Exclusive First Drive: Tesla Roadster
click above for more high-res shots of Autoblog driving the Tesla Roadster
Most people are lucky to experience one life-affirming moment while they're on this earth; I experienced mine last week. AutoblogGreen's Sam Abuelsamid called to ask if I was interested in accompanying him on his exclusive First Drive of the Tesla Roadster. Aside from the company's own employees, only a few customers and the major automotive print publications have driven the Tesla Roadster so far. But you won't have to check your mailbox or drop $4.95 at Barnes and Noble to read about what it's like to drive this truly revolutionary vehicle. Follow the jump for our full road test (with video!) and check out the gallery of amazing images below.
Continue reading Exclusive First Drive: Tesla Roadster
(Via Autoblog.)
New Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori finally speaks
The new CEO and President of Tesla Motors Ze'ev Drori has been pretty quiet since he came on board recently, at least publicly. He did participate with Elon Musk in the recent conference call with customers and he has undoubtedly made his presence felt inside the walls at San Carlos. Now, anyone can hear what Drori has to say: he's just posted his first entry on the Tesla blog picking up where Elon Musk left off last week. Drori gives some further details on the situation with the Roadster's transmission. The one speed unit that will be used for early production cars will mainly impact the acceleration with 0-60 times going from 4 seconds to a still-spritely 5.7 seconds. There's also some discussion about the range of the Roadster. After the recent revelation that an error was made in the test procedure, Drori explains that the dynamometer at the test lab was incorrectly calibrated. After a retest, the official range is 221 miles but real world numbers range from 165 miles in aggressive highway running to 267 miles in lower speed urban commuting.
(Via AutoblogGreen.)
