Electric Lotus to hit the streets
Battery-powered Elise is still a driver's car
Tesla Roadster: Lotus Elise-based
This battery-powered, carbon fibre-bodied sports car, made by Tesla in California, uses a 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor with max net power of 185kW -- that's equivalent to 248bhp -- and a torque curve that starts at 175lb-ft at zero rpm. It weighs just 1,136Kg.
As a result, the company quotes a 0-60mph for the Roadster of four seconds, illustrating the torque as follows: "A favourite trick here at Tesla Motors is to invite a passenger along and ask him to turn on the radio. At the precise moment we ask, we accelerate. Our passenger simply can’t sit forward enough to reach the dials."
Battery life is said to be over 100,000 miles with a full charge of the lithium-ion pack lasting 3.5 hours, or about 250 miles. It uses regenerative braking to help recharge the battery, with a full recharge taking about three hours. It's said to cost about 0.6p/mile to run. According to the company, "packed away in the trunk is an optional mobile-charging kit that proves very useful while away from home."
Why do it? Here's what founder Martin Eberhard said in his blog: "We at Tesla Motors love cars. We love to drive; we appreciate beautiful and fun cars. And Tesla cars are built for people who love to drive. So our optimisation is not for ultimate low cost, but rather for performance, aesthetics, and sex appeal."
Eberhard does admit in the company's forum, in which reaction to the news of the car is hugely positive, that the chassis is from the Lotus Elise, although in his blog he only said: "We designed the Roadster around high-performance chassis technology licensed from one of the world’s finest sportscar companies." The company's forum mentions the Lotus link several times including this comment: "I’m surprised you haven’t focused more on the collaboration with Lotus with regards to design and chassis engineering, as the prospect of driving a battery powered Lotus is one that will surely have eco-friendly car enthusiasts falling over themselves with excitement."
The car is set to be available early in 2007, and there's more on the company's site.
Can Lotus be persuaded to sell it over here? We can't wait.
see this link to my story;
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=290652&f=15&h=0
also a nice short video from that car with Arni as a pessenger in the beginning
fun. www.autoblog.com/2006/07/20/exclusive-video-tesla-roadster-unveiling/
GTRene
The price for what may be the first real step toward a viable mass-market electric car? $100k maybe some cheaper? but thats about 54.000,-gbp
Here with the Terminator Arni
GTRene
adit; and its a lot cheaper the this more then 500.000,-euro electric Fetish car, wich is also lighter and a bit more comfy...looks a bit like the VX220 of the Elise...strange too, so we have a nice look alike Elise and VX220 both as electric cars
I welcome them. 
see that story and more pics here;
www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/venturi_fetish.asp
If being driven properly on interesting roads that I know all you would hear is wind, tyre, suspension and chassis noise. That would be dull at best and possibly disturbing. Need to fit that system that was developed a whie back where you overlay the soundtrack of a great engine.
If being driven properly on interesting roads that I know all you would hear is wind, tyre, suspension and chassis noise. That would be dull at best and possibly disturbing. Need to fit that system that was developed a whie back where you overlay the soundtrack of a great engine.
I'll send you a copy of the sound track I made of my Chim 450 a few years ago ....
The price for what may be the first real step toward a viable mass-market electric car? $100k maybe some cheaper? but thats about 54.000,-gbp
Here with the Terminator Arni
GTRene
dude! you have The Man Schwarz in your car! that's cool!!
Love the ideas of the electric elise - had a poke around the Fetish at Monaco - the Mrs couldn't believe the power density they're getting out of batteries (she designs space craft and payloads etc so kinda knows her stuff) - which would explain the 450K price tag.
There was a short in Evo (mebbe month before last) about an electric powered Atom? they were complaining that 56K seemed expensive...seems very cheap to me if you never need buy fuel again!
Its not that difficult to give it some sound! just make some sort of airhorn on that rotating engine end...you can make any sound you like! you know, just like the warning horns they test for airalarm or dangerous chemicals in the air...they start slow and ad high rpm they sound very loud
so its that easy! like those horn they turn by hand, the faster they turn, the more it sounded... GTRene
like this..use some sort of those parts and put that on the rotating item of the engine and at low rpm it sounds not that hard and at high rpm its like a dril, remember also some airdrils sounds...thats nice too
or those very fast electric toy cars! you play a lot with that throtle too...it can sound fantastic! and no polution as a credit! 
Nice.
Why ever not? Besides, can an electric car really carry your average American?
Seems a bit harsh really. Shame.
Will British manufacturers please make something better. God save the Queen and the Planet!
Nice.
Why ever not? Besides, can an electric car really carry your average American?
Seems a bit harsh really. Shame.
Will British manufacturers please make something better. God save the Queen and the Planet!
I would guess that 'Technology export law' thing.
Nice.
Why ever not? Besides, can an electric car really carry your average American?
Seems a bit harsh really. Shame.
Will British manufacturers please make something better. God save the Queen and the Planet!
Lotus now also have the technohow in the house, and me thinks when al works like they hope too in the US, and all little things that can go wrong are checked...Lotus too will come out with such electric power sportscar in about 3 years(2009), and will weight no more then 1200kgs, mark my words!
GTRene
Nice.
Why ever not? Besides, can an electric car really carry your average American?
Seems a bit harsh really. Shame.
Will British manufacturers please make something better. God save the Queen and the Planet!
I would guess that 'Technology export law' thing.
Meh. That's just not fair. They're allowed to take our citizens but we can't have their sexy electric cars!
"Cars-for-Extradites" scheme has a bit of a ring to it. Any takers?
The sound of silence........reminds me of diesel powered Audi R10's. The noise is a part of the cars soul....lose that and you loose something important!
For daily use its not so bad to loose some sound, they can adept and make some rotating sounds like speeddrils
or thoose eletric cartoys? when they want they can make the sound you like, ofcorse its different, but different does not have to be bad and by the way, a lot of people drive 2 cars...one for daily use..and one for fun, and that funcar can big old V8 cars or fast porsche cars so you can choose better and most of the people just drive from A to B so they can buy electric cars and save a lot fuel for the carnuts like us to have some burningrubber times in fast fuel cars in our spare time and there always will be some sporty superfast electric cars! and they can be faster then combustion cars too! maybe Audi goes electric Le-mans in 2010 thats like going into the future that year you don't need to fuel up, only charge every by then 5 hours on some sort of quick charge they will have by that time, or they just change the fuelcell?? interesting futere me thinks. GTRene
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