I saw a Tesla Roadster on the road!

I was driving home after doing some errands this weekend when out of the Orchard Supply Hardware parking came a beautiful blue Tesla Roadster.  I have to admit, I was so excited that I actually shouted out loud.  The driver was going in the same direction I was so I pulled up along side him.  I rolled down my window and told him what a great car he had.  I also said I didn't realize they were on the road yet.  Well, they're not really.  He told me they're supposed to be released in maybe four months or so.  He actually works for Tesla and the car he was driving is a protype.  Needless to say, it's a sweet car.  As he drove away, I got to hear the awesome electric sound.  I only wish I could afford one!  One of these days....:-)

Actually, I did!  You'll have to excuse the quality because all I had was my cell phone.  But you can see the close up here and the far away shot here.  (I uploaded them below too.)

It looks like Tesla's next projects include a five-passenger sedan (currently code named WhiteStar).  The target price for that one (according to a Business Week article) should be between $55,000 and $68,000,  According to an article in CNET, the standard model should stay closer to the $50,000 figure but the premium model is ballparked around $70,000.  The same article notes that the premium model will go from 0 to 60 MPH in less than 6 seconds (while the standard will do the same in 6.7 seconds) and it will have a range of 200 miles per charge.  WhiteStar's rough time line includes a 2010 release date. 

Another project is code named BlueStar.  This one seems to be a bit more nebulous - some describe it as a sedan, others as a compact, and yet others just say "electric car."  But the real distinction is the price - it should cost about $30,000.  The catch is that it probably won't be produced for at least five years.

There's a lot of speculation online about where the very first Tesla showroom will open (some say it will be in Menlo Park; others say Santa Monica).  According to the Telsa blog, their showrooms will be complete with stunning architectural design, LCD screens that broadcast news, and free coffee, tea, snacks, wi-fi, and international landline calls.  The stores in the Bay Area (more specifically, in Menlo Park, apparently on a property owned by Stanford University which used to be home to a Chevrolet dealer) and in Los Angeles were scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2007.  Stores in New York, Chicago, and Miami are to follow in the first quarter of 2008.  But given the delays in vehicle delivery, stores may face similar delays.

The special recharging stations that are going to be installed differ from your generic wall socket plug.  While the Tesla can just be plugged into any old socket, that option will take six or seven hours to get totally recharged.  The recharging stations will recharge the cars in three to four hours.

But it is a pretty big issue.  In order for alternative technologies to really take off, the infrastructure has to be built to support them.  Take conventional vehicles that use gasoline - it's easy to take a road trip without fear because you know that you'll find a Shell/76/Arco/Chevron/etc. station.  Gas stations are all over the place!  Hybrid-electric cars are great transitional vehicles because they still work off of that basic gasoline infrastructure.  But if biofuels, natural gas, and electric technologies are going to become more widespread, consumers need to know that if they end up low on juice (regardless of the kind) far from home, they can refuel/recharge easily. 

Here's another Tesla video.  It's the First Drive from Motor Trend.

Doesn't it?  Oh man.  When I saw that blue one a few months ago...I wanted to cry (not really) it was so pretty. 

I'm assuming you mean the Tesla..."Who killed the electric car" was great too.  But it made me want to cry for other reasons (that scene with all the smashed cars was heart breaking...what a poor use of resources).

But the Tesla.  Oh the Tesla.  What a lovely machine.

On my way to work, I've seen a few Lotuses (Lotus helped out with the Tesla design work) and they are also very attractive.  But definitely not electric...and as with most sports cars, pretty high emissions come along with the pretty package.

In other news, at the Geneva Motor Show, this "zero-emissions sports car" concept was unveiled:

Here's part of a BBC article about it:

The hydrogen-powered Lifecar, based on the design of the Morgan Aero-8 roadster, produces little noise and only water vapour from its exhaust.

The lightweight model packs advanced fuel cells and an energy storage system that gives the car a range of 250 miles (400km) per tank of hydrogen.

It has been developed by a consortium of UK companies and universities.

"Figures suggest the car should be capable of doing 0-60 [miles per hour] in about seven seconds," Matthew Parkin of classic sports car manufacturer Morgan told BBC News.

Yeah, the Fisker Karma's another beaut.  We actually have a page for it in the Huddle.

It'll definitely be interesting to see what happens between the Karma, the Tesla Roadster, and whatever happens down the road with Tesla's range extended vehicles.

Hm....so almost a year after I started this thread...

Well, we at Huddler HQ popped out for a quite bite to eat.  We thought we'd diversify from the standard run to Whole Foods or burritos down the street.  So we piled in Deej's sweet sweet little Civic.  We got maybe six blocks away from the office and lo and behold!

A beautiful, sleek black Tesla Rodaster made a right hand turn onto the road in front of us.  (Of course, just before it did, I was literally thinking...hm...maybe I should have brought my real camera and not just my phone...with its janky camera.)

In any case, from the back of the car, Teej said, "Hey!  There's a Tesla."  Now, Tesla's aren't exactly common place...and I still adore them.  But this time around, I didn't actually shout outloud.

In any case, I pulled out my phone...and snapped some pictures from the window.  In the first, you can see what the car's lines look like with the top on (and you can see the lucky duck driver...who isn't Elon Musk although he was in SF today too).

Haha, yeah, I'm not sure I'd pick orange personally...but the one Deej and I got to play around with a bit at SF Green was orange...and it did look pretty sweet against the graffiti background:

My latest Tesla sighting....

I was driving from San Francisco down to Santa Cruz, and just as I was passing through Palo Alto, there she was.  Black and beautiful (or maybe dark blue...but still beautiful).  A Tesla Roadster.  Sadly, a highway patrol guy got in my way so I couldn't see the car well enough to snap a janky cell phone picture.  However!  It's the first Tesla I've seen with the California HOV/carpool lane stickers.