The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Tesla had produced more than 1,200 Roadsters sold in at least 28 countries as of July 2010.[2] Tesla began producing right-hand-drive Roadsters in early 2010 for the British Isles, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.[2]
The Roadster is the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production BEV (all-electric) to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge.[3] The world distance record of 501 km (311 mi) for a production electric car on a single charge was set by a Roadster on October 27, 2009, during the Global Green Challenge in outback Australia.[4] In March 2010, a Tesla Roadster became the first electric vehicle to win the Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally and the first to win any Federation Internationale de l'Automobile-sanctioned championship when a Roadster driven by former Formula One driver Érik Comas beat 96 competitors for range, efficiency and performance in the three-day, nearly 1,000-kilometer challenge.[5]
According to an independent analysis from the U.S. EPA, the Roadster can travel 244 miles (393 km) on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery pack, and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in 3.7 seconds. The Roadster's efficiency, as of September 2008, was reported as 120 mpgge (2.0 L/100 km). It uses 135 Wh/km (21.7 kWh/100 mi or 490 kJ/km) battery-to-wheel, and has an efficiency of 92% on average.[6][7]
The Roadster has a net base price of US$101,500[8] after a $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit is discounted ($109,000 MSRP price), and there are other tax credits and incentives in several states. The Roadster has a base price of £86,950 in the UK and €84,000 in continental Europe. As an electric vehicle, the Roadster also qualifies for several government incentives throughout Europe.[9][10]
