That’s because a replacement is due in 2013. Yup. Tesla’s been doing so well selling these speedy electric vehicles to smug rich Americans and celebrities (what’s the difference?) that they’ve gotten the sales numbers and financial backing to sustain its business.

Anyway, Tesla will be halting production of the Tesla Roadster by next year. The Roadsters are based on the Lotus Elise and with Lotus’ retooling its factory, Tesla wouldn’t have anyone to build it. But fans shouldn’t be worried since a replacement is due by 2013.

Oh and with everyone going crazy about saving the planet, Tesla also landed a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy to spend on the development and production of the Model S sedan. So that should plug the gap to be left by the Roadster.

We could just hope that, with that kind of money, Tesla would find a way to reduce the charge time from hours, to say, five minutes.

Oh yes. I still have not jumped on to the ecomentalist bandwagon. Other people might be excited by this world record – a Tesla Roadster claims the longest distance travelled by an EV on one charge.

The Roadster, driven by Australian Simon Hackett and co-driver Emilis Prelgauskas, was able to travel 313 miles before the charged crapped out.

Hackett and Prelagauskas claim that as glider flyers, they used energy conservation techniques to be able to extract the most from the Roadster’s batteries.

And so the F what? In all practical purposes, a car running on gasoline isn’t really concerned about covering miles. Sure the number of miles per gallon do matter somehow but fossil-fueled cars don’t need hours to get running again.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the company is already in the middle of planning for its next Roadster model, and that the current one will be replaced by a larger four-seat sports car that should hit in 2013.

Musk revealed more details about the future of the Roadster model. He says that the new iteration will be built on the same platform as the Model S. Making the electric sports car a four-seater is a strategic move, one that allows the Roadster to move into Porsche Turbo Carrera territory. The car will have hard-top and top-down variants. It will be a rear-wheel drive car, but buyers can opt for an all-wheel drive option.

Of course, the company also has comfort and practicality in mind. “The back seats will be capable of handling someone up to 5ft 6in tall in comfort and the trunk (boot) space will be almost twice the size,” said Musk in an interview with Edmunds.

Tesla really is busy these days, especially with the new Daimler deal. The new Roadster won’t be in for a few more years, and with the success of the current one, Tesla doesn’t have to be in any kind of hurry.

The amount of pre-orders for the Model S electric sedan exceeded even automaker Tesla’s own “optimistic internal projections”, as the company reports that over 1,000 people have made the $5,000 deposit for the car.

That means over $5 million for Tesla right away on pre-order earnings alone. According to the company, 520 people made reservations right in the first week after the pre-orders started. There’s no surprise there—who wouldn’t want to get their hands on an electric car that has a 5.5-second 0-60 time, all at $57,500? And that’s before the $7,500 tax credit.

“The Model S is a better value than much cheaper conventional cars,” stated Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “Despite the enormous environmental benefits, lower total cost of ownership will soon become the primary motivation for consumers to evolve from gas guzzlers to EVs.”

Feeding more fuel to the fire, so to speak, Tesla has also confirmed that it will be making a Signature Edition for the Model S. The special edition will have a limited run of 2,000 units, which will feature new interior and exterior features. The run will be split in half between the US and the European markets.

Tesla unveiled its newest car, the Tesla Model S electric saloon, showcasing the company’s mainstream-aimed vehicle at its California headquarters.

Tesla says that the Model S has a top speed of 120mph. Upon release, prospective buyers will be able to choose among three different battery configurations, with the base model having a range of 160 miles. The next one offers a range of 230 miles, while the top model has a 300-mile range. Tesla also says that the removable battery for each Model S can be partially recharged for at least 45 minutes.

The liftback can carry five people plus maybe two kids at the rear-facing seats, with cargo space under the bonnet. There’s a central console with 3G connectivity and a 17-inch touchscreen display where the driver can access some of the car’s systems as well as important information.

Tesla sees the Model S as the key to opening up mainstream patronage. It’s a baser model than the Tesla Roadster and is definitely in a more attainable price range. At somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 after federal tax credit, the Model S is over half the price of the Roadster.

Tesla made its mark by creating the Roadster – probably the zippiest production electric vehicle to date. While the release of the car itself was hampered by technical and production issues, they’ve finally made it. Top Gear had a bad experience with the reliability of the cars but Tesla

Now, Tesla recently announced that they’ll be taking orders for the Roadster Sport version. Now this I find a bit confusing since it makes you ask what improvements could they have put into the car that’s already considered a high-performance vehicle as is.

Well, Tesla claims that the Sport version can do 0-60 mph in just 3.7 seconds. Okay, so that would be .2 seconds quicker than the base model. A hand-wound stator and increased winding density give it lower resistance and higher peak torque.

For some real sporting measure, they’ve also equipped the car with Ultra High Performance tires, suspensions with adjustable dampers and roll bars. I just hope those make up for better handling both on the track and on the road.

The Sport version will retail at a base price of $128,500 in the US and €112,000 in Europe. Orders are expected to be filled in by late June.

Source: Automotoportal

Tesla Motors has joined the Detroit Big 3 in seeking financial relief from the government. The Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of the Tesla Roadster applied for a loan reportedly worth $400 million, which would bankroll two future projects.

There’s a difference between the natures of Tesla’s desire for a bail-out, compared to that of the Big 3. Tesla is already focused on creating electric-powered vehicles. The Big 3’s bail-out money will supposedly fund future projects that develop green technology. Analysts have deemed Tesla’s move as something like taking advantage of the automotive industry’s dire situation to mooch off funds.

This comes some time after Tesla laid off practically a fifth of its workforce and then lost a lawsuit it filed against Fisker Automotive, which was accused of allegedly stealing Tesla’s battery technology for Fisker’s own electric hybrid. From a financial perspective, winning the lawsuit would have given Tesla more room to operate. Since the high-performance Tesla Roadster is really quite expensive, meaning there aren’t really that many consumers that would go for the car—especially during this economic crisis.

Source: Autocar

A good product is not worth the buck used to build it if it doesn’t sell. With the car market being volatile and all, automakers are probably squeezing everything they can from their marketing gurus to keep the sales figures up. Tesla is one of them.

As part of the whole drum-banging campaign, Tesla has tapped former F1 Champion Damon Hill to drive the Roadster in the GreenFleet Capiral Arrive N Drive in California at the month’s end. This is aside from other activities that they have lined up previously.

Anyway, Tesla looks to be in good shape to sell their cars with only 25 production units left for the second quarter of 2009. If you’re looking into getting one for yourself, better head on to their website and have your reservation processed.

For the UK market, Tesla has 250 Euro-spec Limited Edition Roadsters that will sell for €99,000.

Source: Inside Line

Talk about WTF! Prey on people’s growing environmental awareness and lack foresight on makers and dealers alike. With gasoline prices reaching $4 a gallon, many are ditching their hulking gas-guzzling SUVs in exchange for gas-sipping hybrids. And yes, there is huge demand for hybrids.

While Toyota was just oh-so-happy about getting a million Priuses on the road, they might have to rethink things on how they’d got about selling a million more. Sales of hybrids took a hit recently and not due to market demand but because of production shortage as battery supplies are scarce. Toyota isn’t the only one hit by this as supplies for the Ford Escape Hybrid became limited as well.

Prius sales dropped a whopping 37.5% in May compare to 24,009 units sold last year. Toyota’s Camry hybrid is doing as well. The whole choke from production to sales is the fact that Toyota couldn’t make enough batteries to power the Priuses rolling out of factories. And, as an enterprising move, they held production down, to encourage buyers to purchase other models.

Tsk. Saving the world vs. making money.

Source: AutoWeek

The Tesla Roadster has set out to be the performance electric car of choice in the market, prompting a lot of orders for production. And for those in the US who have already put down their money for the orders, they can already rest easy as Tesla received the US FMVSS Certification (not without crashing some) meaning the Roadster can be sold in 50 states. And production will now commence by March.

With that milestone achieved, Tesla is now considering a track-ready version of the Roadster but engineers need to solve one problem – heat. The current designs feature and air-cooled system. A liquid-cooled system is an option, however, this might cause problems with all the electronics strapped on the car and getting that to work would mean the track car is a possibility.

The intended track-ready version reported to be dubbed as the Roadster 120 is planned to shed around 500 lbs. from the curb weight. Weight reduction will improve performance with regard to acceleration, handling and engine load reduction.

The prototypes can do 0-60 in sub-4 seconds but the production version is limited to 5.7 seconds. I wonder how will the track car do?

Source: Autoblog

So we’re all eager to see how the Tesla Roadster would play out. While it has received a lot of orders and have impressed us with its specs and numbers so far, one thing that I would consider in cars is safety. Especially if it the car’s for public consumption. Sure it can go fast, but will you survive a crash inside a Tesla Roadster just in case?

Well, the answer seems to be “Yes.” 30 mph isn’t that fast but the crash test was a success both front and side impact. Here’s the video.

The Tesla Roadster promises to be one of the electric cars that wouldn’t run like it’s running on a food processor’s motor. It claims to break the four-second naught to sixty number in terms of acceleration. While these are all really promising, the Tesla Roadster has met good market demand.

Bad news for Tesla fans, though, full production of the Roadster has been pushed back. An initial run will be made late this year in time for delivery by the first quarter of 2008. Only when Tesla verifies those cars, will they go all out with the production next year. 600 more Tesla Roadsters will be rolled out by the end of 2008.

The good news is that, the Tesla Roadster will go the distance. Literally. Prototypes yielded varying results ranging from 200 to 250 miles. The latest EPA test revealed something closer to the initial 250 mile range with 245 miles – 252 miles city and 236 miles highway (see how electric cars go inverse the may petroleum fueled cars).

Source: Tesla

I’m still a big critic of electric cars. While I won’t deny that they would eliminate pollution and lessen reliance on fossil fuels, I just think that the technology is still too young. I still find the hybrid as the more plausible alternative for now. But hey, who am I to complain about electric cars? It’s through these development efforts that great things happen.

Remember the Lightning Car Company? They’re now working on their 2008 Lightning GT. And it’s no wuss either. It’ll sport a 700 hp powerplant, go from 0-60 in under 4 seconds, and zoom to speeds of 130 mph.

Presently seeing a good demand is another electric car company, Tesla Motors with their Tesla Roadster. So if this keeps up, we might just be seeing a new age of electric car motoring.

Source: Car Domain