Tesla Model S Unveiled
March 27, 2009 by Anthony Crawford
“Tesla Motors has just revealed its Model S Sedan at the SpaceX rocket plant in Hawthorne, California”
SpaceX is also owned by Tesla’s Chief Executive and co-founder of PayPal, Elon Musk, who although said to be worth more than A$500 million, is a keen champion for a greener world.
Mr Musk says that the car will be built in California and initial customers can expect delivery during 2011.
Interestingly, you will be able to select three different power configurations, that’s a 257-kilometre, 370-kilometre and 482-kilometre battery packs.
The base model comes standard with the 257-kilometre pack, and will retail for US$57,400 in the United States, but a federal tax credit will mean a US$7500 reduction from the price.
At this point Tesla have not revealed prices on the longer-range battery packs but Mr. Musk did say that these variants could be leased or even rented for long trips.
With the battery packs said to last between seven-to-10 years, and while they can be exchanged or replaced, there is no reported price to do so as yet.
The long range Model S will weight about 1800 kilograms and is said to have a top speed of 209km/h.
Acceleration is impressive, with 0-100km/h being tackled in less than six seconds. If you don’t need to transport five people, you might want to order the Tesla Roadster, which will rocket to 100km/h in just four seconds.
The model S was originally penned by Henrik Fisker of Fisker Khama (another electric car company) fame, but the car was re-styled by Franz Von Holzhausen, who joined Tesla last year after working for Mazda.
But the Model S is no ordinary sedan (apart from being electrically powered) as it can accommodate up to seven people or you can fold the rear seats down, and turn the car into a wagon.
This seating flexibility is achieved with side-facing seats in the rear, but the really cool thing is, you can also fit a 50-inch LCD TV in there, or even a surfboard, but that’s instead of the additional people.
The car shown above has a glass roof, which will also be available on the production model.
The company is planning a production run of up to 20,000 Model S a year once the factory is at full capacity in 2012. However, the go ahead on this particular Tesla model depends on whether the company receives an A$500 million loan from the Department of Energy.
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- Fisker Karma Hybrid 2
Print it: 
A stylish, practical, useable electric car… Why did this come from some internet dude instead of GM/ Ford/ Toyota etc? I like it. Well done you clever little nerdy people!
“But the Model S is no ordinary sedan”
Well clearly its a hatch back!
“AUD$500 million loan from the Department of Energy”
Unreal, half a billon gives us something new,world beating, and not to mention creates jobs.
A potential 30bn is required to keep GM & Crysler open, just so they can remove over 50,000 jobs.
So were looking a BMW X5 prices when this hits Australia?
Umm.. Where do the remainder seats go, “side position” or otherwise? All I see is a boot, and a standard 5-seat layout of a car :/
And unless the shape is much taller than it looks in the pictures, I don’t see there being much headroom for extra ppl :s
Otherwise a handsome looking car.
Where does the power come from to charge it up?
Nuclear power stations of course!
Australia….. 5 nuclear power stations please.
It has to be the best looking seven seater i have seen.
load of crap…..hate electric hybrid or any eco bullshitting cars….their is more to car experience that just looks…what is the point of having a decent looking car if it is silent….No thanks…
besides he stole bmw nissan and an a couple of other cars sketches to build this….
Oh i forgot to mention the absolutely SKYROCKETING POWER ENERGY BILLS that will explode once more of these cars come on board…
“what is the point of having a decent looking car if it is silent….No thanks…”
Its only silent from the outside, the Tesla roadsters sounds like a jet engine inside. And not to mention theres more to it than just noise! Just think of the torque from go.
“SKYROCKETING POWER ENERGY BILLS”, … yeah because that will never happen to petrol prices.
Interesting concept, wonder how close his predictions will be? He has had to mkae a few adjustments for the pricing and build comencement dates etc for the Roadster so so I’ll be surprised if these come out on time and price. Wonder how it’s crash rating will be? Or is that why they are limiting build to 20,000??? Sorry but some companies make me extremely pessimistic.
Wish there was an edit facility here. Further to the price issue, if they can do a “seven” seat sedan for this price on a fresh design, then why are they charging so much for a roadster in a donor body?
Marcoz, easily some of the unintelligent claims I’ve seen for a while on this blog. Better get that carbon monoxide leak checked out in your office buddy.
Laughs aside, fantastic vehicle. Just shows the value of true forward thinking and a genuine desire for creating a better car – something the big manufacturers cannot, and will not do for some years. Well done to the geeks on this one.
“AUD$500 million loan from the Department of Energy”
Well, half of money go to CEO’s pocket instantly.
Nothing specially wrong in real world !!!
Especially at big,fat country.
This cars smexy but it’s front is fugly.
Jaguar will be dissapointed to see that someone stole the updated XF looks :D
You know when you’re watching a television show and there are two characters that you know are going to end up together but they stall the romance for about three series and it really pisses you off? This is how it feels with hydrogen right now. You know it’s the right answer and you know that one day, it will happen so why don’t they just get it together?
I’m not so opposed to electric cars if they aren’t relying on a petrol or diesel engine as well but I’d still much rather hydrogen, the real future of car fuels.
Does look good though, doesn’t it? In a world of very badly proportioned sedans, this looks fantastic.
Must say though, is the front reminding anybody else of the Maserati GranTurismo?
Too much like an Aston Martin. They should sue ‘em.
Alex ur right, the first thing i thought was that it is a Gran Turismo. But it is good looking you have to give it that. Although the pricing if it ever comes out here will be in the ML/X5 price range.
Priced in the ML/X5 range? Maybe ML63, but thats about it. $57k in the US translates to about $150k here, you can’t simply convert the currency.
Dreams are free. This will never appear in a showroom in your town.
Yes Capt Mainbearing,
You’re right, there is more chance of the Tata Nano selling here than this machine.
@Marcoz – you’re a dinosaur mate. Skyrocketing energy bills? What do you think Petrol is? Magic juice? It’s energy in liquid form. They have skyrocketted and the next decade will only see worse. The price to tun this dollar for dollar is a fraction of a percent compared to Petrol – AND I get to drive a good looking car for under $100K. Pity it probably won’t be seen in Oz for another 5+ years unless imported.
As for the experience, this car will outrun your revved up V8 Holden you probably own. As for Eco cars? There is no such thing as Eco when it comes to cars; electric, hybrid or otherwise. Robert Llewellyn explains this succinctly in his Youtube rant on Eco and Cars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPi8EhT_fYA
Have a nice day.
Cheers Lantrix,
I’ve sprayed my screen with coffee, and tears are rolling down my face. Funniest youtube i’ve ever seen. Cheers for sharing :)
Lantrix said – “Skyrocketing energy bills? What do you think Petrol is? Magic juice? It’s energy in liquid form. They have skyrocketted and the next decade will only see worse. The price to tun this dollar for dollar is a fraction of a percent compared to Petrol – AND I get to drive a good looking car for under $100K. Pity it probably won’t be seen in Oz for another 5+ years unless imported.”
What’s the point of shifting demand from one limited resource to another? You’ll still be paying the same. Except for the extra inconvenience you get with electric…
But correct, there hasn’t been an eco car dicovered yet.
According to Tesla, Compared to something like a chevy Impala the energy cost is about half to drive 230miles. But on top of that is lower maintenance and the fact you have the choice to truely offset the electricity yourself with (PV Solar) or rely on our good old Coal power for it.
And as I pointed out before, car companies need to develop the EV technology before Hydrogen can take off.
Do you really think its all that inconvenient? For me with all the driving I did in 2008, I think there were only a couple of trips where this car may not have to the range to do the job. So for all other trips I would never of had to stop at a petrol station. Sounds pretty good to me.