El precio oficial será de 50.000 dólares en total, tras un descuento de 7.500 dólares por parte del gobierno de EE UU para fomentar la compra de vehículos eléctricos.
Tesla tiene previsto fabricar 20.000 unidades al año, en una planta en California, EE UU.
El vehículo podrá ser cargado con cualquier enchufe, en casa, en la calle o en el garaje, y una carga completa demorará 4 horas. Además tiene la opción de una carga rápida en 45 minutos.
La batería del vehículo tiene una vida útil de entre 7 a 10 años, y una gran autonomía.
Alcanza una velocidad de 0 a 100 kilómetros por hora en 5,5 segundos, algo usual en los vehículos eléctricos.
Ayer el fundador de Digg, Kevin Rose, ya habían filtrado tres imágenes que mostraban el interior del vehículo con una gran pantalla táctil. Una hora más tarde, Tesla le pidió a Rose borrar las fotografías de Flickr… y así lo hizo. Aquí reproducimos una de esas imágenes.
Por el momento (ya que todavía se está efectuando la ceremonia de lanzamiento) sólo sabemos que el nuevo sedán eléctrico de 4 puertas tiene una capacidad para 5 pasajeros, su precio en el mercado será de unos 60.000 dólares y su producción comercial comenzará en el año 2011.
El lanzamiento dependerá de la obtención de la financiación necesaria, algo difícil con la crisis actual. Tesla ha solicitado un crédito de 350 millones de dólares, dentro del programa del gobierno de EE UU de ayuda al sector automovilístico.
"Bienvenidos al Modelo S", declaró el diseñador Franz von Holzhausen mientras quitaba las cubiertas de un par de prototipos del sedán que funciona únicamente con electricidad y que según la empresa tendrá una capacidad para siete personas y podrá recorrer 300 millas (480 kilómetros) con una única carga.
Von Holzhausen lideró un equipo de diseñadores que construyó los automóviles en la futurista SpaceX Rocket Factory, donde fueron presentados al público.
Elon Musk, director ejecutivo de Tesla, se sentó al volante de un modelo gris con el interior blanco y techo corredizo, y lo condujo hacia el exterior del edificio, lo que demostró que realmente funciona.
Musk dijo que la empresa debe determinar aún cuánto cobrará por el modelo de tecnología de punta que puede viajar 300 millas con una sola carga. No se ha tomado una decisión definitiva sobre qué opciones estarán disponibles a un costo adicional.
"Lo que esperamos que haga este automóvil es demostrar a la industria automovilística que es posible crear un automóvil eléctrico muy convincente a un precio muy convincente", dijo Musk.
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Tesla unveils groundbreaking electric car
LOS ANGELES — US automaker Tesla Motors unveiled its state-of-the-art five-seat sedan here Thursday, billed as the world’s first mass-produced, highway-capable electric car.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said the company, which last year released a breakthrough two-seater roadster, aims to have its sleek "Model S" sedan rolling off assembly lines by 2011.
The futuristic zero-emission vehicle will be powered by lithium-ion battery packs capable of between 160 and 300 miles (257 and 482 kilometers) per charge.
The car has an anticipated base price of 57,400 dollars but will cost less than 50,000 after a federal tax credit of 7,500 dollars, Musk said.
While the price tag is steep compared to other mass-market sedans, Tesla has stressed that tax incentives, relatively inexpensive maintenance and refueling will make the car competitive with cheaper rival sedans.
Musk told reporters that he hoped the car would lead a new generation of vehicles which would help the auto industry wean itself off of foreign oil.
"What we really wanted to show the car industry is that it is possible to create a compelling electric car at a compelling price," Musk said. "We hope the industry will follow our lead."
"It’s incredibly important that we wean ourselves off oil as soon as possible and that we make the transition to electric vehicles rapidly."
Musk said Tesla aimed to manufacture around 20,000 units per year from an undisclosed factory location in Southern California and said the vehicle could be charged at home in just four hours.
"Even at 20,000 cars per year we won’t come close to affecting the electricity grid and you will be able to charge this car at home.
"It’s capable of taking a wide range of currents and voltages, and the charge is built into the car so you don’t have to worry about ‘Is there a charger at the destination that I’m driving to?’," Musk said.
Tesla said its new model would become the "car of choice for environmentally conscious and discriminating drivers throughout North America and Europe." It expects to roughly split initial sales between the two continents before expanding into Asia in 2012.
Tesla’s other zero-emission car, the two-seat Roadster, is on sale in Europe and the United States.
The company said last year it had ramped up production of the high-performance vehicle, with a price tag of about 100,000 dollars, due to soaring demand.
Tesla, founded in 2003, specializes in the environmentally-friendly, electric cars that several car manufacturers are starting to produce.
Thursday’s unveiling comes against the backdrop of a US auto industry in crisis while President Barack Obama has said his administration wants to see a million electric cars on the roads by 2015.
Auto industry analysts were cautious about whether Tesla’s "Model S" suggested that the future of the US auto industry was electric, saying hybrid vehicles and low fuel prices could stymie their growth.
Jim Hossack of California-based AutoPacific Consulting said Tesla’s latest prototype was "something of a technical marvel" but questioned whether it could revolutionize the US auto industry.
"The problem is our fuel price. If you’re going to launch an electric vehicle you probably want to do it in a market where fuel prices are high," Hossack told AFP. "At the moment in the US, they’re cheap, a quarter of what they are in Europe or Japan. Hybrids might be better positioned to be the dominant technology."
While production of the "Model S" would demonstrate that it was possible to make a mass-produced electric car, Hossack noted that "we can also put a man on the moon. And it turns out it’s expensive."
"A 50-60,000 dollar four-door sedan is not going to to turn the world on its head," he said.
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Here’s a quick rundown of the technical specs Tesla Model S electric four-door sedan:
– BATTERY CELLS: Advanced lithium-ion chemistry yields 20-percent improvement in energy density, 50 percent more energy output over Roadster.
– BATTERY PACK: 8,000 commodity cells; standard 42-kWh pack gives 160-mile range; 230-mile (50-plus kWh) and 300-mile (70 kWh) packs to come later for rental or purchase; quicker to change than a gas tank. The 300-mile pack will use an entirely different cell chemistry than the other two.
– CHARGING: 3.5-hour charge (at 220 Volts, 70 Amps) standard, 45-minute fast charge (at 440 Volts, unspecified Amperage) available.
– DRIVETRAIN: 9-inch liquid-cooled motor between the rear wheels, output not specified; single-speed transmission; rear-wheel drive, with all-wheel-drive "in the works".
– WEIGHT: Curb weight just over 4000 pounds; distribution 55-45, biased toward the rear.
– PERFORMANCE: 0-to-60 in 5.6 seconds; top speed 130 mph in upcoming "Sport" model.
– BODY: "Mostly" aluminum chassis and body;target coefficient of drag: 0.26 – 0.27.
– PRICE: Base price $57,400, before $7,500 Federal tax credit; base version comes with 160-mile battery pack.
– VOLUME: Tesla plans to sell 15,000 to 20,000 Model S sedans a year; the first cars will arrive in the second half of 2011, with full production a year later.
Doing the math, the performance numbers roughly pencil out. The Roadster pack has 6,381 cells, so the Model S pack has 25% more. If the newer cells have 20% greater energy density, the Model S pack would weigh about the same (990 pounds) as the Roadster pack.
But it’s the power output that’s key here. If the curb weight is a bit over 4,000 pounds, the pack has to move 60% more mass than the Roadster. So power output that’s 50% higher will mean slightly less jaw-dropping acceleration. And indeed, the sedan’s 5.6 seconds to 60 mph is higher than the Roadster’s 3.9.
But keeping weight to 4,000 pounds–if 1,000 pounds of it is battery–will require an aluminum structure. Which means Tesla will likely have to create the Model S from scratch, rather than adapting another vehicle, as they did for the Roadster (which uses quite a lot of the Lotus Elise platform).
