Tesla Motors - Prescience or Indulgence?

Tesla Motors is a Silicon Valley automobile start up, who have been innovating the art of making high performance, practical electric cars for about 5 years now. They were first founded by a couple of engineers and their initial venture funding came from PayPal founder Elon Musk. It has since received investments from firms like JP Morgan and from well-known entrepreneurs such as Sergey Brin and Larry Page (of Google).

Tesla Roadster

Their first production vehicle was the Tesla Roadster. It is a stunning sports coupe, just take a look at a couple of photos below.

This is a completely electric car, hardly looks like the Priuses (which aren't even completely electric) on the road these days! It has the following vital stats:

• Purely electric
• 0 to 60 mph (100 kmph) in 3.9 seconds
• 220 + miles per charge
• Full torque, all the time, thanks to the electric motors.
• Can be recharged at ANY regular electric outlet.
• $109,000 price tag isn't shocking :)

3.9 seconds is just remarkable, especially at this price. Take a look at the list of top 10 fastest cars of 2009, it gives you an idea of what kind of cars this keeps company with.

According to wikipedia, within 2 months of the first sale in March 08, more than 600 Roadsters were reserved and 400 more were in waiting list. For more details and photos, click on the links.

Tesla Model S

This is the new model that has been announced recently by Tesla motors. It is a big jump from a high-performance coupe to a family sedan (almost a 7 seater - capacity of 5 adults and 2 children). It looks awesome though, its front grille very much like the Maserati GranTourismo. Check out a few pics below:

You can find more details and pics here.

Salient features:

• Upto 300 mile range (they are planning to offer options of 160 mile, 230 mile or 300 mile range options per charge)
• 0 - 60 mph (100 kmph) in 5.6 seconds
• Seats 7 people

It can be charged at any power outlet, as the previous car. It uses Lithium Ion rechargeable battery technology, which doesn't have the memory problems like other battery technologies. They claim it will cost only $4 per complete recharge, which is peanuts compared to what we pay for regular gas fuel. They are estimating the price would be around $57,000 for this sedan. It however qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax refund.

Tesla Motors CEO, Mr. Musk, claims that offsetting these rebates and assuming that gas per gallon is around $4 (which is nearly true for California atleast), would result in the car's actual price being similar to a $35,000 gasoline car. Furthermore, President Obama has been hinting at levying extra taxes / surcharges on fossil fuel usage in the near future, which would only make this a better deal.

GM is also releasing its gas-electric car called Volt in 2010. It has a 40 mile range on a full recharge, however, has a small 4-cylinder gas engine which can generate electricity beyond this and can either charge the battery or provide electric power directly to the drivetrain. This, they claim can increase the range to almost 640 miles (on a full charge and full tank). It is expected to be priced around $40,000. With the $7,500 federal refund, it will bring it closer to $30,000 range. This does seem to be a more practical solution, especially for weekend trip situations and when you just forget to charge the battery.. But is this good enough?

Model S, on the other hand has a very handsome base range of at least 160 miles per charge. But its solely dependent on electric power, no backup gasoline engine. I wonder if you get stranded, if you could call AAA and say "Hi, I need a battery charge" :D.. I'm sure that Tesla will provide backup batteries etc etc.. but it won't happen automatically like Volt, at least from the way I understand the design.

So, is this prescience or indulgence? Only time will say I guess..