Performance and luxury is what comes into mind with the new Teslar S. Photo Gallery
The world's best-known electric car company, Tesla, is doing it again.
After making headlines and friends with its battery-powered Roadster sports car based on the Lotus Elise, and selling more than 250 cars with the promise of a 3.9-second sprint to 100km/h, the American company is pushing into the luxury class with its Model S.
The Model S is expected to be built with right-hand drive, which would make it suitable for Australia, but production will not begin until sometime in 2011.
The newcomer comes with all sorts of impressive claims, including a cashed-up first customer called Steve Jurvetson who already has a Roadster in the garage and has had a ride in the first pre-production Model S.
Teslar says the Model S has a range up to 480 kilometres, is capable of a 45-minute QuickCharge and can carry five adults and two children with boot space that beats a station wagon, thanks to space under both the bonnet and rear end.
It is forecasting a starting price of $US49,990 for the Model S and says it is "the only car you'll ever need".
Just like the Roadster, Tesla is pushing performance as one of the selling points on the new four-door, with a claimed top speed of 200km/h and a 0-100km/h sprint in 5.6 seconds.
But the Model S is more likely to sell for its styling, which could easily have come from the Jaguar design studio. It is a good looking, full-sized prestige car with all the usual luxury gear inside, from leather seats and aircon to a giant TFT display screen that monitors operation of the electric powerpack.
Tesla says it will cost about $US4 to fully charge the car.
Apart from the multi-purpose cabin - with fold-flat seats to rival the interior space of an SUV - Tesla says the car will be available with either two or four-wheel drive.
The car is built around a liquid-cooled, floor-mounted battery pack with a single-speed gearbox. There are no details of the battery system, or even the type of batteries in the car, beyond a choice of 42-70 kiloWatt-hour systems made up of 8000 individual cells.
It is likely that the car will use a similar system to the Roadster, which has more than 1000 laptop computer batteries wired into a single pack.
The key to the short charge time for the Model S is a 480-volt system, which requires Tesla's new QuickCharger, although the batteries can also be recharged from 120 and 240-volt sockets.
The batteries can be charged via either a 120V, 240V or 480V power outlet, with the 480V taking only 45 minutes to a full charge. There is of course no country in the world with a 480V system, so this requires a special QuickCharger.
Telsa's CEO, Elon Musk, says the battery packs can also be swapped in less time than it takes to refill a convention petrol car.
