Tesla Roadster – Electric Plug-in Sports Car

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Tesla Motors is a Silicon Valley start-up founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning which set out to to one thing – to design a sports car that would go as fast as a Ferrari or Porsche, but run on electricity.

The name Tesla is a tribute to genius inventor Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-born American inventor, electrical engineer, and scientist whose many inventions include the induction motor and alternating-current power transmission. He also did experiments with wireless power transmissions. Anyone here who has played C&C: Red Alert would have been warmed up to the name.

Their first production vehicle is the Tesla Roadster, which looks so much like a Lotus Elise that people have begun calling it an electric Elise. What makes the Tesla tick? More details after the jump.

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The Tesla Roadster is an electric powered sports car, with juice supplied by 6,831 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the same stuff that powers your notebook computer. Battery life is expected to be in excess of 100,000 miles or 161,000 kilometers. It’s got a range of 400 kilometers per charge for mostly highway driving. 100km/h is achievable from a standstill in about 4 seconds and the car has a top speed of over 209km/h.

The car is powered by an Taiwan-built AC Propulsion Inc 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor that produces a peak horsepower of 248 horsepower and redlines at 13,500rpm. The engine also offers regenerative engine braking, a must have considering the car is a pure electrical vehicle, not a typical hybrid which has a little gasoline motor. Since it doesn’t have a gasoline engine, the Tesla Roadster is a plug-in electric vehicle. The lithium ion battery packs are fully charged in 3.5 hours.

Being powered by an electric engine, the Tesla Roadster offers none of the screaming orgasmic sounds associated with a normal gasoline engine powered sports car. The car is very quiet. While the electric motor does not sound fast, it definitely goes fast. Peak torque of 244Nm is available right from 0rpm and stays powerful beyond 13,000rpm, dropping steadily from about 5,500rpm down to about 95Nm near the 13,500rpm redline.

The electric motor is mated to a 2 forward speed and 1 reverse speed gearbox. The gearbox is a essentially manual transmission with a computer controlled clutch. First gear revved up to the peak 13,500rpm gives you 112km/h, then you have to shift into second gear which brings you up to the top speed of 209km/h. Braking is provided by anti-lock disc brakes on all 4 wheels, with twin-piston AP Racing calipers in front and single-piston Brembo calipers at the rear. Power is transferred to the roads with 16 inch Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 LTS at the front wheels and the same rubber but in 17 inch size at the rear wheels.

The Tesla Roadster‘s physical design was done by Barney Hatt of Lotus Design in England which explains it’s similiarity to the Lotus Elise. Lotus even builds the car for Tesla Motors. Alot of Tesla Motors’ 80 employee team were former Lotus employees. The car would surely be a fun drive, but I think I’d miss the sound of a roaring gasoline engine. What do you think? Would you enjoy speed without sound?

The Tesla Roadster is expected to cost between US$85,000 and US$120,000.

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More Photos: AutoBlog

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • aksMs (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 2:25 pm

    Whatever it is, Elise is a good looking sports car. If you ask me, I would call it eletric Elise too. It is too much alike. A rebatch Elise. The specification is quite impressive. I think 400km per charge is sufficient enough for a daily town drive. It is enough to drive from KL to JB and KL to Kangar, is it? I'm not so sure lah. Too bad, you have to stop for 3 and half hours somewhere near Kemaman if you want to drive this car to Kota Bharu.

    But it's not just the speed and the handling. I want to hear the engine scream, the roaring sound from the tailpipe as I drop the gears whenever I'm attacking the conners. A sports car without all those sounds banging your ear drums? I don't think so….as if the car has lost all of its soul….

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  • auyongtc (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    aiyah, with the money saved on the petrol, soup up the car with powderful ICE system, then blast a CD-full of car engine noise la.. LOL

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  • Akazamabamaboo (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 4:44 pm

    I suppose the driving experience would be very much like sitting in a simulator with the engine volume set to zero. Road noise, wind noise, and ambient noise are just about the only ones you hear… :P

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  • jtshin (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 4:44 pm

    vehicle revolution… I think in the future every car will be like that right? this Tesla only got 2 speeds… like driving a tractor… haha… but it sure is a fast car… gasoline cars soon will be taken over by electric motors… welcome to the future…

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  • rexis (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 4:59 pm

    You guys are missing the point here, ELECTRIC CAR is a GREEN CAR, emission free, pollution free, and powerful. Tesla Roadster is like a prove of concept that EV can be powerful and sporty, and yet the range is matchable with a gasoline car.

    And you guys still say missing the pertol ICE roar, surely you wont be missing filling up your car with full tank petrol. If you really want some roar, it is possible to mate your speakers to NFS engine sound, got sound surroound some more, you want to mate elephant roar to your car also can. Just a matter of design.

    The life span and range of the lithium-ion batteries is very impressive! With over 400km, look, how many people driving more then that EVERYDAY? That could last me more then a week! If we design a more practical sedan car out of this engine and power storage, we would make a powerful car that suit 99% of the population. Come on, just plug it on the wall whenever you sleep or working! You dont even have to go to petrol station!

    The maintanence of the electric engine i think is basically free of maintanence, not even oil change, try to imagin your 10+ year old fridge, since when do you need to open up to service the motor?

    The only one downside is when your battery kong… how much is 6,831

    laptop battery cost?

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  • KY (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:02 pm

    the last pic looks almost like an exige

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  • rexis (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:04 pm

    jtshin, actually it is possible to design an electric car with no gear at all(thus saving cost and up efficiency). To reverse just reverse the electrical current. Surely, no gears means no shiock for some manual fans.

    Electric motors peak torque start at 0 rpm, thats why you need little or none gear.

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  • Akazamabamaboo (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:13 pm

    248 horsepower…now THAT is impressive!

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  • Akazamabamaboo (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    …and soon we can all have fun without feeling too guilty! Good, clean, and green fun!

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  • ksec (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    Very NICE!. So with

    1. Rechargeable Aluminum Batteries last up to 20 times longer coming fairly soon.

    2. More Efficient Electric Motor Design

    3. Properly less powerful version for everyday use.

    We could have a car that drive up to 8000 Km before a recharge. Although Real World Figure will be much lower it is still very impressive.

    I suddenly see the a world of vehicle with virtually 0 pollutant much closer then i thought :D

    Now we need to figure out how to generate "green" electricity :D

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  • mycar_stolen (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:29 pm

    I wonder if this Tesla cars can create "electric shock" to scare car thieft. some time ago playing Red Alert all day all night now the name come again…this Tesla guy contribute good things to the world. just like to watch TANYA but scare off YURI.

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  • malayman (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 5:50 pm

    hmm.impressive.but i think those figures done on the milage per charge was when only the car was running with nothing else on.normally they would want to see the furthest the car can go. but i wonder in our climate, with the air con on full blast, and the ICE blasting out the engine noise, how far would it go?

    impressive anywayz!! …..does this mean in future when this cars come here tenaga nasional will become a 'petrol' station as well?? gosh….

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  • jzkzlz (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 8:51 pm

    wow.. very impressive…

    this is wat we looking for our future..

    but battery lifespan ended about 161,000 km..

    how it will cost for changing these 6,831 batteries ???

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  • renyeo (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 9:44 pm

    The 2-speed 'box reminds me of my old Raleigh bicycle :)

    Hmmm..its electric torque should be awesome….

    A 400km range between charges is still a long way to go. It won't get you from Singapore to KL on a single charge that is…

    Nice car worthy effort.

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  • stephenstreets (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 9:47 pm

    Finally I can saved the world

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  • motorhead (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 10:24 pm

    Whoa.. electric cars getting better & better.. when mankind found a better way to restore power with more efficient & affordable batteries, electric cars could be a new kind of transportation for daily use.. may be 10-15 years from now.. but they have to find a better way oso to dispose the batteries in long run oso, as these batteries r highly toxic…

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  • Chapree Da Grande (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 10:34 pm

    I definately want this baby. I don't have to think much about petrol price. Ok, maybe I have to think about my eletrical bills after that.

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  • whatsoever (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 10:35 pm

    electric car will not in production line in any car manufacturer for another 20~30 years. even the technology is up to that level but to control the economy crisis, such car shouldn't up so soon.

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  • silverfish (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 10:46 pm

    For all you environmentalist who might think this is a green car, you forgot one thing. Where do you think the electricity that you use to charge up an electric car comes from? Thin air? Lots of fossil fuel will have been burnt up so that you can feel good about driving an electric sports car.

    Some of you are suggesting artificial engine noise??? I mean seriously, would you prefer artificial sex or real sex?

    I guess the future generation would probably be able to relate to the joys of motoring with an electric car and no engine noise and no manual gearchange. But I'm not of that generation. I'm used to the roar on an inefficient internal combustion engine and changing gears by myself and I love it that way, thank you very much.

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  • silverfish (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 10:50 pm

    Also, and this is just for comparison sake, a hybrid car needs a lot (a lot lot) more energy and man hours to build compared to a normal car (this is according to Gordon Murray or McLaren F1 fame). Which actually defeats the purpose of you saving fuel because it will take years of the fuel saving from driving to make up for the initial expense of energy. I guess this is the same for electric cars.

    It will probably improve in the future when capabilities to build such cars are better, but for the moment, the supposed "green" cars, aren't really that green.

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  • motorhead (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 11:17 pm

    Dun worry about our national energy system & the pollution to produce power, we have so many rivers, can make more hydro electro plants & msia oso planing to have nuclear plants in the future.. so electric powered cars r just nice.. now aware or not, we r getting more of electric transportations oredi, such as our very own komuters, LRTs, monorail & etc… btw i ve read some where in newspapers, our fosil oil reserve can only stand for another 15-20 years only…. after that we need to import, but by that time imagine la how much petrol wud cost / litre??…

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  • szw (Member) on Jul 24, 2006 at 11:42 pm

    lloks abit like lotus elise frm every angle .

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  • foreverunited (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 12:32 am

    but guys, look at the price..USD85k x 3.63 = RM308, 550 + tax = RM500k ++…dead!

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  • rexis (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 12:56 am

    LOL i was really stupid to suggest artificial noise for whoever LOVE ICE roar, better waste the power to make music. My bad. I was too smart to suggest artificial noise from speaker coz seeing so many turbo wannabe and modified motor eksos making noise on the road.

    Some get the real bang, but wannabes can only m*st*rbate?

    I believe most of the population are those point-A-to-point-B-in-one-piece type, rather then race type.

    – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

    There are millions of ways to make electricity and there is NO WAY to make petroleum except burying lots of dead dinosaurs in deep earth and wait it rot for a few billions years.

    – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

    Indeed, lithium-ion battery aint that green anyway, it is a very toxic substance and must be recycled properly. Even thou it is very toxic, all of us still using laptops, handphones, mp4, PSP, digicam, etc.

    Lithium-ion, via proper waste management, it is possible to completely recycle the toxic stuff.

    – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

    The aluminium battery still sound too good to be true. Anyhow, the main barrier to electric car is the energy storage. We have high efficiency motor, we have regenerative braking, we have every piece of technology ready except the energy storage.

    And when EV everywhere, not TNB become filling station, it is that we DO NOT NEED TO go visit any fillion station, you simply rechange at home.

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  • silverfish (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 1:07 am

    Correct. Malaysia and certain countries can rely on hydroelectric power. But, most of the world's electricity is still generated by burning fossil fuels. So, before people get too happy about electric cars, first sort out how to generate a lot power through cleaner more efficient ways.

    I'm actually more encouraged about vehicles running on fuel cells.

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  • acbc (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 1:53 am

    This car will smoke a bunch of heavily modded Skylines or Slyvias at Sepang. Now, anyone willing to fork out RM 500k?

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  • raybrig85 (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 3:46 am

    hehehek…if this car 500k…no for me…

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  • szw (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 4:35 am

    500k ?

    sure anot ?

    i think dere will be a discount 4 electric cars lar .

    but da sad part is malaysian electricity price went up too , haizzz !

    i donno how dey gonna sell hydrogen if hydrogen cars did made into production .

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  • ksec (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 5:12 am

    @silverfish

    Read the White paper. It actually state it is still Cleaner and Greener then Combustion cars with Well to Wall Calculation.

    Like i said aluminium battery lasting 10 – 20 times aren't too far off. And we just need a way to generate MUCH more Green Electricity.

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  • acbc (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 5:50 am

    With Petronas around, do u seriously think the G will subsidise it? Even Hybrid can't get any discounts.

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  • silverfish (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 6:22 am

    @ksec;

    I stand corrected. Actually I was nodding in agreement with your first post. I just have a few doubts, which will probably be cleared with tech advancement and maturity of manufacturing processes of EVs. And of course, better ways to generate energy.

    Still, I'd prefer and old fashioned nasty, dirty internal combustion engines anyday. My grandchildren will probably find electric cars pretty hot, though.

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  • jtshin (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 7:22 am

    aiya guys… that price stated there so high cos this is just starting ma… one of a kind wat… in yrs to come, the price will be normal lo… just like when LCD monitors just started… damn expensive also ma.. the price now u can get it at a bit more than CRTs… so electric cars price will be normal in yrs to come… of cos u're not gonna buy it now right?

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 7:28 am

    Was that Tesla Coil From C&C true? So this car can zap theifs the same way?

    The car looks a lot like Ascari. Front, back, everything looks Ascari except the lights, badge, and that engine

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  • ksec (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 4:12 pm

    One thing i am concern with is patent involve in it. I mean even now it has been proved technically possible for a EV car to be fast and efficient. Does it mean car manufacture like Toyota , VW Groups and GM could possibly do the same with those idea taken from Tesla.

    I mean more competition brings better product :D

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  • rexis (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 5:23 pm

    mystvearn, check out the REAL tesla coil, but they are not for zapping thieves thou.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tesla-coil-dis… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tesla_colorado…

    – – – – – –

    Battery or hydrogen fuel cell, there is no perfect solution yet. So there is no point to argue hydrogen or battery.

    For those who said aluminuim battery is going to solve our electric car puzzle, where is the aluminium battery? Perhaps another 2-3 decades or half a century, for a prototype.

    For those who said hydrogen is better, do you know the cons of hydrogen? Just dump an AA energizer into water and hydrogen will come out at the -ve side?

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  • ksec (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 7:17 pm

    Aluminum battery :
    http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Europositr…

    It is much closer then you think. They are expecting to hit market in 2007. Although i read that as something like widely used in 2010.

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  • antnagir (Member) on Jul 25, 2006 at 7:20 pm

    We will have many charging stations along the highway. Not actually charging. Just pull out flat batteries and change to new fully charged batteries at the station. Just like changing your walkman batteries or your cooking gas (no gas? just bring empty gas bottle to the shop and exchange for a new one). So no worries about 400km per charge. "ït's a nuclear device.." ooops did I just typed that??!! :{)

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  • neurra (Member) on Jul 27, 2006 at 12:35 am

    i'd love to have this car.. my parents and gf won't mind me going fast coz there's no loud sound if i pedal it to the floor.. LoL

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  • frank (Member) on Jul 31, 2006 at 5:19 pm

    Wind power , geothermal, tidal,solar, are the answer to where the juice comes from.

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  • MK84 (Member) on Jul 31, 2006 at 6:44 pm

    It looks like the Elise because it's designed by Lotus Design. And Tesla Motors have a number of ex-Lotus employees. The car itself will be built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel plant.

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  • i'm run (Member) on Aug 02, 2006 at 1:30 am

    Haha.. the meter cluster similar to our current Proton Iswara.

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  • dingbat (Member) on Jun 22, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    In London and the rest of the Uk we badly need more electric cars to fend off over dependence on imported crude oil – ditto USA and rest of world.
    If fully realised then Arab nations would have less income and less clout in the 21stC world we all share – then terrorism might diminish rapidly.

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  • wondering on Jan 17, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    how about battery cooling ?? isit using air or liquid? how it’s respond to temperature.

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