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**fab** · 05-11-2008, 01:47 PM

Looking for a clean energy efficient car. Here it is:

Quote:

Tesla Motors achieved instant rock star status in 2006 when the company announced details about its Roadster, a screaming-fast, all-electric two-seater sports car built on the frame of the Lotus Elise. Since then, it’s been a nonstop media lovefest for Tesla and its heroic efforts to revive the dream of a mass-produced zero-emissions electric car. There’s a lot to admire about the idea of a Tesla Roadster: 0 – 60 mph in less than four seconds, 135-mpg equivalent, 200-mile range, and a brilliant tech design that wires together nearly 7,000 mass-commodity rechargeable lithium batteries.

Much of the excitement results from Tesla’s plans beyond the Roadster—to reinvent the entire auto industry in the model of a Silicon Valley start-up. The high $98,000 price tag for the Tesla Roadster should be forgiven because—according to company statements—the first e-sportscar is only a stepping stone to a larger, more affordable, mass-produced electric or plug-in hybrid car.

Tesla has faced serious technology hurdles in delivering its first vehicles; perhaps as a result, the leadership has been shaken up. In August 2007, Martin Eberhard, the company’s founding CEO, stepped down and was replaced in the interim with Michael Marks, an early investor in the electric car startup. By November, the company hired a new chief executive officer, Ze'ev Drori, an executive from Clifford Electronics, an automobile security company.

Mr. Drori inherited a host of technology and business challenges. Tesla racked up $43 million in operating losses from 2002 to 2006. After missing two scheduled release dates for their first production vehicles, the company had to compromise the Roadster’s much-ballyhooed four-second 0-60 performance. The first set of Roadsters will use an interim single-speed transmission in place of the planned two-speed unit. Meanwhile, the company will continue to develop a two-speed unit that can achieve the intended dragster level of speed. In keeping with Silicon Valley culture, Tesla plans to offer a free upgrade to its first customers, once the two-speed unit is available.

Another compromise came in the area of safety. Tesla sought and received a waiver from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to build the Roadster without advanced, occupant-sensing airbags for the first three years of production. Instead, the car will be equipped with lower-cost standard dual-front airbags.

The jury is not yet out on the 200-mile driving range.

These challenges notwithstanding, the first Tesla Roadsters have been shipped, breaking open a new era of possibility for electric cars. The company plans to produce 625 Roadsters in 2008, and another 1,600 annually for 2009 and 2010.