Before you can drive the Roadster, 2009, a brief tour of headquarters and the "factory" was provided. Two curious things about the location of the headquarters: the first is that it’s in Menlo Park. Thomas Edison was part of his most important works in Menlo Park – Menlo Park was only Edison, New Jersey.
Coincidence? More likely, because when we asked how Tesla Motors has come to have their international headquarters, right where it is, we were told that the city fathers need to find a tenant of an abandoned Chevrolet dealer. Throw in the suppliers capable of, once sold fuel swilling Trail Blazers and Suburbans, Tesla Roadster now go through their final assembly and plug-ins to fill at a cost of about $ 4. A charge lasts about two places 240 miles according to the EPA.
At the plant, most roadsters were going through final assembly, to marry an engine to the chassis. The size of the battery pack is amazing how you take the entire width of the car, and almost the entire height, from the floor almost to the top of the seat backs. Weighing in at about £ 1,000 – half the weight of a race Elise SC – array of individual battery to be delivered in wooden boxes about the size of stand-alone housing freezer. Carefully prepared in the great assembly, armored and cooling are 6831 individual lithium ion cells as packaged for your protection and their long life.
The frame for the Tesla Roadster was developed in collaboration with Lotus, and auto-parts and most of its fundamental bases of Elise. Compared to the Brit, a diminutive from any standard car, the Roadster is an inch longer, a change made to make room for the battery. Tesla completely original body panels (made in France), helping the car does not feel as small as the Elise, as your eyes can easily follow the radicals, stretched lines of the body.
After the visit, the California Highway 1 awaiting our arrival. Climbing in the Roadster was much easier than pressing in the Elise. Doorsills Tesla Roadster is lowered, and makes a huge difference. Dining deck is narrow, and even a modestly higher adult can easily reach the passenger door, without a stretch. If you have someone riding shotgun, will rub shoulders and elbows. Soft leather and carpets inside track to make a more luxurious than the spartan Elise and focused.
Settled in the sling as reclining seat, the task of driving the Roadster is easier than most sports cars. Press the starter button, engage drive and go. The transmission is a single unit speed, so there is no need to move. Just stab the throttle and steer.
It was raining hard, along the Pacific coast, so he turned back inland on some winding roads seriously. The pint-sized roadster fit perfectly into two narrow lanes, leaving enough space for the truck trundling along inevitably get to the bottom and part of ours.
The Roadster’s braking power is excellent, but curious. The electric motor that powers the Roadster immediately goes into a generator when you lift off the accelerator pedal. When you lift, the car slows quickly because of the strength of the spinning generator to recharge the battery.
Apparently, it is never cost a Tesla.
If you release the accelerator completely, the braking force is significant, but powerful traditional four disc brakes are on hand when you need serious stopping power. In normal driving, however, the brakes are almost necessary, if not to keep the Roadster again the lights.
Impress During handling and braking, the throttle response curve of the mind of the Roadster. Unless you’ve driven one of these, you’ve never experienced anything like it.
The Roadster single electric motor produces the equivalent of 248 horsepower and an even more impressive 276 pounds-ft of torque. The torque is available from 0 rpm (which is equal to zero). The lunge is very direct, linear and without interruption.
The affection that made me a street thug. In a car like the Elise SC, boating gear is essential for maximum speed, so that when you only 6/10th or so, there are many traits that would not have bothered to pick up a lower gear, because is simply not worth it. In Roadster, however, since the movements are not necessary, the hammer came down almost every time. Tesla requires so little work to accelerate access that power has a negative effect on their ability to comply with the limits posted.
Claims that the Tesla Roadster is good for 0-60 mph sprint of about four seconds. After putting several hundred miles on our test, the application feels more than reasonable, and easily found by drivers of skills, even modest.
While the $ 101,500 Roadster cars MSRP is ridiculous, as that will not be so expensive for ever. Furthermore, the driving experience will continue to improve, and the questions of the range will be won or weakened by the owners.