2008 Tesla Roadster
The 2008 Tesla Roadster offers spectacular sports car performance in an Earth-friendly package.
Despite its 1,000-pound battery pack, test drivers find that the electrically-charged Tesla Roadster accelerates quickly and handles well. A full Tesla Performance Review is coming soon.
The all-electric-powered 2008 Tesla Roadster finally debuts, boasting jaw-dropping performance and style for an electric car.
Happily, the 2008 Tesla Roadster demonstrates that there's life after oil for sporting cars. Officially unveiled as a concept car in July 2006, the Tesla Roadster hit some bumps in the road en route to production. The key to the Tesla Roadster is its advanced battery pack. If the Tesla Roadster looks oddly familiar, that's because it's essentially a restyled Lotus Elise. Thanks to the positioning of its electric motor and battery pack, the Roadster's weight distribution is even more rear-biased than the Elise -- 35 percent front/65 percent rear, compared with 39/61 for the Lotus. All that high-tech hardware does add some heft -- the Roadster's 2,690-pound curb weight is almost 800 pounds more than the Elise's. The Roadster produces no emissions on its own, though electricity produced by coal- or natural-gas-fired power plants does have associated emissions. Because of the Roadster's highly efficient nature, however, Tesla claims the Roadster's associated carbon dioxide emissions would only be about a third of those for a popular hybrid car.
Body Styles, Trim Levels, and Options
The 2008 Tesla Roadster is a two-seat roadster with a targa-style removable soft top.
Powertrains and Performance
The Tesla Roadster is equipped with a three-phase, four-pole electric motor that generates 248 hp and 211 lb-ft of torque. Initially, the Roadster's motor will be mated to a two-speed electric-shift manual transmission; however, due to this transmission's inability to handle the motor's prodigious low-end torque, 1st gear will be locked out. Tesla will retrofit the Powertrain 1.5 upgrades free of charge for owners of the initial two-speed models.
Tesla claims that Powertrain 1.5 will enable the Roadster to reach 60 from rest in a supercar-like 3.9 seconds.
Safety
Standard safety features on the 2008 Tesla Roadster include antilock brakes and traction control. The interior of the Roadster is almost identical to that of the Elise save for some unique materials, a modified transmission tunnel that hosts the Roadster's exclusive shifter and an information readout displaying battery charge and estimated cruising range.
Driving Impressions
Despite the 2008 Tesla Roadster's slightly softened suspension settings, this is one of the best-handling (and stiffest-riding) cars on the market.
