The dramatic increase in oil prices during the first three quarters of 2008 resulted in a significant increase in alternative vehicles. Many of the established car manufacturers have announced their intentions to deliver electric cars to the market - some later next year, with others following in 2010. In the meantime, there are several low-end electric vehicles that can be seen on the streets of many cities around the world. However, they can not be registered as cars, but something else, depending on the country.
This is not the case with the Tesla Roadster - a really exciting vehicle that is already in production in California, USA.
The lightweight two-seat sports car has a 248 hp (185 kW) electric motor, a 220 mi (350 km) range and 3.9 sec 0 to 60 mph (96 kmph) acceleration - a real low-emissions alternative To Whom It May Concern: Ferrari and Porsche.
Tesla first began building the Roadster in March 2008. After some power train issues have been resolved, the company plans to produce twenty cars per week by December 2008. A maximum output of forty cars per week should be reached by March 2009. The price of almost 100 K USD will make it hard for PAC engineers to get one, but there are many more affordable electric vehicles on their way, as demonstrated in the Paris auto-show. We will talk about them in the next issue of PAC World.
The design of the Tesla Roadster includes many multi-use components, such as a high-performance AC motor that can run forwards and backwards, the battery box, and air ducts that double as energy-absorbing zones. The Power Electronics Module (PEM) performs motor torque control, regenerative braking control and charging. The 375 volt AC induction electric motor is air-cooled and with a variable frequency drive. The power train is a single-speed unit.
More information can be found at: http://www.teslamotors.com/