Tesla Roadster

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Tesla Roadster
Tesla Roadster
Manufacturer Tesla Motors
Also called Code name: Dark Star
Production 2007-present
Assembly Lotus factory in Hethel, England
Class Roadster
Body style 2 seat convertible roadster
Layout Rear Mid-engine, Rear-wheel drive
Platform Unique, Lotus technology
Engine 3-phase, 4-pole AC induction
Transmission Two-speed electrically actuated sequential manual
Wheelbase 2352 mm / 92.6 in.
Length 3946 mm / 155.4 in.
Width 1873 mm / 73.7 in. (incl. mirrors)
Height 1127 mm / 44.4 in.
Track 1464 mm / 57.6 in. (front), 1499 mm / 59.0 in. (rear)
Curb weight ~1140 kg / 2500 lb
Top Speed 210 km/h / 130mph
Fuel capacity 56kWh
Related Lotus Elise
Vauxhall VX220
AC Propulsion eBox
Similar Wrightspeed X1
AC Propulsion tzero
Venturi Fétish

The Tesla Roadster is a fully electric sports car, and is the first car to be produced by electric car firm Tesla Motors. Tesla claims prototypes have been able to accelerate from 0-60 mph (100 km/h) in about 4 seconds, and reach a top speed of over 130 mph (210 km/h). Additionally, the car will be able to travel 250 miles (400 km) on a single charge of its lithium ion batteries. The Roadster's efficiency is reported as 133 Wh/km[1] or equivalent to 135 mpg[2][3][4] (57 km/l, or 1.74 l/100 km). For details, see the Fuel efficiency section.

Contents

The car was officially unveiled on July 19, 2006 in Santa Monica, California, at a 350-person invite-only event held in Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport. According to the official press release,

“ Celebrities in attendance included actor Ed Begley Jr., producer Richard Donner, businessman Michael Eisner, PayPal founder (and Tesla Motors Chairman) Elon Musk, Participant Productions' Founder and CEO Jeff Skoll (also of eBay fame), and actor Bradley Whitford, who starred in The West Wing.[1] ”

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also attended the ceremony.

The 2007 San Francisco International Auto Show, held on November 18-26, 2006, was the Tesla Roadster's first auto show.

The 2007 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show (December 1-10, 2006) was a little larger, with more than 1 million attendees. Gov. Schwarzenegger held a press conference to discuss his environmental policies and showcase some of the car companies that were exceptional, including Tesla Motors. Chris Paine, who wrote and directed Who Killed the Electric Car, expressed his support for the vehicle at the show. Bob Sexton and Chelsea Sexton also viewed the car.

The Tesla Roadster was prominently featured in Global Green’s Red Carpet/Green Cars Oscar campaign, where celebrities arrived at the Academy Awards in fuel-efficient vehicles instead of gas-guzzling limousines.[5]

The Roadster was developed in collaboration with Lotus Cars and AC Propulsion. Roadster propulsion technology is principally matured from that seen in the tzero, Venturi Fetish, and Wrightspeed X1. Tesla Motors has licensed key technologies from AC Propulsion, including a modified drivetrain.

Lotus supplied the basic chassis technology from its Lotus Elise. Tesla engineers designed a new chassis with this technology, lengthening it, lowering the door sills, and adjusting its strength to match the weight of the Tesla Roadster. Besides the chassis technology, the Roadster also shares some components with the Elise, such as the windshield, air bags, tires, some dashboard parts, and suspension components.[6] The styling was penned by Barney Hatt at Lotus' design studio with input from Tesla. The car will be assembled at the Lotus factory in Hethel, England, with all drivetrain components and body components supplied to the factory by Tesla.

Several prototypes of the Tesla Roadster were produced during 2006 and 2007. After heavily testing several Engineering Prototypes in late 2006 and early 2007, Tesla Motors made many minor changes and produced a small run of Validation Prototypes which were delivered beginning in March, 2007. These final revisions will be endurance and crash tested in preparation for a production run with planned delivery in late 2007.

The brakes and airbags of the Tesla Roadster are made in Germany. The chassis of the Tesla Roadster is made in Norway. The batteries are assembled into sheets for integration into the Energy Storage System by Tesla in Thailand.[7]

Tesla Motors' "Signature One Hundred" first set of fully equipped cars sold out by late August 2006, and the second hundred sold out by October. As of March 15 2007, over 350 Tesla Roadsters have been reserved.[8]

Delivery is estimated to begin in the fall of 2007.[9]

Final pricing for the 2008 Tesla Roadster base model is US$92,000. As of November 2006, over two hundred of the initial flagship 2007 models sold out in under four months, the majority of which came fully loaded with all Tesla Roadster optional equipment at a cost of around $100,000. Tesla Motors is currently accepting reservation orders for their 2008 models with several payment options used to determine the 2008 delivery date of the vehicle.

A Tesla Roadster (rear view)
A Tesla Roadster (rear view)

Service Centers for the Tesla Roadster are planned for the following United States Metropolitan Areas:

There are currently no planned service center locations outside of the United States.

A Roadster purchased within the United States but not near one of those cities will include an additional $8,000 out-of-service-area fee on the price of the vehicle plus additional transportation fees paid when the vehicle is serviced. Furthermore, there are no "independent" mechanics who are authorized or certified to perform maintenance to the drive train or electrical systems of the Roadster.[10]

There is minimal maintenance required of an electric vehicle. There are no oil changes and brake maintenance is minor due to regenerative braking.

Tesla Motors has stated that it will build additional service centers over the next few years in order to support sales of its next vehicle, the sports sedan currently codenamed the Tesla White Star. "To do 10,000 units for Whitestar, we need to be in a lot more places," said Darryl Siry, Vice president of Marketing.

For more details from the manufacturer, see: http://teslamotors.com/engineering/tech_specs.php

  • Type: 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor
  • Max net power: 248 hp (185 kW)
  • Max rpm: 13,500
  • Efficiency: 90% average, 80% at peak power

For more details from the manufacturer, see: http://teslamotors.com/performance/specs.php

  • Acceleration time, 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h): approximately 4.0 s
  • Top speed: 130 mph (210 km/h)
  • Range: 250 miles (400 km) on the EPA highway cycle

For more details from the manufacturer, see their paper The Tesla Roadster Battery System

  • Type: lithium ion, 6,831 cells
  • Weight: about 990 lb (450 kg)
  • Full-charge time: 3½ hours
  • Estimated life: 100,000+ mi[10]
  • Capacity: about 56 kWh[11]

For more details from the manufacturer, see their white papers and presentation

On the EPA highway cycle, the Roadster's efficiency is "135 mpg equivalent, per the conversion rate used by the EPA"[1] which converts to 133 Wh/km battery-to-wheel or 155 Wh/km station-to-wheel.

Tesla also reports the battery-to-wheel efficiency as 110 Wh/km[12] at a constant 60 mph[13] (96 km/hr) and states a charging efficiency of 86%. This results in an overall station-to-wheel efficiency of 128 Wh/km.

The Roadster's engine efficiency is 90% on average and 80% at peak power.[14] For comparison, an internal combustion engine produces 6000 to 9000 Wh of output energy from each gallon of gasoline input[citation needed]. The state of tune and seasonal variations in gasoline formulation account for the output range.

Because the Roadster does not actually use gasoline, equivalent petroleum fuel efficiency (mpg, l/100 km) can be calculated in several ways:

  • A number comparable to the typical Monroney stickers' "station-to-wheel" fuel efficiency can be calculated based on the DOE's energy content for a U.S. gallon of gasoline of 33705 Wh/gal:
\frac{33705 \begin{matrix}\frac{\mathrm{Wh}}{\mathrm{gal}}\end{matrix}}{ 133 \begin{matrix}\frac {\mathrm{Wh}}{\mathrm{km}}\end{matrix} \times \begin{matrix}\frac {1.6 \mathrm{km}}{\mathrm{mi}}\end{matrix}} \times 86% = \mathbf{ 135 \mathrm{mpg}\;(1.74 \begin{matrix}\frac{l}{100 \mathrm{km}}\end{matrix})}
  • For CAFE regulatory purposes, the DOE's full petroleum-equivalency equation[15] combines primary energy efficiencies for the USA electric grid and the crude oil to gas station path with a "fuel content factor" to quantify conservation and scarcity of fuels in the USA. This combination yields a factor of 82,049 Wh/gal in the above equation and a regulatory fuel efficiency of 329 mpg (0.72 l/100km)
  • To compare the full-cycle energy-equivalency of gasoline with electricity from the USA grid, the factor of 12,307 Wh/gal[15] removes the "fuel content factor" of 1/0.15 and the above equation yields a fuel efficiency of 49 mpg (4.77 l/100 km)
  • To compare the full-cycle energy-equivalency of gasoline with electricity generated by newer, 58% efficiency CCGT power plants,[16] the factor of 21,763 Wh/gal[15] in the above equation yields a fuel efficiency of 87 mpg (2.70 l/100 km)
  • When recharged using non-fossil fuel electricity sources such as hydroelectric, solar power, wind or nuclear, the equivalent efficiency can be remarkably higher as fossil fuel is not used in refueling.
  • Monetary cost offers another way to find an equivalent fuel efficiency. Tesla Motors reports an energy cost of approximately $0.01/mile using PG&E's E-9 night-time incentive charging, or about $0.03/mile using the retail price of $0.12/kWh. Comparison with a gasoline price of $3.00/gallon, for instance, results in an equivalent of 300 mpg (0.78 l/100 km) using E-9 or 100 mpg (2.35 l/100 km) using retail pricing. For more cost comparison details, please refer to the Battery electric vehicle article.


Signature One Hundred[17]

Unknown series

Possible owners

  1. ^ a b Elon Musk (2007-03-07). "Musk Testimony" (Microsoft Word). United States Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
  2. ^ Tesla Motors. Tesla Motors Corporate Backgrounder (English) (html). Retrieved on December 5, 2006. “...the Tesla Roadster is capable of 135 mpg equivalent...”
  3. ^ Edmunds.com Inside Line (July 21, 2006). Tesla Roadster: Lotus Helps Create Sporty 135 MPG Electric Car (English) (html). Retrieved on December 5, 2006. “...achieves the equivalent of 135 mpg.”
  4. ^ Neil, Dan. "A roadster that's electric", Marketplace Public Radio, July 20, 2006. (in English)
  5. ^ Global Green USA. "Global Green USA’s pre-Oscar Party Highlights Global Warming Solutions" (English) (HTML). Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
  6. ^ Sam Abuelsamid. "AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard pt.1" (html). Retrieved on March 15, 2007.
  7. ^ Elizabeth Corcoran. "Can Silicon Valley Reinvent The Car?", Forbes, 2007-03-17. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  8. ^ "Tesla to open five dealer outlets" (HTML), ZDnet, 2007-03-15. Retrieved on March 16, 2007. (in English)
  9. ^ "Tesla Motors Opens Michigan Technical Center" (HTML), Tesla Motors, 2007-01-27. Retrieved on February 1, 2007. (in English)
  10. ^ a b Tesla Motors FAQs (HTML). Tesla Motors (2006-12-20). Retrieved on December 20, 2006.
  11. ^ Sebastian Blanco. "EDTA Conference: Tesla Motors ready to license battery tech to other companies" (html). Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
  12. ^ Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning (2006-10-06). "The 21st Century Electric Car" (PDF). Tesla Motors. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
  13. ^ Idaho National Laboratory. "EVAmerica Baseline Performance Testing for 1997 General Motors EV1 with PbA Batteries" (pdf). Retrieved on March 5, 2007. “Footnote 8 in Tesla Motor's white paper refers to this INL study for the equivalent efficiency number from GM EV1 testing.”
  14. ^ Tesla Motors. "Tesla Motors - Technical Specs" (English) (html). Retrieved on March 14, 2007.
  15. ^ a b c U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (2000-07-12). "Federal Register Vol. 64 No. 113" (PDF). U.S. GPO. Retrieved on 2006-09-22.
  16. ^ "Advanced Natural Gas Turbine Hailed as Top Power Project of 2003", DOE, 2003-12-30. Retrieved on March 14, 2007. (in English)
  17. ^ "Tesla Roadster ‘Signature One Hundred’ Series Sells Out" (HTML), Tesla Motors, 2006-08-15. Retrieved on January 27, 2007.
  18. ^ Jon Mittelhauser (2007-02-21). Energy. Tesla Motors blog. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
  19. ^ Mike Harrigan, VP Customer Service & Support, Tesla Motors (2006-12-06). Auto Show Mania. Tesla Motors blog. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
  20. ^ Darryl Siry, VP Marketing, Tesla Motors (2007-03-07). TED Fans of Tesla. Siry Marketing blog. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.

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