The Tesla Roadster was the American automaker’s first vehicle program.
During its first production run between 2008 and 2012, it motivated automakers to launch several of their own electric vehicle program – virtually starting an electric vehicle revolution.
In 2017, Tesla unveiled a new generation of the electric sports car to enter production in 2020. Here are all the details.
After seeing the new Roadster in the flesh at Thursday’s Tesla Semi unveiling, I’ve had a lot to think about. Fred and Seth already both covered this car, but it’s so groundbreaking that I felt I needed to chime in.
And as a current Roadster 1.5 owner, which had been my dream car ever since seeing the first introductory website put up by Tesla way back in 2006, I’m writing this article as a sort of catharsis, a reliving of that night that I first saw the car I sorely wished could be mine but thought at the time I’d never have the opportunity to own.
Elon Musk has often leveraged technological development and expertise between his companies, Tesla and SpaceX.
Now he says that it’s technologies mastered through SpaceX’s rocket development that in part enabled the insane specs of the next-generation Roadster, which pretty much accelerates like a rocket ship, as we found out in our test ride.
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Elon Musk surprised everyone at the Tesla Semi unveiling with his “one more thing” being a prototype of the next generation Roadster.
They not only unveiled the stunning design of Tesla’s new sports car, but they also announced some mind-boggling specs that are sure to break a lot of records.
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The Tesla Roadster was far from a successful vehicle program by most conventional standards. It was late, had a difficult rollout, and only roughly 2,400 units were delivered during its ~4-year production run between 2008 and 2012.
But it was successful for Tesla because it achieved its main objectives. The Roadster changed people’s perception of what electric cars can be and it helped launch or accelerate several more electric vehicle programs. In the future, when all new cars are electric, we will likely look back at the Tesla Roadster as the vehicle that sparked the automotive industry’s electric revolution. Let’s take a look at the latest iteration of this iconic vehicle…
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In continuation of Tesla referencing the movie ‘Spaceballs’ for its performance modes, like ‘Ludicrous mode’, CEO Elon Musk said that the automaker is reserving the ‘Maximum Plaid’ mode for the next generation Tesla Roadster.
Now Musk is hinting at just how quick Maximum Plaid could be right off the production line.
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Today we learned of a piece of electric car history that went up in flames last week. Those familiar with the early days of Tesla know that AC Propulsion’s Tzero is an important vehicle. It was a small all-electric sports car using lead-acid batteries that Tesla helped convert to li-ion cells and used the vehicle to convince investors to support their vision to build what later became the Tesla Roadster.
Only 3 Tzero vehicles were ever built and one of them was destroyed in a fire last week in Arizona – along with several of its successors, the Tesla Roadster.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a rare and welcomed reference to the next generation Roadster last month after the upcoming vehicle was surprisingly left out of Musk’s product plan last year. He confirmed that the vehicle is still planned, but “a few years away”.
In the meantime, designers are attempting to envision what the vehicle could look like based on the original Tesla Roadster and the automaker’s evolving design language. Today, we might be looking at the most impressive one yet.
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The word “prototype” is used loosely here because while this early Tesla Roadster is indeed a “validation prototype”, it’s actually closer to a production version of the car than what most people think when they hear the word “prototype”.
Someone in California is currently trying to get $1 million for the Tesla Roadster #32 validation prototype. What do you think are his chances to actually get his asking price?
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If it doesn’t ring a bell, Tesla’s first vehicle, the Roadster, was an all-electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise. It went out of production in 2012 after Tesla’s contract for gliders with Lotus ended. Now it’s sort of getting a new life with Detroit Electric’s SP:01.
Detroit Electric today has little to do with its predecessor of the same name, which pioneered electric vehicles in 1907. Although the company still has offices in Detroit, the headquarters are now located in the Netherlands, and the cars are being assembled in the U.K., which is convenient considering it’s where Lotus is based.
After a limited production run last year, Detroit Electric says it’s about to have an official debut for the vehicle later this year and the company was in Norway, an important market for electric vehicles, last week to set up a partnership with a local dealership.
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Today is the 10-year anniversary of the official debut of the Tesla Roadster, Tesla’s very first vehicle, which also effectively launched the automaker out of ‘stealth mode’. The vehicle debuted on July 19, 2006 at the Santa Monica Airport with more than 350 people attending the event.
The Roadster was the first phase of Elon Musk’s ‘Secret Master Plan’ for Tesla. The automaker is now in the last phase of that plan and Musk is reportedly about to unveil a second part outlining the company’s future.
But while we wait for the second part of the plan, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to remember the Roadster on its 10-year anniversary.
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Tesla is planning a next generation Roadster reportedly to be built on the Model 3 platform by the end of the decade. A Tesla executive recently described the vehicle as “different, faster and bigger” than the original Roadster, which was built on a Lotus chassis.
Little is known about the vehicle at this point, but it doesn’t stop rendering artists to try to help envision the possible design of the car. And these latest renderings are pretty impressive.
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You didn’t forget about the Tesla Roadster 3.0 did you? They are still over 2,000 Roadsters on the road today accumulating millions of electric miles and some are starting do so in longer stretches with the upgraded 3.0 battery pack.
At the 2016 Tesla Shareholders Meeting last month, a Roadster owner (#33 delivered in 2008) and Tesla shareholder asked when he can expect his upgrade, which was first announced in late 2014 and he already had placed his order. CTO JB Straubel responded that the new packs are coming, but with limited production.
Now we learn that the retrofitted packs, which are rated at about 340 miles of range, are now trickling down to select Tesla service centers and a few owners are reporting having received the retrofit.
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Tesla is believed to be working on a new Roadster for an expected launch in 2019. In continuation of Tesla referencing the movie ‘Spaceballs’ for its performance modes, like ‘Ludicrous mode’, CEO Elon Musk said that the automaker is reserving the ‘Maximum Plaid’ mode for the next generation Tesla Roadster.
We haven’t heard much about this new version of Tesla’s first vehicle since Musk’s comment, but last week a company representative revealed a few more information, although vague, about the upcoming sports car.
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Tesla Motors released more information about the Roadster battery upgrade in an email sent to owners today. The new battery pack will have 40% more energy than the previous version, but it will be heavier therefore allowing a 35% increase in range. The pack will be hand-built at low volume and Tesla doesn’t aim at making a profit on the upgrade, which will cost $29,000 including labor.
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Late last year, Tesla announced the Roadster 3.0, an update for Tesla’s first model that will include a new 70KWh battery pack. The new pack combined with an upgraded body is expected to allow for a range close to 400 miles.
Details about the timeframe for this update were unclear until now. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, confirmed via Twitter that the update should be available to Roadster owners in August this year after safety validation in July.
@bonnienorman New Roadster battery should complete safety validation by end of July, so likely available in August
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2015
Jeremy Clarkson famously gave the Tesla Roadster some undeserved bad publicity a few years ago. Tesla then sued Top Gear/BBC for libel and eventually dropped the suit. There is no love lost between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson however as evidenced by his comments earlier this week (above).
With that in mind, commercials are showing that Top Gear USA will be reviewing the Tesla Model S this week. Will it get a fair shake?
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Mission seems like the Tesla of motorcycles as president Mark Seeger stops by with his groundbreaking halo product, the limited production RS superbike. Only 40 of these will be assembled by hand in the USA but clearly there is a market for these if things go well.
Perhaps the hardest part? Convincing motorcyclists that they don’t need to be obnoxiously loud.
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[tweet https://twitter.com/teslamotors/status/388714187775422464]
You don’t capitalize that ‘X’ by accident. Tesla’s Model X is a crossover/SUV built on the Model S frame with more headroom, gull falcon wing doors in the rear and room for 7 or 8 adults.
Tesla pushed the rollout of the X back to focus on meeting Model S supply but the product is due next year and can be reserved for $5000-$40,000.
Update: We’ve heard that the invite to the store says: “Come by to experience Model S and to see the Model X Design Prototype on display all weekend.”
Update 2: Here’s a picture of the Model X care of Sahas Katta the guy who made the Tesla Glass App.
Not much not to like here. How does $27,500 go for a $199/month lease? Add in the $7500 tax credit. I’ll be interested to see how low that 82 mile range gets in the winter – oh you can only get on in California and Oregon which have mild winters so we’ll have to wait awhile and see.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n-xsEjq7pk&start=1380]
As the world loses its mind over the Tesla that caught on fire, it is important to note a few things. Above, from a conversation in July with owners and stockholders Musk indicates some of the pretty incredible considerations that went into building the Model S.
Last month, when announcing the best NHTSA ratings ever, Tesla expanded on Musk’s statement above –that statistically there was likely to be a battery fire.
The Model S lithium-ion battery did not catch fire at any time before, during or after the NHTSA testing. It is worth mentioning that no production Tesla lithium-ion battery has ever caught fire in the Model S or Roadster, despite several high speed impacts. While this is statistically unlikely to remain the case long term, Tesla is unaware of any Model S or Roadster occupant fatalities in any car ever.
The Seattle driver was fine so, as of as of this writing, no one has yet had a permanent injury or death from a Tesla Model S accident.
