Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Electric Car by Tesla Motors

Tesla motors came out with their first purely electric car called the "Roadster" in June 2008. The Roadster is powered by some 7000 Lithium-Ion cells the size of a standard AA battery housed in its boot. Lithium-Ion cells are cheap to produce and have a high power to weight ratio. Besided research effort would make theses batteries even more cost effective in the future.

Telsa Motors has also developed the electric motor which powers the Roadster and churns out a peak power of 280 Bhp at 180 lbs-ft torque. The Roadster boasts a range of about 250 miles before the batteries need recharge and a top speed of 130 mph. The Roadster does a 0-60 in under 4 seconds. The Lithium-Ion battery pack has a charge time of about 4 hours and a lifecycle of about 100,000 miles before the battery loses some 20% of its charge potential.

The only limiting factor for this sports car is its due to the cost of the Lithium-Ion cells. The Roadster falls in the range of $100 000 which is quite high. The costs may come down in the future are the prices of Lithium-Ion cells comes down.

Tesla Motors is also planning to come out with a 4 door sedan.

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