold our first car. Our goal is to include the cost of recycling in the purchase price of each car.

Electrical Cost to Charge the Batteries

With your electrical company's incentive pricing factored in, it will cost you roughly 1 cent per mile to drive the Tesla Roadster.** But the incentives don't stop there. Depending on where you live, other bonuses may include:

• Single-occupancy access to all carpool lanes
• Income tax credit (awaiting new legislation)
• A luxury car that's fully exempt from the luxury car tax
• Free parking at charging stations at LAX
• No parking meter fees in an increasing number of major metropolitan areas

The information on this page should not be viewed as an official or legally binding document. For more information about electric vehicle incentives, visit www.fueleconomy.gov or consult an IRS tax representative.

Safety

Your personal safety is a priority for us. From the battery technologies we've chosen, to the unique design of our battery pack, our testing shows just how safe the Tesla Roadster is, even in extreme worst-case scenarios. Learn more here.

How far can this ground-breaking battery take you on a single charge? Significantly farther than any other EV to date.

This map gives an indication of the expected range. Your mileage may vary.

* With a Home Changing Station installed operating at 70 amps.
** Since most car owners recharge at night, this calculation uses off-peak charging rates with a time-of-use meter. To calculate your exact cost-per-mile, contact your local electricity provider.