Tesla's electric Roadster will soon be available from a showroom near you
While some observers remain sceptical that the future of the car is electric, US firm Tesla is confidently pushing ahead with plans to expand its range of all-electric cars, including a four-door electric saloon capable of seating five adults and offering the sort of acceleration more often associated with sports cars.
The firm—best known for its current Roadster model, based on a Lotus Elise and powered by over 6,500 laptop batteries—starts shipping cars in Europe this month.
Tesla has just opened a London showroom, with three more across Europe to follow. Over 500 cars have been sold in the US, many to the tech community of Silicon Valley. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have invested in the firm, and the current chairman, CEO and "product architect", Elon Musk, is also a Silicon Valley veteran. Fellow car firm Daimler owns a 10 per cent stake and plans to use Tesla's technology and powertrain to develop an electric Smart car. And the Obama administration is also keen. The US Department of Energy recently announced a $465m loan to Tesla from the US Department of Energy under its Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Program.
"Tesla will use the ATVM loan precisely the way that Congress intended—as the capital needed to build sustainable transport," says Musk. "We are honoured that the US government selected Tesla to be among the first companies to participate in this program."
The firm has also just unveiled its Roadster Sport, which offers enhanced performance and a more luxurious interior. Speaking at the launch of its London showroom, which also saw the new model unveiled, Musk explained that those who have splashed out close to £100,000 on this first generation of Tesla cars were preparing the ground for future generations of mass market electric cars. "You truly can take the moral high ground," he joked.
So who are his customers? Judging by those at the launch, the interest is as much in the technology itself as in its eco-credentials. Talking to both potential and actual customers, the impression was of a bunch of wealthy, but not super-rich, individuals interested more in engaging with this exciting new technology than in saving the planet. One Austrian customer explained that he saw Tesla as the dawning of a new era of motoring. He said he had never owned a sports car before and wasn't that excited by its performance, speed, power or handling (widely regarded to be poor compared to similar priced sports cars, due to the weight of the batteries). Another potential customer is the managing director of a green energy firm in Scotland. Although intrigued by the Roadster—especially since the firm announced it will make a right-hand-drive version available early next year—he is waiting instead for the more practical Model S.
The Model S is the firm's four-door saloon. It's in an "advanced stage of development", but not due to hit the road until 2011. Most of the ATVM money will go towards building the Model S, with $100m earmarked to make powertrains for other manufacturers to use in their electric cars. Tesla's claims for the Model S include that it will seat seven—five adults and two children—can be charged in 45 minutes and will have a total range in excess of 300 miles. It will retail at half the price of the Roadster and will see Tesla enter a more mainstream market.
Together with the expansion of its sales operation in Europe—a market Musk predicts will eventually exceed the US in size—and the arrival of the Model S, there is every sign that Tesla will be able to capture a significant slice of whatever electric car market develops.
Posted 30 June 2009 : Director.co.uk
