California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is holding a press conference tomorrow with Tesla Motors, makers of some of the coolest electric cars on the planet, to announce a 4 door, 5 passenger sedan slated for release in 2010.
Not much information right now but rumor has it that it will be called the Whitestar and should be as efficient as the Roadster model now making the rounds.
The Roadster costs $109,000 but the sedan should be slightly less given its “green family” appeal. We’ll be there tomorrow for some on the scene reporting. Here’s hoping Gov. Schwarzenegger screams “Come with me if you want to live” to the assembled press and then says “Do it, do it now” to the plan to increase the number of electric cars on California roads.
Update: The new sedan will not be called Whitestar. Also, this is some sort of partnership with the state of California, it isn’t just an endorsement or random appearance by Schwarzenegger.
Update 2: The announcement is that Tesla will manufacture the sedan in California, instead of going to New Mexico, thanks to a $9 million incentive package.
and what does this news got to do with TechCrunch again? Have you since started doing “Advertorial”? I’m really not aware of it
Until the Tesla costs $35k, I don’t buy it. It’s still a depreciating asset.
I love it. We need something to get people thinking about alternative energy. I have been a fan of alt energy since the 70’s when my dad put solar on our house in the midwest.
I am not sure electric cars are the answer… but innovation is what Tesla does well for sure. They make green sexy.
When it comes to mfg they have scaling challenges… but it is the true vision and execution that truly impresses me.
Rodney Rumford
@Hendra
A lot of tech goes into building cars like the ones that Tesla builds. Cars like those are the future, and I think in the near future we will start seeing a lot of tie-ins with the “web 2.0″ world.
This is perfectly aligned to TechCrunch in my opinion.
@2 I believe they do have a a $35K in the works. And this sedan will help to pay for it.
The first link in John’s article to Tesla motors is broken.
Whitestar sounds like a ford minivan
lol, I find it hilarious that Tesla’s first two models of cars, in basically a recession, will run in the very high 5 figure / low 6 figure range. Totally out of reach for 99.9% of the car buying marketplace.
I get that the tech is new and it will get cheaper, blah blah blah, but until like #2 said, this car drops into the 20-30K range, it might as well not even exist to the general population. By the time 2010 rolls around, who knows what the US economy will be like…
This should be interesting. A new dawn in autos is upon us. Would love to hear about more automotive tech firms. Tesla gets tons of press. There must be others that are reaching for the stars and will be successful [or die trying] in the future.
$89k was the rumored price point for the sedan. See link below.
http://www.tree...a_motors_ev.php
Although I do not think that Tesla has anything to do with web2.0, it is still a refreshing news/information.
Better than the countless posts about Yahoo and Facebook.
Well… they took to much time to make a real eletric cars… LA for example, is a huge city with more than 1 car per person that lives there… I hope this idea works fine and the people really buy the idea… and those cars.
@Chris
When the first electric cars were made, the goal was to find a balance between performance and price. In order to make them affordable for the masses the resulting cars were ugly, slow and ugly again. Tesla’s unveiling of new cars from the most expensive to the more affordable is brilliant in my opinion.
All the profits that the Roadster generates will be plowed into the development of Whitestar and then those resulting profits pushed into the ultra affordable model down the ‘road’.
Changing the oil driven paradigm is a process which requires a critical formula. Tesla has it right, lets give them our support!
$109,000 is a lot of money for a car, but the Tesla Roadster compares really favorably to *other* $109,000 cars. I think most of us here would greatly prefer a Tesla to a Ferrari.
So my options are, buy a Tesla and live in apartments, or buy a home and drive my existing gas car.. I really want to go for it, but it doesn’t really seem economical unless you’re already “rich.”
3 questions:
1) Isn’t making cars very hard?
2) Are Tesla actually delivering cars right now?
3) Shouldn’t they be pumping out ~ couple hundred cars/month before they move onto the next one?
Governor Arnold flies his private jet from L.A. to Sacramento almost every day.
Why should anyone believe what he says about being “green”?
Will Kuato be there?
“I think most of us here would greatly prefer a Tesla to a Ferrari.”
Wrong.
@Tesla Zoomer
I dunno, I think if you want to take the world by storm and really create a revolution in converting people’s thinking on electric cars, the Tesla is not the way to do it. It’s the same as if Ferrari came out and said, we have night vision viewing in the windshield and you can open up a helicopter propeller on the roof for short flight distances. That would be cool as hell, but most people will never even come close to owning one, so who cares?
If the technology is prohibitively expensive, then there is not much you can do. I kind of think that Tesla sees an opportunity to cater to the very rich here in the beginning and is sacrificing bring it to the masses in order to bring in a bigger profit on each car for a few years first…
Green absolutely rubbish the guy drives a hummer in his private life has been in countless movies blowing every damn thing in sight up.
Until the Tesla costs $35k, I don’t buy it. It’s still a depreciating asset.
Yeah Exactly.
Poor choice of pic.
can’t imagine you’d post a pic of an iPhone / Arrington / Washington Post logo in this quality / expression.
TechCrunch readers are not dumb, and don’t want to be hit by tabloid-style pics.
Hi everyone,
It’s not intrusion but an humble request to the community here.
I have recently started an articles website and would request you (I will appreciate if you can) to please spare some time and post articles at my site.
Thanks
Prashant
http://www.depositarticles.com
well the electric car is definitely the way to go, BUT, as everyone stated, the price will need to go down.. way down… before it becomes a viable solution for everyone.
To those complaining it’s too expensive – these early models are not intended for mass market. Tesla couldn’t build them fast enough even if they were $35k each. Their strategy is to price low enough so that what they manufacture will sell but high enough to recoup some of the costs.
This is early days, everything is being learned by Tesla from the technology to the dealerships to after sales service.
Please be patient.
@PixelizeMeToo — I think the picture is funny and that it being pixelated says nothing about the intellegence of tc’s readership.
@Prashant — Your website is funny.
The “Governator” drives a hummer folks. A big obnoxious yellow hummer. And hes making an apperance at a Tesla Green Car unveiling? Photo op anyone?
Lol the SEO kid, thats funny I forgot he drove a hummer, That $109,000 car better be sweet and fast, or come with $80,000 in the glove box.
Keep your eyes on Zenn Motors and their cityZENN planned for late 2009 (but who are we kidding? Probably 2010!) That’s the affordable electric car with highway capable specs that you’re looking for. I can’t wait until they come out. That will be our very first car and it’s the reason my husband and I are just now getting our drivers licenses in our 30s.