Tech & Biz

Long-awaited electric sports car rolls out

by azer | May 4, 2008 at 12:48 pm

621 views | 10 Recommendations | 7 comments

Good News: A production-model sports car that can go for two hundred miles on a charge and re-charge in less than four hours:

Although a fully loaded model can set a buyer back as much as $124,000, that's still cheap compared with a high-end Ferrari. And its 6,831-cell lithium-ion battery pack gives off no emissions.

The car goes from 0 to 60 mph in just under four seconds and tops out at 125 mph. It goes 225 miles on one charge and can be fully recharged in 3½ hours, which Tesla officials say should allow most people to drive it to work and back and recharge it at night like a cell phone.

1 See all footage | View Slideshow

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Jordan Yerman

at 13:43 on May 4th, 2008

Though not as fast at the top end as many "normal" sports cars, the whole 100%-torque-at-all-times thing is pretty compelling.

Barry Artiste

at 15:07 on May 4th, 2008

Yeah, especially when you have a steaming cup of Tim Hortons coffee on your lap, resting snugly between your "Nibby Bits" when you punch the gas pedal to the floor. Now that would be more "compelling" to the third degree, burning more than rubber!

Coneee

at 15:35 on May 4th, 2008

I took a ride in the first production model Tesla Roadster with my boss and Mahalo.com CEO Jason Calacanis - check out my photos and a video of the ride here: http://qik.com/video/71134

Coneee has contributed a photo to this story.

cynthia yoo

at 15:46 on May 4th, 2008

Hey thanks for the photo and the link to vid.

azer

at 18:14 on May 4th, 2008

Thanks again for the photos and vid!

By the way: There isn't enough sunlight in northern climates given the photo cell technology currently available - but people have demonstrated that there are still alternatives available. It is possible to live off-grid with existing technology. Soon the number of alternatives will start to grow and the existing technologies will just keep getting better.

Most important: Electric cars have relatively few parts. I'm guessing a reasonably useful and comfortable sedan will quickly drop to the $20k range once mass production starts.

mtippett

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 19:51 on May 4th, 2008

vavavoom.

Barry Artiste

at 21:22 on May 4th, 2008

I hear they hace electris cars which will outrace any high performance gas racer hands down, with some electric car owners of these high performance machines outfitting their sound system to blare out race car noises as they want people to know they are coming, since electric cars are noiseless. Goes to show Men and Boys and their Toys, ya gotta have the Noise.