Tesla Officially Announces Electric Sedan

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors announced today that it would build a new electric sedan in California. The company made the announcement alongside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who led the charge to give tax breaks and other incentives to companies like Tesla that produce zero-emission cars.

The proposed car, called the Model S — Tesla needs to spend some marketing money on naming its cars — would be able to travel 225 miles on a single charge, carry five people and cost around $60,000. This would be a considerable improvement over the company’s $100,000 Roadster, which is slowly rolling off assembly lines now.

California buyers of the Tesla sedan would receive a grant of up to $5,000, but even at $55,000, the Model S won’t be a mainstream solution for cost-conscious consumers. 

On his blog, Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori said the company has been hard at work developing the design and powertrain of the upcoming sedan, along with the manufacturing facility, which now has a home. “This will allow us to bring the sedan program to fruition and to continue to drive toward Tesla Motors’ mission of making the electric vehicle the dominant mode of automotive transport for the 21st century and beyond,” he wrote.

Tesla confirms Model S sedan, 225-mile range and $60k (Autoblog)

Comments

[LM]

How much GM or Chrysler buys Tesla and scraps it or otherwise sucks the innovation right out of the company?

[Dave T.]

I don't think either company can afford to buy anything right now.
If they did they'd actually use it as a PR tool and to show wall street they have an edge in green tech. Might not be a bad idea.

But will it go fast enough to escape the burning Cali landscape?

[LM]

Dave,

I think it's a terrible idea. It seems the big 3 are where great ideas go to die.

[Jaxon]

The Big 3 is led by Toyota. That's where great ideas are born.

[AV]

sure, Toyota has their hybrids, but that is where the innovation ends. their most recent offerings and redesigns have been very GM-style. they just are adequate enough to live up to the competition that was redesigned two years ago. for example, the new Carolla has stuck with a four-speed automatic. even adding a CVT setup would be better for fuel economy and performance, but adding a six speed would be best. NONE of Toyota's models equipped with a four cylinder have 6 spped automatics, yet they can sell V8's in their Lexus division with 8 speeds. their interios have made a turn for the worse; it seems like the last two vehicles to be recently redesigned that have a nice interior are the Avalon and the 4Runner. after that, plastic took over.

even their hybrids are lacking in innovation; they still use the nickel hallide batteries that are bulky and are not as safe as lithium ion batteries. plus, lithium ion batteries are more compact and can hold more neergy than nickel hallide batteries.

the point of the article was to show that gas-free vehicles are here, and that the price is coming down. sure, $60 large is quite a bit of money, but when this sedan comes out, there is no doubt that gas prices will be much higher than the $4 per gallon so many people are whining about today. although $60K is luxury car territory, all Tesla has to do is give it an interior on par with an Audi or a Mercedes, and the car will be a hot seller.

there is also rumors of a compact coupe that will cost around $30,000. that is in the price range of a large number of Americans. Plus, but the 2013 date, gas will be easily $6-7 per gallon or more.

[Kosta Nomikos]

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