March 27, 2009


Tesla Model S

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Yesterday Tesla Motors announced its all electric sedan, the Tesla Model S.

  • The car fits seven people and their luggage: five adults and two children in rear-facing seats under the hatch inside, with luggage in the boot up front.
  • If not people, it can fit a mountain bike with its wheels still on, a surfboard and a 50-inch television at the same time.
  • The dashboard screens were installed to rid the interior of buttons. The 17-inch main display is fully 3G and Internet capable.
  • The 300-mile range is possible (vs the Roadster’s 244-mile range) because the S has 8,000 battery cells vs. 6,000 in the Roadster, the batteries have been improved in mass and volumetric performance, and there is more advanced cell chemistry in each cell, and the S has a cd of about .27 vs. the Roadster’s drag coefficient of .35.
  • On a 220V outlet, the car can be recharged in 4 hours.
  • Option packages are being decided, with the only initial option being the battery pack. Customers will also be able to buy the 160-mile pack and rent the long range pack for a trip.
  • They are finalizing the warranty, and expect it to be 3-4 years for the car and 7-10 years for the battery pack. They expect replacement battery packs to come in at “well under $5000″ according to Elon.
  • The quickness: the standard S will get to 60 in 5.5 to 6.0 seconds. A coming sport version will get to 60 in “well under five seconds,” Musk says.
  • The car will get a single-speed transmission.
  • The body panels and chassis will be primarily aluminum, with a total weight of just over 4,000 pounds, about 1,200 pounds of that being battery mass.
  • For infrastructure, Tesla is working with a government-affiliated partner to set up battery changing stations at various locations. They will be able to change the battery in 5-8 minutes, “quicker than filling up your car with gas.”

Not too shabby.

posted by Deron Bauman in cars, design, environment, technology 

comments

One Response to “Tesla Model S”

  1. Carl on March 27th, 2009 at 11:20 am

    Yeah, they replaced the console with a touch screen to get rid of buttons, then they filled the touch screen with guess what? Buttons!

    I swear, Apple would make a killing if they created an Apple design consultancy specializing in UI and industrial design. Actually they should do it for the sake of mankind.

    Otherwise, they also say it would take $4 to fully charge the car which is something I’ve been wondering about with these plugin hybrids.

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