Cue the new strain of crank treehugger:

"These electric cars are just part of the problem man! They support the current fraud that is our national transport system and distract you from what really counts, man. We should ban all cars today and ride a bike, man."

Tell me, am I that far off? We'll see.

Actually, we pretty much all *love* the Tesla and hope it's going to be wildly successful so that other big carmakers need to react and get moving in that direction.

Yes, WIlly Bio, you are that far off. Not everyone is agile enough to safely ride a bicycle (regardless of whether automobiles are on the roadway or not). Not every city / town has reasonable public transportation. My home town has no public transportation. EV's are a great way to reduce pollution and GHG.

LOL (above)

That does get a tad tiresome...
I'll wait with you - but realistically... sometimes, I have to take a break from reading comments - otherwise, it gets tough to get out of bed and look in the mirror.

Sincerely, Mr. Hypocrite

This is a good thing. As results from real world use get recorded and studied, it's better for everyone.
Also as people get their butts kicked by a battery powered vehicle, word will get around.

Yes, there is too much catering to the car at large at the expense of every other kind of transport. It is still a step in the right direction.

vsk

That is most definitely the sexiest car ever to exist.

*drools*

All I can say is Good Luck! I hope this project does well!

Me & my bike still get 1500 mpg :)

I'm just surprised lotus haven't had a go at them for the quite similar styling!

Actually, Tesla worked with Lotus on the Roadster, so it's not surprising that many Lotus parts and design cues are showing up.

Um, I hate to burst the bubble, but the first car delivered to the head of the company, does not a production car make. There is no independent drive of the car, just a photo op for the delivery. Tesla may be able to spin the press a line about meeting their production schedule, but no one following their ever-changing specs & schedule believes this is a production car.

A quick reminder, the car was supposed to get 250 miles/charge, and when tested by the press, it got 93. Oops.

Link:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/news-blog/tesla-birth-watch-29-93-miles-per-charge/

Also, this car was shipped whole from Europe, and they are supposed to be assembled here.

More objective reporting here:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/news-blog/tesla-birth-watch-32-musk-gets-a-roadster-is-this-the-end-of-the-beginning/

"A number of media outlets are carrying the story that Tesla chairman Elon Musk's personal Roadster has finally made it across the Atlantic and into his waiting arms. Everyone is proclaiming this as the first delivery of a production Roadster. Yet Petrol Head reports that as Musk got his, he indicated "the first deliveries" would start in mid-March. In the meantime, the second car will go to Tesla founder Martin Eberhard. So what about it gang? Would you consider this transfer of a hand-massaged example with a temporary transmission to the head honcho as the official start of Tesla Roadster production? Should we end the Tesla Birth Watch series with this installment? Or should we wait until we actually see the cars getting into the hands of a paying customer?

OK, that's it.
I'm cancelling my order and changing the VIN number on my hot-wired EV1.

I know, not too intelligent and not too civil. Sorry.

I still think it's a good thing, or at least a positive step.
Isn't it a CEO perk anyway? Maybe he'll sell it on eBay.

vsk

I'm never going to be able to afford one anyway, so I could care less about the company's ability to meet their production schedules. It is, however, a sexy electric beast and I will drool as I see fit. ;)

"I'm never going to be able to afford one anyway, so I could care less about the company's ability to meet their production schedules. "

Well, their next models will be less expensive, so I hope they have great success.

While I don't agree that cars can simply vanish from our society, I think that people who say that do have a point, so please respect them. Human society somehow managed to thrive without cars for thousands of years, I think we could innovate our way back to one without them if we tried.

But at least for now, GOOD JOB TESLA! Thank God someone's finally delivered an electric car, and a beautiful one at that.

I truly hope that this starts a revolution, but if everyone starts driving EV's all the tax dollars that the Fed and State collect on gas is going to be transfered to our electric bills.

I truly hope that this starts a revolution, but if everyone starts driving EV's all the tax dollars that the Fed and State collect on gas is going to be transfered to our electric bills.

Only hours old, and some idiot is already sitting on it.

Bottom line for an electric car:
Needs to charge in less than 10 minutes
needs to travel at the LEAST 150 miles between charges
needs to go at LEAST 80 mph and drive on the hightway
Have a heater that doesn't effect mileage
Have AC which doesn't effect mileage
Seat Minimum 3 people better if it were 4

Other than that it will not sell very well. This is what the market demands and what we need to shoot for. Not some overpriced two seater sports car.

"This is what the market demands and what we need to shoot for. Not some overpriced two seater sports car."

Tesla's strategy is to enter at the high end. They don't need to get major market share straight away; they just need to get a solid foot into the "expensive sports car" niche.. And you can't get many cars that beat ferraris and handle very well too for under 100k.

Once they've made some money, proved technologies and get volume discounts,they can go down-market with a 50k car, then 30k...

Although the Tesla Roadster is all-electric and that's better than a gasoline car, it's CO2 emissions (at the power plants) are almost as high as a regular sedan.

If we're going to help the climate crisis, we need to look at vastly more efficient vehicles, such as those competitors are designing for the Automotive X Prize, a 100 MPG race to be held in 2010, with a prize of at least $10 million.

For more information on the cars, check X Prize Cars, for more information on the prize itself, visit the X Prize Foundation.

"Although the Tesla Roadster is all-electric and that's better than a gasoline car, it's CO2 emissions (at the power plants) are almost as high as a regular sedan."

Actually, that's not true. Even for average US electricity:

http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data/twentyfirstcenturycar.pdf

Car manufactures have already or are addressing the need for non-petrol vehicles. Chevy volt? I would rather buy the volt because it uses both electric and petrol. If the car is driven too far and the batteries get too drained, it has a back up petrol motor.

Batteries are nice but current lions have a terrible lifetime around 5 years or so. Then what happens to the batteries are they recycled or tossed because too costly to recycle? What kinds of harmful chemicals are in the batteries.

Forgot to mention, the price has to be below $15,000.

Good for you Tesla! I wish you the best of luck. I hope you make all the skeptics eat their words.

Sure, you might rather buy a Chevy Volt, but you see, the thing is, they don't exist. For the past two years GM has been advertising vehicles that it doesn't produce... A great greenwashing campaign , especially during the superbowl, but the fact is, you can't even order a Volt. Sure, GM's planning to make it, at some point, which will undoubtedly be delayed, etc.

The Tesla roadster does exist - we can all see that in the photo. The real production run won't hit the streets for another few weeks, but it is a product that can be purchased (or at least reserved or waitlisted...). The Chevy Volt is still vaporware... If GM actually gave a hoot about all the green in its ads, it would put the EV1 back on the road, with a gently updated design and new batteries. The R&D is done - all they would have to do is pull the trigger and they'd sell like hotcakes. But noooo... GM is so green that they're advertising Cadillac Escalade Hybrids at the superbowl - which, as oxymoronic and pointless as they are, won't even be for sale for another 9 months...

So indeed, cheers to Tesla for genuinely giving this a go. Nobody said it would be easy, and they're certainly not the first car maker to get behind schedule, but props to them for keeping up the momentum. And they're in a fine spot - with far more customers wanting their product than they can currently supply.

that ain't a production line vehicle.

notice how they had to push it?

Just a comment to Wiiliebio...
Nice to hear your fervor bro...to make change we must blend with greater realism of what the masses are willing to do...I live in Canada...bikes are extremely limiting for 8 months of the year...
I can't wait for something good and freeing on the market...I dream of feeling cleaner...
The TESLA is a work of fantastic art boys...girls...I want one...

Hey Michael R, if you live in Canada you have to keep in mind that batteries do a really terrible job below zero. I would think an all electric that gets 250 miles on a deep south highway with little acceleration would probably get something less then 50 miles in -35C pushing through rough ice and snow in real world driving.

Plus, what happens if your first 10 miles are your tires spinning in the ice?

Way to go Tesla++++++++++

This is just the start of great days to come.

Thanks

""...it's CO2 emissions (at the power plants) are almost as high as a regular sedan.""

"Actually, that's not true. Even for average US electricity:
http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data/twentyfirstcenturycar.pdf"

Thank you. Get's a bit old hearing that same sound bite.

""...it's CO2 emissions (at the power plants) are almost as high as a regular sedan.""

"Actually, that's not true. Even for average US electricity:
http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data/twentyfirstcenturycar.pdf"

Thank you. Get's a bit old hearing that same sound bite.