

Tesla Model S Unveiled - martythemaniak
http://www.boston.com/cars/newsandreviews/overdrive/2009/03/tesla_phase_two_model_s_electr.html

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dskhatri
A 45 min. fast charge sounds impressive. I would think that would require much
more current than a typical household outlet is able to supply. Does anyone
know if the current Tesla roadster come with a charging station? And how is
that connected to the household mains?

[update: I found some forums mentioning that charging the current roadster in
3.5 hours requires the installation of a 240V/70A charging station in your
garage/home]

[update 2: Here's the High Power Connector:
<http://shop.teslamotors.com/products/high-power-connector>. It's connected
directly to the breaker panel in the home]

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ams6110
The 45 minutes is for a partial charge. Still, 300 miles beats the heck outta
the 40 promised by the Volt.

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josefresco
Volt will be out first, and Tesla could be gone before they are ever able to
ship even 1 of these.

2.5 years from now when/if this thing actually surfaces we'll have lots of
hybrid/electric choices.

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spectre
Tesla's biggest problem will be mass production. (They have made about 300
cars) Large companies like Chevy can have significantly greater production
capacity.

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dkokelley
Has Tesla even considered outsourcing the manufacturing? I'm sure lots of
people in Detroit would be more than grateful to be paid to make cars that are
already sold. I wonder if capacity is not the problem, but that the Roadsters
just take that long to actually make.

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pingswept
They've not just considered outsourcing the manufacturing, they did it from
the start. Lotus makes the cars in England.

According to Wikipedia: "The car is assembled at the Lotus factory in Hethel,
England, with drivetrain components and body components supplied to the
factory by Tesla. . . Tesla Motors' plant in Taiwan manufactures the motors
and the Energy Storage Systems (ESS) was initially manufactured in Thailand
during development and then moved to San Carlos, California, after production
started. Chassis are manufactured in Norway. SOTIRA, in St. Meloir & Pouancé,
France, create the RTM carbon fiber body panels. The Roadster's brakes and
airbags are made by Siemens in Germany and crash testing was conducted at
Siemens as well"

Confirmation of the Lotus relationship from Tesla here:
<http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=7>

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dkokelley
Good information. I thought Lotus just did the design and prototype.

Does anyone know why it takes Tesla so long to produce a car? Does a specific
part (ESS, for example) bottleneck the entire operation?

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mikepellon
It will be interesting to see if amongst these early electric vehicle
manufacturers a de facto battery/charging interface standard can be
established. I can see that widespread adoption would be difficult to achieve
if consumers cannot reliably charge their vehicles in a number of charging
station locations because of properity hardware barriers, etc.

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torr
The answer is not faster charging, but rather, swapping out a depleted pack
for a fully-charged one. Standardize on a form-factor for battery packs that
mount on the underside of the vehicle, which can then be hot-swapped at
service stations in under a minute.

Hawaii seems to already be testing this out... (don't have the link handy)

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eru
Yes. At least it would shift the problem from the realm of engineering (better
batteries) towards management/market politics.

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dtap
Late 2011 is a long time from now. Two and a half years is a lot of time to
get behind schedule, especially for Tesla. I sincerely hope it comes out
awesome but am highly skeptical.

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papersmith
More pics:

[http://www.autobloggreen.com/photos/tesla-model-s-live-
revea...](http://www.autobloggreen.com/photos/tesla-model-s-live-reveal/)

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ungerik
Video of the Tesla Model S <http://twurl.nl/ds6e3l>

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sgrove
I think California has done a good thing in wooing Tesla to build the model S
here. If nothing else, it should serve as a beacon to engineers interested in
designing clean-tech - working on anything else will seem boring and old hat
for most.

The ripples of the tech being located here could very well serve as the
impetus for the next rise in California's economy.

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2cool
looks good from design view, also I would like to see some cool looking but
cheaper electric roadsters as well!

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frisco
It's a beautiful car, for sure.

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jhawk28
7 seats? Where are the other 2?

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cubicle67
It comes with a trolley that hooks on the back :P

The other two are rearward facing behind the second row, similar to what Volvo
did for a few years in some of their station wagons

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quizbiz
What about non-luxury battery based?

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jpd
Well, Miles Automotive is working on a sub $40,000 car.

[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/xs500_electric_car_m...](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/xs500_electric_car_miles_ev.php)

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dotmatrix
LOVE THE FISHER CAR more...Way cooler

