Motoring: Tesla Roadster

What you’re looking at is, to many car industry pundits, the next evolution of the automobile: the Tesla Roadster. Externally, it looks like any other sports car, but it’s what’s under the surface that is poised to revolutionise what we drive.The Tesla is an electric vehicle.

You will never have to go to a petrol station, never put any oil in it and never have to worry about the nation’s dependence on foreign oil (if you did in the first place). But what makes the Tesla even more remarkable is where it comes from. Not from the technical minds of Germany or America’s automotive heart—Detroit. No, the Tesla comes from the same place as Apple, Google and Facebook—Silicon Valley, California.

Tesla Motors is the brainchild of Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal, who has big dreams for his little company. Musk plans to become a major player in the car business and the Tesla Roadster is only the first step.

Musk didn’t actually start Tesla Motors, but he was one of the first investors and quickly became a hands-on part of the operation back in 2004. The Roadster endured a difficult gestation (threatening to cost the company on every model sold), but eventually went on sale in 2008.

One of the key challenges for any electric vehicle is getting the battery technology right; storing enough energy without overheating. Given Musk’s background and the company’s location in Silicon Valley, Tesla devised a system to use what are effectively laptop batteries—lots of them.

Almost 7000 lithium ion cells arranged in ‘sheets’ running throughout the floor of the Roadster are used to supply electricity to the vehicle’s motor. To help shortcut the development of the chassis, Tesla turned to British sports car maker Lotus. The Roadster is actually based on the Lotus Elise and the chassis is built in England by the British company’s customer division before being shipped to California to fit the electric motor.

So far, Tesla has sold more than 1000 cars around the world, including in Australia. But that still makes it very small fry in the grand scheme of things. However, what Tesla Motors has done with the Roadster is kickstart the electric car movement throughout the rest of the global automotive industry.

Former General Motors executive Bob Lutz has admitted that Tesla’s ability to produce a production-ready electric car was a major catalyst for his company committing to its own electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. In fact, most major auto manufacturers are exploring electric vehicles, with Mitsubishi the first to hit the Australian market with the i-MiEV city car.

This model will be followed by Nissan, Holden (with the Volt), Mini, Renault, Volvo, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroën, BMW, Ford, Audi and Mercedes, all of whom are investigating expanding uses in electric technology. Whether Tesla can compete with those established brands in the long run remains to be seen. At the moment, it’s just a boutique company producing a low-volume niche sports car.

To make the leap from small player to serious contender means producing bigger, more practical cars in greater volume. Musk and co. are pinning their hopes on the Model S, a sleek-looking sedan that is Tesla’s first completely bespoke design; targeted to compete with the likes of the BMW 5 Series and Audi A6.

Musk hired former Mazda chief designer Franz Von Holzhausen to design theradical new car. Even though it looks like a traditional sedan—with four doors, a bonnet and a boot—the electric motor meant Von Holzhausen could start with a blank piece of paper. He didn’t have to worry about fitting in a big engine, fuel tank or sound-deadening material.

He was able to run the battery pack along the floor of the car so he was able to free up space for two rearwards facing seats; making the Model S a seven-seater.

In keeping with the futuristic feel of the running gear, the inside of the Model S has little in common with a traditional sedan. There are no dials on the dashboard, only digital displays, but the party piece is a 17-inch touchscreen that fills the centre console. It controls all of the navigation, air-conditioning and radio functions and even offers wireless internet browsing.

The Model S made an impact when it was revealed to the public at the start of 2009,but there was still a major hurdle Tesla had to overcome—getting it to market. Tesla needed a factory, more funding and an understanding about mass-producing cars.

Musk was able to convince both Daimler (parent company of Mercedes-Benz) and Toyota to invest heavily in his business; US$50 million each. In November, Panasonic invested US$30 million and agreed to help increase battery production.In June 2010, Tesla became the first American car firm to go public since Ford in 1956.

The decision to float the company netted it US$226 million. With the US government tipping in US$465 million, Musk went out and bought a massive former Toyota factory in California. It’s capable of pumping out 450,000 cars per year. But Musk has less than 5000 pre-orders of the Model S.Tesla now stands on the brink of something great—becoming the world’s first all-electric mass-production car company.

However, on the other hand, it could also become just another failed car-maker that couldn’t cut it against the big boys. Whichever way it goes, Tesla has already cemented its place in history as a catalyst for the electric car revolution.