As with any other new tech, the price will fall sharply. And one drive in the Tesla Roadster is enough to convince you that it’s worth the money. If it looks a little familiar, it’s because it’s based on a Lotus Elise chassis. This is no bad thing; the little British sports car has sensational handling. The Elise’s advanced lightweight aluminium chassis is substantially modified to cope with the extra weight of the batteries, which at 450kgs are around three times the weight of the drivetrain of a regular car. To cut weight further the Roadster body makes extensive use of ultra light, stiff carbon fibre, and gets a restyle to distinguish it from a regular Elise.
The complete car minus its battery and electric motor is then shipped to California, where Tesla builds and fits the unique electric drivetrain. It claims the 288 horsepower electric motor has the highest power density in the world, and the 6,831 lithium ion cells in the battery pack will give a driving range of around 244 miles. The Tesla’s charging kit has a conventional domestic plug at one end and a plug-and-twist connector at the other, which connects to the car where the fuel filler would usually be, the area under the filler flap lighting up in different colours like a laptop as it charges. A full charge takes around four hours with a 63-amp supply.
