Tesla Model S Official Details and Images

Tesla Motors Inc. based in San Carlos, California, designers and manufacturers of electric vehicles has released the official details and images of the Tesla Model S, the world’s first mass-produced highway capable Electric Vehicle (EV). The Model S is a sedan that can carries 7 people (5 adults and 2 children) and travels up to 300 miles per charge with the price tag of $49,900.

The Model S carries its charger onboard and it can be recharged from any 120V, 240V or 480V outlet. It takes only 45 minutes to recharge the Model S from the 480V outlet. The floor-mounted battery-pack meanwhile can be changed out in less time than it takes to the fuel tank allowing the possibility to swap battery-pack at the filling stations.

The volume of the front hood can be made as a second trunk thanks to the floor-mounted battery-pack design. The Tesla Model S can accommodate a 50-inch TV, mountain bike and surfboard at the same time when combining the front hood, the four-bar linkage hatchback rear trunk and the flat folding rear seats.

Click for more details and images of Tesla Model S Official Details and Images

Tesla Roadster Sport

Tesla Motors Inc. has officially revealed the new Tesla Roadster Sport where it has started accepting orders. The price of the Tesla Roadster Sport starts at $128,500 in the US and €112,000 (excluding VAT) in Europe where the deliveries start in late June 2009.

Click for more details and images of Tesla Roadster Sport

Tesla Roadster

Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise which was developed by ex-lotus engineers and built by the Henthel company.

The creators or designers claimed that the car could go from 0-96 km/h in about 4 second with a range of 400 km. Funding for the project came from big names in the technology world, including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The price is expected to cost between $85,000 and $120,000. Destined for the US market, deliveries of the Tesla Roadster are expected to begin next summer.

A 3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor coupled with the Power Electronics Module (PEM) which provides multiple functionality of inverting direct current to 3-phase alternating current, the charging system, and the regenerative braking system is used to drive a two speed transmission which draws its power from lithium-ion batteries.

The Tesla Roadster delivers sports car performance without using any gasoline,” said CEO Martin Eberhard. “This is what we hoped to achieve when we started the company three years ago, to build a car with zero emissions that people would love to drive.

The batteries are charged by a combination of regenerative braking and mains power and it takes 3.5 hour to fully recharge. The batteries are mounted between the rear axle, which contains the motor and the seats.

The body design of the Tesla Roadster has been headed by Lotus’s Principal Designer, Barney Hatt, at the Lotus Design Studio in England using the Elise’s extruded aluminium chassis. It uses double wishbone suspension all around and the Elise’s unassisted steering rack.

Two more models are already planned by Tesla, a sporty 4-door sedan which cost 1/2 the price of the roadster and a third car, which is cheaper.

Click here to read more and to get more pictures.