Tesla Motors to open seven sales, service centers this summer
June 8, 2009 By Tracy Seipel, San Jose Mercury News
The new Tesla Model S all-electric sedan at the car's unveiling in Hawthorne, California, in March 2009. Tesla Motors says orders have been streaming in for its electric Model S sedans due to begin rolling off assembly lines in 2011.
As General Motors and Chrysler close dealerships across the country, San Carlos-based Tesla Motors has announced plans to open some.
Thursday, the electric carmaker said it will open seven regional sales and service centers in upcoming weeks, establishing a coast-to-coast network in North America and retail presence in Europe.
Stores in New York, Seattle and Chicago will open in late June, followed by Miami. The new additions will complement Tesla's flagship stores in Menlo Park, Calif., and Los Angeles, which opened a year ago. The company's first European store will open in London later this month, followed by Munich and Monaco.
Prospective customers can test-drive the cars at all the locations.
"We are rethinking almost every aspect of the automobile _ from the powertrain to the customer experience, both online and in our stores," Tesla CEO and product architect Elon Musk said in a news release.
Tesla said its $109,000 Roadster beats nearly every other car for acceleration yet is twice as energy-efficient as a Toyota Prius. With an EPA-estimated range of 244 miles per charge, Tesla said it costs roughly $4 to refuel and can be completely recharged in as little as 3.5 hours.
This past weekend, Tesla delivered its 500th Roadster in the United States. In late June, Tesla will begin producing the Roadster Sport, a higher-performance electric car that goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. European Roadster deliveries begin this summer.
Tesla expects to begin producing an electric, zero-emission, $50,000 Model S sedan in late 2011.
The news follows last month's announcement by Daimler that it will acquire 10 percent of the company in a deal valued from $110 million to $990 million.
___
(c) 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Mar 19, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
How far can the Tesla Roadster drive between charges?
Actual range depends on driving style and conditions. During testing of prototypes cars, Tesla Motors has seen between 170 miles per charge for very spirited driving to 267 miles per charge for city driving that makes use of the Roadster's regenerative braking. Our most recent EPA driving cycle tests, conducted February 2008, at an EPA-certified facility, resulted in the following numbers:
231 mi EPA city
224 mi EPA highway
227 mi EPA combined (city/highway)
That's not too bad, its good enough to get most people thru several commutes on one charge. That will help with the "what if there's a local power outage during your normal recharge period?" type questions. I am guessing this mileage estimates we made while the AC and heating systems were turned off, so those numbers should probably be discounted by about 20% in the summer and winter if you don't live in a moderate climate.
Ok!
On the website they advertise 45 charge times.
High comedy...thanks for the laugh, Darkside.
The hydrogen creation process is extremely fossil-fuel heavy. It doesn't just sit around on Earth in its pure, single-neutron form. It has to be deconstructed from other materials, a process that uses a considerable amount of energy. So, in effect, hydrogen fuel cells are just relatively inefficient batteries.
Hockey68, normal hydrogen doesn't have neutrons. I assume you weren't referring to Deuterium, which does have neutrons?
Hence if the two technologies are combined it would be possible to use hydrogen as a nearly zero emission fuel. It certainly has benefits that can suit certain environments. Like off grid or isolated locations where sunlight is easily accessible but electricity is not.
This could well come down to beta vs vhs or blu ray vs HD dvd.
http://www.physor...285.html
(IMHO)
BUT...
We don't have that. So, in the mean time, we should explore other possibilities (emphasis on the plural there).