2008 Tesla Roadster

Tesla Motors CEO and President, Ze'ev Drori, reports that the Roadster is now being delivered to customers. "Already 9 production Roadsters have arrived in California, another 3 arrive this weekend, and they will keep arriving at the rate of 4 per week (except for the scheduled factory shut down in the last two weeks of August). In fact, currently there are 27 Roadsters in various stages of assembly," he wrote in the Tesla Think blog. Come December, 100 Roadsters should be rolling off the production line every month.

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About the Roadster

The Tesla Roadster is the upcoming Electric Sports Car: 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds, 200 mile range, and NO gasoline involved.

From the Tesla site: When you build a car that's electric, you start with one built-in advantage: Electric cars just don't have to be as complex mechanically as the car you're probably driving now. Sophisticated electronics and software take the place of the pounds and pounds of machinery required to introduce a spark and ignite the fuel that powers an internal combustion engine.

For example, the typical four-cylinder engine of a conventional car comprises over a hundred moving parts. By comparison, the motor of the Tesla Roadster has just one: the rotor. So there's less weight to drive around and fewer parts that could break or wear down over time.

But the comparison doesn't end with the counting of moving parts. The engine and transmission of a conventional car also need lubricating oils, filters, coolant, clutches, spark plugs and wires, a PCV valve, oxygen sensors, a timing belt, a fan belt, a water pump and hoses, a catalytic converter, and a muffler — all items requiring service, and all items that aren't needed in an electric car.

The Tesla Roadster's elegantly designed powertrain consists of just the four main components. Mind you, these aren't "off-the-shelf" components, and each includes innovations, both small and large. But when you build a car from the ground up, you have the luxury of questioning every assumption — and to distill as you reinvent.

The base price for the 2008 Tesla Roadster is $98,000 US. This figure will increase for future models as the vehicle is currently manufactured in Europe - Tesla Motors cites the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro for the bulk of the price increase.