15 April 2016
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Tesla rocks the boat with new models While Martin Sheen and others ponder Who Killed the Electric Car? a group of Silicon Valley millionaires is trying to answer the next question: Who will resurrect the electric car? Tesla Motors is the result, a manufacturer of vehicles than run 100 percent on electricity. The company gets its name from Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, who went toe-to-toe with Thomas Edison (and won) to prove whether AC or DC was the preferred method of transporting electricity over great distances. In the same light, Tesla Motors is trying to prove that electricity is not only capable of transporting automobiles great distances but also that electric cars can be fun to drive. The company is the brainchild of Martin
276 000 orders in just days Orders for the much-hyped Tesla Model 3, a cheaper version of its electric car aimed at the mass market, have surged to 276 000 in just three days, company founder Elon Musk announced. Orders are piling up fast and exceeding the expectations of the company for its Model 3 — which will have a base price of US$35,000 — even though it won’t be available until late next year. Amid reports of queues to snap up the vehicle, Musk tweeted: “276k Model 3 orders by end of Sat.” With the Model 3, a compact sedan, Tesla aims to show it can appeal to the general public and produce cars en masse. The base price is half that of Tesla’s luxury Model S and the Model X, which start at US$70,000. Musk said Thursday that orders had passed 115,000 worldwide and hinting that demand was outstripping expectation later tweeted: “Definitely going to need to rethink production planning...” © 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning and PayPal founder Elon Musk. The founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are also investors. This fresh blood from Silicon Valley is further evidence that Tesla is an entirely different type of car company. Tesla went about creating its first vehicle with the theory that nobody wanted electric cars because nobody had created an electric car worth buying. So they sought to correct the many perceived electric-car problems like range, recharging times, styling and performance. The company’s first product, the Tesla Roadster, is capable of going about 250 miles between charges, which is a drastic improvement from the GM EV1’s 60-90-mile range. A complete recharge is accomplished in less than 2 hours. (The EV1 took 5) Recharging is accomplished via regenerative braking, a home recharging
unit and an optional portable recharger. As for styling and performance, Tesla chose a $100,000 sports car to enter the market as a way to establish “performance DNA” that would trickle down to less expensive models. Based on the Lotus Elise, the British-built Tesla Roadster is lightweight and svelte, capable of keeping up with other sports cars in its price bracket. Tesla promises 0-60 mph times around 4 seconds and a top speed of more than 130 mph. Throw in handling indicative of its Lotus roots and it should be obvious that the Roadster is one heck of a sports car. Tesla announced in February 2007 that it
would be making a new sport sedan known as the WhiteStar, built at a new factory in New Mexico. The company plans on producing 10 000 units each year at a cost between $50,000 and $65,000 per car. Like the Roadster, it should have a range of about 250 miles, but with battery technology improving, that number could rise. With growing international attention, including Tesla Roadsters ferrying stars to high-profile events like the Oscars and the rising interest in alternative fuels to combat global warming, this young electric car company could soon be a big name in the automotive industry.