When it comes to being eco-friendly and running on just electric power, Tesla has become reknown for doing the job right with its beautiful Roadster. However, the Roadster had quite a few downsides and just wasn’t practical enough. Though it was much faster than its old brother – the Lotus Elise and quieter than many petrol cars, each costed over 90k (in sterling pounds!). While it was claimed each charge could get the Roadster going for over 200 miles, Top Gear (video below) showed this was considerably much less at just 50 miles or so after each charge with each charge taking as long as 16 hours.
So has Tesla now finally figured it out? The latest Model S recently announced has been said to be able to cover up to 300 miles depending on what sort of battery pack you choose to have equipped on the car you purchase, sporting QuickCharge functionality which only takes 45 minutes to get going again, the Model S will be able to feed on outlet charges of 110V, 220V or 440V. What we don’t quite understand is why 220V will take four hours to completely charge the car when there is a QuickCharge function, I think we need to learn more about what that actually does first. The Model S as you can see is the first highway capable proper five seater seven seater sedan that will also have a considerably smaller pricetag than its older, perkier brother Roadster at $49,900+$7,500 federal tax credit.
What’s interesting was this, Tesla’s CEO said:
The ownership cost of Model S, if you were to lease and then account for the much lower cost of electricity versus gasoline at a likely future cost of $4 per gallon, is similar to a gasoline car with a sticker price of about $35,000…
I agree if this is what Tesla claims, but does it really work and will it really run as much as 300 miles? The press release (link below) have made it sound so simple, if you bought the 160-mile battery pack model, you can always rent a longer range pack if you were to go on trips. This almost sounds like as simple as an add-on or a plugin of some sort. Somehow, this just sounds too good to be true. Along with all these amazing specs, the Model S is also equipped with some fancy technology and gadgets. For example, a full 17-inch touch screen on board computer, 3G wireless connectivity, panoramic roof with sliding moon roof, HD and satellite radio, LED and neon headlight and taillights, Brembo brake and fully digital instrument cluster just to name a few…
Anyways, that’s too much info to crame in already, check out some offical pictures below, you can also use the two gallery links below to check out the thumbnail gallery directly:
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And if you’re up for it click here for Tesla’s Model S press release from earlier last week…
That is one seriously sexy green automobile. Battery technology is advancing rapidly, and I foresee better and better mileage, allied to lower prices in future. China is aiming to become the world’s foremost electic car producer, and we all know what they do to prices.
If you needed a wider bent piece, could you stagger the thin strips so that a second bent piece could mate to the first? . . Great video.?