Innovative electric-car startup Tesla is unveiling the latest addition to its lineup this afternoon in Southern California. The sedan is meant to serve as a more affordable entry to the Tesla lineup that will appeal to the mainstream, with a ticket price of around $50,000 (as opposed to well over $100,000 for the Tesla Roadster). Current estimates peg release of the car in late 2011.
Earlier today Digg’s Kevin Rose leaked a number of photos of the car (which has been kept tightly under wraps until now). The car apparently features a very large touchscreen in the center console, as well as a digital display that is possibly touch-sensitive in the dash. Rose appears to have made the Flickr accounts he originally posted the photos to private, but they have been copied to a number of other sites.
The video feed should be live by 12:45 PM PST
Update: It looks like Ustream had trouble with its feed, but here are some details, via Jason Calacanis’s Twitter stream.
- The car has 3G connectivity, as well as a computer with a 17 inch monitor in the center console.
- The car will allow for three different removal battery packs, each capable of supporting a different maximum distance (there’s a 300 mile and 160 mile version). Partial battery charges take as little as 45 minutes.
- Seats five adults, with two seats in the rear facing backwards
Awesome, we have to wait two more years.
hmm..The Car really looks Cool..
http://www.smartbloggerz.com
I stopped reading at your first sentence where you said “innovative startup tesla.” Can you explain to me in detail what is innovative about the tesla roadster, which is essentially a rebadged lotus elise with powerpacks and a stripped interior with plastic?
The innovative part is that you can *buy* it. None of the big three have thought of building full-electric cars and then … selling them, only building them and then scrapping them, which hasn’t yet resulted in profits. Maybe one day they’ll decide to sell them, but by then I’ll be driving a Tesla.
agreed
and the model s has one of the worst interiors ive ever seen in a production vehicle with an MSRP of over $50,000.
And that is because the prototype car interior from the spy shots will look exactly like the final product right?
Do you actually work in technology or do you just read this blog because you hear it is the hip web2.0 thing to do?
Dude, Paul…Web 2.0 died like 3 weeks ago. Get on the train.
And this might as well be a f’n “concept” car. Obviously it’s not the final product, but this is ridiculous if they expect to take orders without some sense of what the final interior will look like.
Tesla is smoke. These guys have been doing nothing for months/years now. All talk, all hype, and it’s fading fast. The lines are a rip off of a G35 (although slicker), nothing incredibly progressive in terms of things. Full electric – who cares, Chevy has that hammered out with the Volt (not as sexy – but regardless, the tech is on par if not better than what they chumps have).
Any specs released on HP, top speed?
Finally, look at what you’re highlighting – 3G and a computer console. Really, what is this, 2008? 3G will be gone in another year and a half with the expected roll out of 4G. I would expect more…
Bernie,
So Tesla, which has been shipping actual cars to actual customers for about a year now, is smoke… yet the *Volt* is real?
Right.
Richie – The first 40 were recalled due to their drivetrain problems, they had to push back the delivery of this piece to 2011, they are over-budget and out of money.
Yes, I would consider that to be SMOKE. Absolutely.
The internal photos are leaked snapshots, *not* official. There are no officially released photos of the interior because that apparently isn’t finished yet.
I cannot wait until all of the worlds cars are electric. More energy than the world will ever need hits the earth in the form of UV rays from the sun, every day. Lets harness this well and say goodbye to fossil fuels!
we need more nuke stations to generate electricity
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Tesla revitalize the US auto industry.
Screw GM… Give them some bailout money!
@Andre: tesla applied for auto funds from the U.S. government
btw: Tesla’s car looks like a Toyota Camry Hybrid…which is like BFD
Despite its flaws, we need a company like Tesla. Teslay will probably fail and the founders will probably lose it all but the same goes for Edison and Graham. There are leaders and inventors that end up in the history books 50 years from now but in their lifetime, they were known as “failures”.
The tesla is setting the stage and pushing the envelope but I fear it won’t exist in the next 10 years and other companies will step up to use this tech and make it better.
Tesla, your cars are overpriced, your design is sub-par but you’re setting the bar at a level and pushing the envelope further. I hope you guys make it but at the very least, you’re building an industry from scratch and for that, I applaud you.
A Roadster for $100,000 is overpriced?
Despite its flaws, we need a company like Tesla. Teslay will probably fail and the founders will probably lose it all but the same goes for Edison and Graham. There are leaders and inventors that end up in the history books 50 years from now but in their lifetime, they were known as “failures”.
The tesla is setting the stage and pushing the envelope but I fear it won’t exist in the next 10 years and other companies will step up to use this tech and make it better.
Tesla, your cars are overpriced, your design is sub-par but you’re setting the bar at a level and pushing the envelope further. I hope you guys make it but at the very least, you’re building an industry from scratch and for that, I applaud you.
adam, all 3 of the US auto companies already have production plans for electric vehicles. Why do we need tesla which makes $100k redbadged lotus elise?
“Having plans for” and “accomplishing” are two different animals in the automobile biz. Tesla is in production, selling the thing.
GM has “had plans” to restore market share, yet it keeps dropping. Ford “had plans” to make a killing off its luxury brands (Jaguar, Land Rover, etc.), and has ended up selling them off one by one.
Rebadged Lotus Elise? It uses the Elise monocoque, redesigned for the large battery pack. Different propulsion, different wiring, different body. Meanwhile the Big 2 rebadge import cars as their own, and sell them for more.
Further, some people seem to lump all EVs into the same category. A 2 seat high end sportscar that happens to be electric is as different from the Volt and other planned hybrids and EVs as a Ferrari is from a Dodge Caliber.
Meh according to Top gear this car will be irrelevant..heard of the Honda Clarity?
Yes. It’s a fuel cell vehicle at the moment. If they take the silly platinum cell array and put in a battery, maybe they’ll have something. But hydrogen will never be a feasible fuel source. Even if Honda can get the price of the vehicle down below $100,000 in the next few years (it’s hopeful, but no promises), the laws of physics make hydrogen a terrible and inefficient fuel. It looks nice in TV commercials, but it will never happen…Obama is already moving away from it.
too bad the clarity looks like shit
Looks like a jaguar. I’ll bet money on it that Tesla wont be able to produce this car and sell it for $50k and still make money.
What are the odds of this car being manufactured on time and sold at the current MSRP? In 2011, all major manufacturers will be producing this exact car for under $35k. Good luck, Tesla.
Krose just got a message from Telsa telling him to take down the photos.
I think Tesla is a backward company. They talk about being ‘innovative’ but have made all the mistakes that the big 3 have made including 1) building their own manufacturing capacity, 2) developing their own dealer network.
Compare that to Fisker who relies on Valmet (builds Porsches) for their manufacturing, and sold the sales rights (announced yesterday) to an already existing dealer network.
Strange that Tesla would look outside for design (to Fisker no less), and yet not consider the same outsourcing model for manufacturing and distribution.
Tesla isn’t nearly as ‘innovative’ as fisker, and I suspect won’t be able to scale their model.
wow. beautiful.
cool looking car. too bad I can’t trust the car maker.
why?
** with two seats in the rear facing backwards **
What?
love it.
I’m always freaked out by kids in old Volvos that have those backward facing seats. Now, it will be old white dudes. Wow, how the times have changed.
Hey honey, why don’t you get in the backseat so I don’t have to talk or look at you.
Until you have to travel in it and (a) get travel sick because you can’t see where you’re going and (b) can’t hold a conversation with the people in the front.
What an utterly ridiculous idea. No wonder the US car industry is dead.
Exactly what I thought. Where is the photo of that!
michael, do you believe the interior is good?
There are much better pictures of the finished interior in all the major auto websites (jalopnik & autoblog has some good pictures, gizmodo has closeups of the touch screen). You didn’t think they would release a car (even a prototype) with an interior like in the picture, did you? Common sense says that’s a picture of when they were working on the car.
Not sure how to reply to those of you saying Tesla hasn’t demonstrated any innovation here. How exactly does one take an objective look at a fully-electric, emission-free sports car that’ll reach 60mph in less than 4 seconds while getting better than 5 times the fuel efficiency of a Toyota Prius – and say that it lacks innovation? Is it expensive? Yes. Go find me a car in the sub-4 second club that’s not. In my opinion the Roadster represents one of the great achievements in automotive history.
Equally astonishing is that tendency of Tesla haters to offer up the Volt and the Karma, two hybrids, as better examples what clean auto technology canbe.
I can’t wait for the model S to be the 2nd highway-capable electric car on the road in 2011, still years ahead of the Big 3 concepts that will cost billions, be plagued with trouble, and run on batteries supplied by Tesla.
Yeah and what about when you run out of juice? Spend 16 hours recharging it?
A v10 Gallardo with 520 horses doesn’t go sub-4, there is NO WAY this piece goes that. Get your facts straight.
And let’s face it a $30k Camero would smoke this thing with my girlfriend driving.
Confirmed: 0-60 in 5.6 (do you work for them or something?)
Did Elon Musk steal your girlfriend or something? Jagr was talking about the Roadster, which already exists. Its reviews have basically lived up to the hype, and it fulfilled most all of its promises. Including 0-60 in 3.9.
How did I know he was talking about the Roadster? It said so in his post. Please, lay off the vitriol, and read before you post.
Jared, sorry did miss that point. Also, the Roadster. No one has managed to get sub 4 in tests. Tesla in their own tests only managed 4.4. Testers have said it’s closer to 5.7. That’s a big difference. And as I noted, slower than a Camero.
My fault on this one. I was accidentally quoting the figure for the Roadster Sport. And–see below–I don’t give a crap how fast my car goes, I just hope to one day buy an electric car that works well and is affordable. This unveiling seems like a decent step in the right direction.
@bernie lomax
it’s like you want tesla to fail. what’s your problem?
let me guess: you were one of the lobbyists in the 80’s lobbying against the electric car, so that detroit could go about their free-wheeling, ho-hum, non-innovative ways?
Having a new car maker (finally) disrupting the existing oil controlled conglomerates should be nothing but cheered for.
So go Tesla go!
What a horrible, snarky, shallow, discouraging thread. Yikes! How did we get here and how can we re-educate an entire population of Americans on the virtues of this effort?
Tesla represents:
1) Heroic entrepreneurship on a stonking great scale. In the USA. In California. This country is in some serious, serious shit. Tesla is in the category of things that give me hope.
2) Capitalism & Creative Destruction – Good, bad, or beautiful, Tesla’s work is changing the destiny of cars. They may live, they may not, but its absolutely marvelous to have even tried. All cars will be different because of their work. This fore-ordained outcome – that GM, Ford, Toyota et al have already changed their plans because Tesla exists – is a testament to our system of governance.
3) Entrepreneurship as a positive force for change. All in, the Tesla investment is about 1% of the taxpayer cash just consumed by the big 3. This kind of leverage elates me. So little cash in the hands of so very few hard-working creative individuals. And their work could change pretty much everything… oil, global politics, war, climate, the basic human condition.
I thought that was sort of what this blog was about…?
And Bernie, dude, its CamAro.
Gart, we’re commenting about the company. Yes – their idea is a good one. Their execution not so much.
This thread is about the unveiling on a car – I believe people are commenting about that. The stats Tesla provides no one else can back up. They obviously have someone posting here as well (Jared?) and so that throws a curve-ball in here as well.
I agree that they have a noble idea. That said, as others have noted, they’ve taken a Lotus and put in an electric motor.
And my misspelling on a Camaro (thanks) doesn’t change the fact that it would likely dominate either of their cars 0-60. And that’s them that want to compare themselves to gas guzzlers.
Um, no, I don’t work for Tesla. I’m a professional clarinet player, if you must know. I just thought that the knee-jerk, vicious replies that didn’t make sense ought to be evened out a little. I’m still not sure why you, Bernie, have such a profound hatred for the company and the car. They’re not “out of money,” especially as their CEO doesn’t seem to mind spending his own $300 million fortune to keep things going, and if they were they wouldn’t be the only company this year to be in that position. If they fail, they fail, and it’s no loss to me. But–let’s say it again–they have a fully electric vehicle, with good reviews so far, that is being driven by actual citizens right now. If you want to drive an ICE Camaro the rest of your life and pretend that global oil demand and global warming don’t matter at all, fine. The rest of us are excited that after decades of undelivered hype, there are actually viable EV’s on the market now.
wow…finally an electric car that is actually attractive.
Jason- can you tell me who in the ‘mainstream’ will be attracted to a car with a $50k pricepoint? Do you mean the silicon valley VC mainstream?
The presentation of this car as a vehicle for the mainstream is an interesting marketing tactic by Tesla that isn’t going to stick.
I think the idea is that it just has to be more mainstream than the Roadster. Like it or hate it, regardless of whether you think it’ll work, Tesla’s proclaimed business model is very simple: sell ridiculously overpriced luxury car, use profits to expand production and fund design of very expensive sedan; use profits of sedan to design and produce affordable EV for everyone.
I’m not sure it’s the best plan, and the company’s had problems…but at the very least, for right now they’re selling out even the ludicrous $108,000 sport car far faster than they can build them. We’ll just have to see, I guess.
Don’t know if you looked around at new cars these days — a LOT of cars are over $40k. This Tesla is at least fairly competitive for what it offers.
I really thought this was an early April Fools joke for a while after I read “two seats facing backwards.”
I’m still not sure it isn’t.
They wanted it to seat 7 people. I don’t know why either, but there it is. It’s only the 2 kiddie seats way in the back that face the rear; everything else is normal. They have specs and whatnot up on teslamotors.com now, if you’d like to see them try to explain themselves.
What’s with all the hate, this is a great car, made by a company that has risked a lot of money to push the entire industry to ask “why not”
Forget Tesla! Check out the Fisker Karma. Amazingly beautiful, production ready full electric cars. Saw them at the Detroit Auto Show….WOW!
http://karma.fi...automotive.com/
Thanks,
Jaafer
Yes. Starting in 2010 Fisker Karmas are to be made in Finland by Valmet Automotive. They have been making Porsche Boxster’s and Cayman’s from 1997, so quality should be top notch.
http://en.wikip...ki/Fisker_Karma
Yes, the Karma looks great. Once again, though, you’re now talking about a plug-in hybrid, an entirely different animal from a pure EV. It’s too early now to say for sure which of all the competing transportation technologies is going to “win,” or if several of them will end up succeeding in a Coke/Pepsi scenario.
Tesla, remember, is actually (right now) selling functional electric cars that its buyers actually like. If (a big if) the model s lives up to its hype (45 minute charge at a powerful outlet, or the possibility of a battery swap station), it’ll be the first electric car brought to market that can basically replace a combustion engine vehicle. Whether the company succeeds or fails, they’re doing great things now.
Arnie wants his money back. Gonna refund him Jared?
This car sure looks very similar to the Jag SK.
I was thinking the same thing. Prettiest car on the road.
They’re moving in the right direction with this one.
I want one. and $50,000 sounds about right.
I too am amazed by the callousness on display here in this thread and how fast people who have nothing useful to contribute are to snipe at those who actually do -for any or no reason.
Staggering!
If they aren’t innovative, how come they have a 300 mile range, compared with GM’s 40 mile rang and gasoline engine?
COME ON!!!!
That’s a sweet looking ride. Too bad it couldn’t be rolled out next year instead of 2011…..
Gas/oil is out!
Green is in!
This is a car worth buying.
Tesla is on the right track. America needs to support Tesla because they represent the future of America’s technology contribution and we really need the change. Pure electric cars are superior to combustion driven cars in so many ways it is moronic to not try to make them mainsteam – no carcenogenic oil changes, no oxygen consumption, no 70% efficiency losses, no non-renewable energy consumption, no more stops at the gas station, no dependancy on foriegn oil lords, no tailpipe – no brainer.
Here are some better interior shots:
http://www.tree...how.php?page=16
OMG…everyone on this post wants to talk crap about a company that started up with their own capital and actually produced a working all electric car when GM was trying to sell us the hummer. Most of the ppl that are trashing tesla are exactly the reason this country is in such a sad state, they sit on their couches making snide comments about a company that is actually trying to bring a viable electric car to the masses. Posters bring up the chevy volt..where is this car? they cant even show us a working prototype and this is a billon dollar company with the finest talent, and fully functional R+D that money can buy. They have factories all over the country, vast supplies of raw material, an established supply chain and distribution infrastructure and yet they are unable or unwilling to give us a car that we need to revitalize this country and to make us independant of the ppl that hate our society and everything we stand for. TESLA I for one applaud you…keep trying…keep dreaming…keep moving foward….This country has been controled by the big 3 for far too long…our economy,our future,and our environment depends on the changes that are in the works now.