FAQs

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Zero to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds with a top speed of 125 mph. But this is not the whole story. Because it has no clutch pedal and a very wide, flat torque curve, the acceleration of the Tesla Roadster is much more available to enjoy: just step on the accelerator and go.

Driving in normal conditions (mixed city and highway conditions in a range of temperatures) results in “real world” range of 244 miles per charge. In fact, in early 2009 the Roadster set an EV record when it traveled the entire 241-mile course of a Monte Carlo rally – with 36 miles remaining on the charge!

The Tesla Roadster uses a single-speed fixed gear transmission with electrically-actuated parking lock mechanism and mechanical lubrication pump.

Yes, you can connect your iPod to the Tesla Roadster's stereo using a mini jack available at most consumer electronics stores.

Yes, a soft top comes standard, and a color-matched carbon fiber hard top is available as an option.

The car has no visible door handles because the latches are released electrically by a discrete touchpad located in the shoulder intake duct. The door only opens when "allowed" by the VMS (Vehicle Management System), the car's main computer.

Yes. The car will meet all the necessary Department of Transportation requirements for insurance and registration.

The trunk has been designed to accommodate a carry-on wheeled bag or a bag of golf clubs. The trunk also features a “false floor” with sufficient room to stow the included factory soft top when not in use.

Need the numbers? The trunk is roughly oval with the following maximum approximate dimensions: Width 1428mm (56.2"), length 391mm (15.4") and depth 252mm (9.92), extending to 353mm (13.9") in the center.

Yes, Bluetooth is available as a factory installed option.

Wallpaper images are available here.

Find a selection of buttons here.

There are many: reduced dependence on foreign oil, zero emissions, and a cost of less than two cents per mile driven (using off-peak charging rates with a time-of-use meter. To calculate your exact cost-per-mile, contact your local electricity provider). Many areas also offer carpool lane access and/or special parking privileges for electric cars. Check with your local DMV for details.

You can read more about these benefits, and others, in our Why Electric? section.

Yes. EVs are the most efficient cars on the road. This means they cost less per mile to drive, use less fuel per mile, and produce less pollution per mile.

No. Most electric power generation in the United States does not use oil. Coal, hydro, nuclear, solar, and natural gas are typical sources for generating electricity. Power generation plants, even coal burning ones, are inherently more efficient and less polluting than vehicles due to economies of scale and the ability to more efficiently remove pollutants from a smaller number of much larger fixed locations.

Also, an electric car is far more efficient than a gasoline car, so the amount of pollution generated by producing the electricity to drive an EV a given distance is much less than the pollution from the gasoline to drive an internal combustion car the same distance. Whereas a combustion engine car – even those powered by hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel – can make use of around 20 percent of the energy that it consumes, a battery electric car like the Tesla Roadster is able to put more than 80 percent of the energy it consumes to use in moving the car down the road.

You can read more in our Energy Efficiency section.

There are numerous incentives for driving an electric car, and they vary from state to state. Incentives include single-occupancy driving in carpool lanes, free parking, and tax breaks. See our Incentives page for more information.

The Tesla Roadster shines in the very areas that previous electric cars fell short – design, performance, and efficiency. It is beautiful to look at, as fast or faster than most combustion engine cars, and has vastly improved driving range than previous EVs. In addition, previous generation electric cars were tethered to their charging stations. One could only drive so far before having to return to a charging station for a re-charge. The Tesla Roadster carries a charging unit on-board, and provides the flexibility of pulling electricity from a number of power sources with the optional Mobile Connector.

Electric vehicles (EVs) do not have an internal combustion engine. The batteries are recharged from the electric power grid, for example your home electric system. Hybrid vehicles have both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. In most systems the internal combustion engine is used to recharge the batteries as well as power the car directly when necessary, but the only way you get energy into the car is to put gas into the gas tank. Therefore hybrids, while more efficient than standard cars, still use petroleum products and at the current time none on the market can use energy from the power grid or "plug in."

Yes. The Tesla Roadster can be recharged using solar energy. If you would like to use solar energy at your home, we would be happy to refer you to a qualified installer, including SolarCity.

Like all electrical devices - toasters and washing machines included - the Tesla Roadster generates and uses electromagnetic fields. The Tesla Roadster makes use of filtering and shielding technologies to ensure that it meets all legal requirements and minimizes these fields. There are no known risks from exposure to these fields.

It’s interesting to note that low-frequency electromagnetic radiation from power lines was a big scare about 15 years ago, but numerous, rigorous studies have shown that there is no correlation between power line EMF and ailments attributed to them.

Tesla Motors will service your car at our Tesla Stores. Our first stores have already opened in West Los Angeles and Menlo Park, California. Please see our contact page for addresses and phone numbers. Additional service facilities will open as follows:

• New York – Summer 2009
• Chicago – Summer 2009
• Seattle – Summer 2009
• Miami – Fall 2009
• Washington DC - Fall 2009
• London - Summer 2009
• Munich - Summer 2009
  

 

We don't recommend it. Because of the car's unique electric drive-train, the best service comes from specially trained Tesla Motors service personnel.  The exception to this is detailing, alignment, brakes, tire repair or replacement, windshield repair or minor body repair.

The Roadster requires service by Tesla-certified technicians every 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. While most cars require service every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, the Tesla Roadster has no engine oil or filters to change, no smog equipment to check, no air filters to replace, and no power steering fluids to refill.

 

Every Roadster owner is covered by Tesla Roadside Assistance during the warranty period.  If you experience any trouble, simply call the toll-free number for assistance.

 

That depends on how far the battery has been discharged and what source is being used to charge the batteries. A full charge using the High Power Connector can be achieved in as little as 3.5 hours.

Ideally you plug the car in in when you get home, and unplug it when you drive away in the morning. The High Power Connector has been designed for use as the primary source for recharging the Roadster battery at home. 

You can charge Teslas from any conventional 120V or 240V electrical socket in your home, garage, parking structure or lot. If you can plug in your blow dryer, you can plug in your Roadster. If you want a faster charge, you can buy an optional 240V mobile connector that you can pack in the trunk and bring on road trips. For an even faster charge you can wire a 240V Tesla home connector directly into your electrical panel in your home. All of these options will be available on Model S.  Model S will also support fast charging through commercial 440V charging stations. 

 

 

The same way the High Power Connector works, with the added benefits of in-trunk portability and the flexibility to accommodate more outlet configurations and/or AC currents. It consists of two parts: an intelligent cable, and a selection of adapters for different outlet sizes and voltages.

This depends on the billing method of your particular electricity provider. In general, there is a trend towards "time of use" pricing. This means that it will be cheaper to charge at night, when the demand on the electricity grid is lowest.

Our charge system will be listed by a NRTL (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory), such as UL or CSA, and incorporates a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) very similar to the plugs in most bathrooms and kitchens. Before every charge, computers in both the car and the charge system make sure the car is parked and all electrical systems are working perfectly. We've even added additional safety features to shut down charge if the cord is tugged or smoke is detected.

The plug on the High Power Connector only becomes live when it is properly connected to a car and the connection is deemed safe. In addition, the contacts in the connector are protected by insulating towers around the sockets on the plug end and dead-front pins on the receptacle side. These towers meet the Underwriters Laboratories finger probe test. 

The battery pack in your Tesla Roadster is expected to maintain good driving performance for about 100,000 miles or five years, whichever comes first. Lithium-ion batteries will degrade slightly over time. Our testing and modeling indicate that a typical Tesla Roadster owner who drives 50,000 miles over five years should have about 70 percent of initial performance levels available.

For more information about what you can expect from your battery pack, see our blog, A Bit About Batteries.

Tesla consistently places environmental stewardship as a priority. The cells in Tesla’s battery pack are composed mainly of lithium metal oxides and are manufactured in Japan, a country with very strict environmental laws and where emissions and effluents are strictly controlled and monitored. The cells meet the requirements set forth by the Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. They do not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ether. The cells contain no heavy metals. In fact, our entire battery pack, by law, could be disposed in a landfill.

However, the battery packs need never end up in a landfill. After 100,000 miles under normal use, the pack could be used as a power source for off-grid backup or load leveling. The battery requirements for such an application are not as demanding as a high performance vehicle battery. Tesla is also developing a recycling plan that would maximize the amount of materials that can be reused; maximize the amount of materials that can be recycled; and minimize energy consumption utilized during the transportation and recycling process.

For instance, copper cobalt can be sold for recovery of metals such as cobalt, aluminum, nickel, and copper. The slurry can be processed into a cobalt filter cake. This cake may then be reused in appliance coatings. Soda ash is added to resulting process solution and precipitates out as lithium carbonate; liquid is bled off after lithium salt recovery, and is sent off as non hazardous effluent for proper disposal. (It’s also important to note that Tesla’s recycling process is mainly a mechanical and chemical one. It does not involve any smelters; emissions are kept to a minimum.)

Tesla can recycle about 60% of battery pack materials and reuse a further 10% by weight. We currently plan to landfill only the benign fluff, which comprises about 25% of the pack, but we expect to nearly eliminate this in the future when our volumes get higher and we can justify the effort required to separate and reuse the plastic.

 

The Tesla Roadster uses Li-ion cells - the same kind of batteries used in most consumer-electronics devices, such as laptops, cell phones, and camcorders. Only a few more of them.

That particular cell stops working, but the driver would not notice any changes in performance, because it is just one battery among many. In fact, the Tesla Motors design can withstand multiple battery cell failures with no perceptible effect on performance.

All Lithium Ion batteries are classified by the federal government as non-hazardous waste and are safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste stream. These batteries, however, do contain recyclable materials that make recycling a good idea.

Yes, the Battery has a heater that will keep the cells warm in a cold climate. Tesla performs extreme cold-weather testing on a frozen lake bed in Sweden, and we sell cars throughout Scandinavia and Canada.

 

The standard cable for the Home Connector is 25 ft long (762 cm). The NEC (National Electrical Code) limits this cable length to 25 ft (762 cm). The main Mobile Connector cable will be 18 ft (549 cm) with the adapter cable being an additional 2 ft (61 cm)

 

At Tesla Motors we take safety very seriously. Check out our white paper to see how safety is designed into the battery. For an overview of the safety features of the Tesla Roadster, visit our safety page.

 

We constantly review new technologies for our vehicles. Right now, Li-ion offers the best performance and value.

Because Tesla Roadsters are built to order based on customer option preference and color selection, Tesla Motors uses a reservation process for purchase. The wait period from time of reservation to time of delivery is approximately 4-5 months. The reservation process can be broken down into three steps.

Step One: Sign up on through the online buy showroom and submit a refundable $9,900 reservation fee. A sales associate will contact you within 48 hours of submitting this initial fee to discuss the next available Roadster production slot, along with opportunities to visit a Tesla Store and see a Roadster in person.

The $9,900 reservation fee will place you in the next available production slot. The reservation fee is refundable up to 90 days from your slated production start date.

Step Two: Select and submit your Roadster color choices and preferred options 90 days prior to your Roadster production start date. At this point Tesla Motors requires the remaining balance due in order to begin production of your car. There is also a one time option to defer production to a future date at this time. Production slots are queued based on the order of fees received.

Step Three:  At time of delivery, you pay the destination charge and any applicable taxes, fees or delivery charges.  And then you go have that first exciting drive in your next Tesla Roadster!

For further details concerning the reservation and sales process please contact a Tesla Motors sales associate through the online buy showroom, or by calling 650-413-6300.

Delivery dates for the Roadster in the United States are estimated at 4-5 months from your confirmed reservation date. 

We will begin deliveries for the Roadster in Canada in late 2009.

For our Signature Edition, available exclusively in Europe, deliveries begin June 2009.

Please visit the buy showroom for pricing.

The best place to see the Tesla Roadster is to visit a Tesla Gallery.  Visit our stores page to find the location nearest you. We also periodically host off-site events where the public can see the car and meet Tesla Motors staff. Visit the Events page to locate activities we have scheduled in your area.

Yes, contact the Tesla Store nearest you to set up a test drive.

If you are interested in finding out what it is like to drive a Tesla, visit our guest blog, where several customers have documented their own experiences driving the Roadster. Our Media Coverage section also contains links to published driving impressions.

The 2009 Roadster is exclusively available to customers who reside in any 50 of the United States.

Our 2009 Signature Edition is exclusively available to residents of Europe.

Customers will be required to cover transportation to the Tesla Store and back should it require service and/or repair.  The customer may facilitate the transport of their vehicle or Tesla is more then happy to arrange transportation.

Yes. The Roadster is available in the US, Europe and Canada.  The Signature Edition is available exclusively to residents of Europe.

Your personal information is for internal use at Tesla Motors. We do not sell personally identifiable information collected on our website to other companies. For more information about the Tesla Motors privacy policy, see our Privacy page.

The reservation fee is refundable up to the day that you confirm your option selections, which is three months prior to the production of your Tesla Roadster.

Components and subsystems for the car come from a variety of sources all over the world. The Roadster itself, or "Glider" is assembled at Lotus in Hethel, UK. Final assembly for the Tesla Roadster takes place in Menlo Park, California.

Tesla Motors is an American car company with a U.K. subsidiary. The car is engineered, designed, and developed by Tesla Motors. Our corporate headquarters is in San Carlos, California, and all of our funding came from the United States.

Lotus Cars is assembling the Tesla Roadster under contract to Tesla Motors. Tesla Motors has also hired Lotus Engineering for certain design and engineering tasks.

Lotus is the acknowledged leader worldwide for efficient assembly of sports cars at modest volumes.

No. The Tesla Roadster is an electric vehicle (EV) and does not require gasoline. It is not a hybrid.

It costs most customers roughly 2 cents per mile or $5 to fully recharge their Roadster, although the exact price varies depending on your utility rates and the time of day you charge. By contrast, other premium sports cars cost about $2 per mile.

The vast majority of our customers charge their cars at night in their garages. However, you can charge the Tesla Roadster from virtually any conventional outlet in North America or Europe.

We recommend that you install your charging solution a few weeks prior to taking delivery of your Tesla Roadster.

It’s most convenient to have your outlet in a wall near the driver’s side of your Roadster. We recommend a location sheltered from the rain or snow.

We have many customers who live in condos or apartments. Typically they have a standard home unit installed in their parking area.

Yes. You can charge from any conventional outlet. However, with about 250 miles per charge, you won’t likely need to refuel during the day.

Yes, though the Roadster will recharge more slowly from a lower voltage.

Yes. You simply put it in “storage mode” and leave your Roadster plugged in for as long as you’d like.

Any licensed electrician may install the Home Connector.