Tesla Roadster 2008-2012

[Equinox]

that is a nice car, plus its electric!

i wasn't really sold on electric cars, but after seeing this one i think i would take it

[teatako]

its disconcerting to see such a sporty car with no visible exhaust isnt it. i mean of courseit doesnt have any but.

[Equinox]

yeah it is... usually you look in the back and there are big exhaust pipes sticking out

[Coventrysucks]

I had a feeling you were going to march in and ruinously spit all over this car.

I'm not spitting over it.

I'm just trying to figure out what the point of it is.

Don't accuse them of being fraudelent for something they never claimed.

Well, why are they making an electric vehicle, rather than conventional ICE?

To reduce pollution, use less fuel?

It doesn't really do either of those untill it gets to the end user.

According to their website their aim is to reduce reliance on "foreign" fuel.

How does that happen when the car's going to use just as much fuel as a normal car in production, shipping, etc.,?

If this car is supposed to be bringing some special environmental benefit by being electric, why not bother to cut the ammount of fuel/pollution caused by manufacturing it too?

If they are only making an electric vehicle for the sake of making an electric vehicle, I don't think it looks like they have tried particularly hard.

If I was going to make an electrically powered vehicle I'd try and create a design that used the best features of the concept to the fullest, and kept the worst features to a minimum.

This is just an electric motor dumped in an Elise. Hardly ground breaking stuff.

Load of disadvantages? Look, maybe it's 500 pounds heavier. What else? It's far quicker, there are massive tax credits, it's cheaper to insure and run.

Yes, I wonder what it will cost to buy though.

You are seriously way too hateful.

I don't see why asking questions of/criticising an idea is "hateful".

[Egg Nog]

I give up.

[Coventrysucks]

This is the best idea ever, which realises the fullest potential of electic power to create a ground breaking sportscar from which the whole world can benefit, encapsulated in a piece of styling that re-writes the rules of contemporary car design.

[johnnyperl]

If this car is supposed to be bringing some special environmental benefit by being electric, why not bother to cut the ammount of fuel/pollution caused by manufacturing it too?

Because that costs hundreds of millions, if not bilions, of dollars.

This is just an electric motor dumped in an Elise. Hardly ground breaking stuff.

Yes, electric motors and the Lotus Elise have been around for a long time. When was the last time you could buy an electric sports car for less than $300,000? The components are nothing new but the production of it is.

[electrao]

they can´t make miracles you know!! and for a small company their car is a lot cleaner than any big company! plus the "production" pollution should be the same as others and the "running" pollution a lot less(basically depnds on the energy provider/government policie on renewable energies). It may not be absolutly perfect but it´s much better than what as been done so far, IT IS the first sports electric car that can face the "normal" ones on equal, and remember the "normal" ones have lots and lots of years of development!!!!

[Egg Nog]

This is the best idea ever, which realises the fullest potential of electic power to create a ground breaking sportscar from which the whole world can benefit, encapsulated in a piece of styling that re-writes the rules of contemporary car design.

Nobody is saying this. I just find it strange that a really fast high-tech car comes along and you react this way. A lot of the time people herald electric cars as a perfect solution, which of course they are not. It seems to me that you're arguing against this ideology more than this particular car.

The thing is, it will not produce any more (and probably not any less) pollution during production or transportation. Seeing as this is not negative compared to any normal cars, I don't see why it's getting all this negative attention from you. Yes it's a cool idea, of course it's not perfect, but they're really not claiming to be the things that you're taking issue with.

If you ignore anything to do with the environment it's still a performance bargain. It's a car almost as quick as a new F430 for 80,000 to 100,000 USD. The low running costs and maintainance are almost a bargain. The fact that it's far more efficient on the road is as well, as is the fact that the batteries are recyclable (and recycling them is free from the factory, built into the price of the car).

[90ft]

How long do the batteries last? 2 years?
And then how do you dispose of them - at what cost?
A new battery cost what? 1/3rd of hte car?
And how much does it cost in Electricity to charge it at home?

So here you are . .. answers taken from their web site.

How long do they last?

In estimating the life of our batteries, you can multiply the number of cycles by the range. Thus, 500 cycles times 250 miles/charge works out to 125,000 miles, but our estimate is a more conservative 100,000 miles.

So that's an average of a new battery every year.

How disposed - How much?

Simply visit a Tesla Motors Customer Care Center to recycle your old battery, and purchase and install a new one on the same day.
and have even built the cost of recycling into the purchase price of the car.
With your electrical company’s incentive pricing factored in, it will cost you roughly 1 cent per mile to drive the Tesla Roadster.

Doesn't state te cost of a new battery - as far as I could find
But then if you have $92.000 for a new car then you probably don't care.

[Matt]

So here you are . .. answers taken from their web site.

How long do they last?

In estimating the life of our batteries, you can multiply the number of cycles by the range. Thus, 500 cycles times 250 miles/charge works out to 125,000 miles, but our estimate is a more conservative 100,000 miles.

So that's an average of a new battery every year.

How disposed - How much?

Simply visit a Tesla Motors Customer Care Center to recycle your old battery, and purchase and install a new one on the same day.
and have even built the cost of recycling into the purchase price of the car.
With your electrical company’s incentive pricing factored in, it will cost you roughly 1 cent per mile to drive the Tesla Roadster.

Doesn't state te cost of a new battery - as far as I could find
But then if you have $92.000 for a new car then you probably don't care.

You drive 100,000 miles each year? Our national average is 10-12,000. What kind of commute do you have each day?

[Blue Supra]

yeh for the price its not a bad deal really. $9xxxx but you dont ever pay for fuel, oil, coolant, filters etc etc. the car would really pay for a large amount of itself fairly quickly when i go through $3k of fuel alone each year.

[90ft]

You drive 100,000 miles each year? Our national average is 10-12,000. What kind of commute do you have each day?

Oops, good point . . miss read that one.
300 miles a day would be pushing it a bit.

[Matt]

Oops, good point . . miss read that one.
300 miles a day would be pushing it a bit.

That means, on average, those batteries would last 7-8 years. That's longer than most people keep their cars. And if this is just a toy, expect the batteries to last at least twice as long.

[nota]

That means, on average, those batteries would last 7-8 years. That's longer than most people keep their cars. And if this is just a toy, expect the batteries to last at least twice as long.

Let's see, the Tesla motor has no servicable components so does not require any maintanance ... wonders how long the average supercar engine lasts for before it requires expensive upkeep?

Not 100,000 miles, I bet they wouldn't get anywhere near that. They start needing spannerwork from the first service