Powered by 6,831 mass-market lithium-ion batteries, the Tesla Roadster has a 249-mile range and can recharge in as little as 3.5 hours. It goes from zero to 60 mph in about 4 seconds with a top speed of over 130 mph. It also costs about $92,000.

What is it about the turn of centuries that prompts people to design and build electric cars with the hope that they’ll gain market share?

From 1894 to 1914, at least three different manufacturers offered electric cars. From 1996 to 1999, General Motors engineers and their outside consultants designed and produced 1,117 electric cars it designated as EV1. But as you may recall, GM decided not to try to sell them for about $34,000, choosing instead to lease them for nearly $400 to $550 per month in order to retain control and ownership. Unfortunately for the approximately 800 leases, GM did not extend the three-year contracts. By 2004, the whole program with these cars that relied on lead-acid batteries was over.

Now, there is a market for electric cars, but it is currently a small one and really only includes those people with much surplus income. Few analysts will even hazard a guess about when the first pure electrics will show up in the showrooms of major manufacturers, even though more than two dozen companies globally are offering electric cars of all sorts. Yet a 100-percent electric car under development at 170-person startup Tesla Motors, due in no small part to its $40 million in venture funding, must be at the top of the list.

Powered by 6,831 mass-market lithium-ion batteries, the Tesla Roadster also costs about $92,000. Just put down $75,000 now and wait until summer 2008 to take delivery, says IEEE Spectrum, which this month ranks the 2007 Tesla Roadster in the publication’s top 20 tech cars.

Consider the performance:

• Goes from zero to 60 mph (97 kph) in about 4 seconds;
• Top speed of over 130 mph (210 kpm/h);
• Range of 250 miles (400 km);
• Efficiency equivalent of 135 mpg (133 Wh/km);
• Motor efficiency: 90 percent average, 80 percent at peak power; and
• Road feel: “You don’t wait even a moment for the acceleration to kick in. It kicks in immediately. The effect is like nothing you’ve ever experienced.”

(Sources: Tesla, here and here; U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; PC Magazine)

England’s Lotus, renowned for its small, light sports cars, provided the basic chassis technology from its Lotus Elise. Then Tesla engineers designed a new chassis. They lengthened it, lowered the doors sills, and adjusted the strength to match the roadster’s weight of 2500 lbs (1140 kg). The styling of this vehicle — also called a Dark Star — comes via Barney Hatt at Lotus’ design studio with collaboration with Tesla.

As with any pure electric car, IEEE Spectrum notes, “the key parameters are the batteries’ recharge time, energy density and useful life.” The point of reference is the only recent electric vehicle from a major manufacturer, the late, lamented General Motors EV1.

Unlike the EV1, which used lead-acid batteries, the 100-percent electric Tesla Roadster’s 900-pound battery — or Energy Storage System — includes 6,831 lithium-ion cells, each about the size of a double-A alkaline. “The energy density of lithium ion cell batteries can be as high as 160 watt-hours per kilogram — or at least four times that of typical lead-acid cells. So the Tesla has a 249-mile (400-km) range and, best of all, it can recharge in as little as 3.5 hours, according to IEEE Spectrum.

Phil Luk, the Tesla engineer who hand-built each prototype, tells PC Magazine:

The battery is equipped with 13 separate processors that monitor everything from voltage and temperature to smoke levels. To maintain appropriate temperatures inside the battery, the car includes both radiator heating and a liquid-cooling system.

The cooling vents in the rear of the car work much like the cooling vents on an ordinary desktop PC.

But if the battery weight seems excessive in contrast to what an internal combustion engine vehicle uses, the 3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor only weighs about 70 pounds (32 kg) — far less than what an internal combustion engine weighs with its block for encasing cylinders. Like the old VWs, Porches and Karmann Ghias, the Tesla design calls for locating the motor and battery behind the two passenger seats.

Like other environmentally vehicles, according to Tesla, the Dark Star comes with incentives, including the following:

• Tax incentives in select states as well as a variety of other conveniences;
• Single-occupancy access to all carpool lanes in some states;
• Free parking at charging stations at LAX and other airports;
• No parking meter fees in an increasing number of major metropolitan areas; and
• Discount electrical rates for recharging and/or on the charging unit available in some states.

(New laws and incentives are being added rapidly at the federal, state and local levels, and it would be impossible to list them all. If interested, contact your electric service provider to find out about green incentives in your town.)

We have little doubt that driving what PC Magazine refers to as “your dream car” must be thrilling. Yet some people would find it too limiting, as it takes at least 3.5 hours to recharge compared with about 10 minutes at a gas station. However, if you drive less than 125 miles to work and your employer or organization would allow for charging the battery, then the Dark Star could make a fine commuter car.

Although the Dark Star seems just right for some young adults without families or for the super rich, Tesla also has plans for a second car, “a sporty four-seat sedan code-named White Star,” which the company hopes to launch by 2010 at a price of $50,000. As such, it has set up an engineering center in Rochester Hills, Mich., and plans to staff it with more than 50 engineers, according to the company.

Meanwhile, as of January, Tesla had sold more than 250 cars at $100,000 each, IEEE Spectrum reports. The first cars are supposed to be delivered in September, “if crash-test analyses and other U.S. government-certification requirements go smoothly.”

TESLA ROADSTER IMAGES

Resources

Tesla Motors

Top 10 Tech Cars
by John Voelcker
IEEE Spectrum, April 2007

Tesla Roadster: Test Driving Your Electric Dream Car
by Cade Metz
PC Magazine, March 29, 2007

Making Sense of “Failed” Car Technology
by Janet Davidson (curator)
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Advanced Energy Technologies – Testimony before the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee
Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk
U.S. Senate, March 7, 2007

Tesla Motors Opens Michigan Technical Center
Tesla press release, Jan. 26, 2007

Additional

Wikipedia: Tesla Roadster