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What do the Tango, Tesla Roadster and Wrightspeed X1 all have in common? Easy, they are all ridiculously quick and sporty electric cars. And now, they've all gotten together for a quick photoshoot and some lunch. While we'd love to snag a ride in any and all of these awesome electrics, a lucky Tesla Motors Club Forum member who goes by the handle 'TEG' has scored a ride or drive in at least two of them. Yes, we are totally jealous. But, at least TEG was nice enough to share some experiences of both Martin Eberhard's Tesla Roadster and the (now blue) Wrightspeed of Ian Wright. He says, "If the Tesla feels like a trapdoor opened and gravity took over, the X1 feels like you were shot out of a cannon. Also in many sports cars you explore the limits of the suspension, but the X1 seems so connected that you are really just exploring the limits of the tires." Yeah. Did we mention that we are jealous?

[Source: Tesla Motors Club Forum]

Click above for more shots of TEG's Tesla drive

There's a new Tesla Roadster review making its rounds on the interweb. So, what makes this particular review special? After all, it's not like we haven't read numerous reports from those lucky enough to find themselves in the drivers seat of the stunning electric roadster, including one from our very own Sam Abuelsamid. This particular ride report comes courtesy of Mr. Martin Eberhard, who just recently got the keys to the Roadster he'd been waiting to receive seemingly forever. The lucky driver goes by the name TEG, and it sounds like he very much enjoyed his time with Martin and the brand spankin' new EV.

Not everything with the car is perfect, of course, with entry and exit being the main usability complaint. Also, Martin's car is still fitted with the first-generation drivetrain, meaning it only has use of second gear in the two-speed transmission. Production Tesla's will get what's known internally as drivetrain 1.5, which features a single gear with a slightly more powerful motor. Check out the entire story here, and feel free to watch a quick video of the encounter after the break.


[Source: Tesla Founders Blog]

click the photo of Eberhard and his car for a high res gallery

We are now happy to officially confirm what yesterday seemed a likely fait accompli. Martin Eberhard, co-founder of Tesla Motors, has now happily received his very own "Founders' Series" Tesla Roadster. The car,shiny gray with double orange stripes and a matching interior, was silently delivered by Tesla employees early on Saturday morning to Eberhard's solar panel-equipped home. After signing off on all the paperwork and getting the official walk-through of the Roadsters special features, Martin and his wife, Carolyn, were left holding the keys as the rising sun highlighted the orange accents of the beckoning electric sports car. Time to go for a ride!

The trio spent the morning together traveling the very roads for which the Tesla was designed. We suspect Martin's grin only grew wider every time a slower-moving vehicle appeared in his cars sights, giving him yet another opportunity to experience the "never-ending torque" the Roadster delivers while overtaking. You can read all about Martin's first day with his roadster at his blog, Tesla Founders Blog. Bookmark it, as he promises to update that space frequently now with more photos and Roadster observations.


[Source: Tesla Founders Blog via Tesla Motors Club]

Well, after at least one false alarm last week, it now appears that Martin's Roadster has been repaired. Of course, it is still impossible to say for sure, at least until we get an official update from either Tesla Motors or Martin himself, but a picture of what certainly appears to be Martin's distinctive Roadster was supposedly taken just yesterday, Friday July 18, and uploaded directly from the iPhone it was taken on to Flickr by user marliemars. The car appears to be damage free, though only a single side-profile is available. In any case, it appears as if the ongoing saga of the protracted delivery of the second Tesla Roadster ever produced may soon come to an end. Martin, we're sure you'll love your new car. We are, of course, waiting anxiously to hear if you've gotten a delivery date yet, and even more so to hear about your first drive. Thanks for the tip, Joseph!


[Source: Tesla Motors Club Forum]

The moment Tesla founder, Martin Eberhard, has worked and waited for should be arriving very soon, now that his Roadster appears to be looking like new again. Of course, the car should have been delivered already. but in a now-famous stroke of bad luck, a technician used it to kiss the back end of a truck on Highway 101 in California on the very day Tesla claimed it was to be delivered.

The members of the TeslaMotorsClub forum who found the photo also report that, according to postings at the official Tesla owners forum, the crash speed was around 10 mph.As such, the car received a new bumper and fenders, indicating that some reports of it being "totaled" were a little overzealous. The above photo bodes well for an impending delivery, and we look forward to hearing how Martin feels about his new custom-painted ride once it is actually in his possession.

UPDATE: According to Tesla, this photo was taken pre-crash. The car is still being re-assembled and should be ready next week. As long as there no more surprises.

[Source: TeslaMotorsClub]
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In case you haven't been paying close attention, things at Tesla Motors have been in a bit of an upheaval of sorts as of late. We've been following the story of the Silicon Valley startup since its inception and have seen the roller coaster ride make its various ups and downs along the way. From the first set of specifications and images of the electric Roadster though the initial round of funding provided by Elon Musk and the subsequent removal of Martin Eberhard, a company founder who has still not gotten his own Roadster, there has been a sense that Tesla may have gotten in a bit over its head, a bit too soon. Now that vehicles are (very slowly) rolling out the doors, it's a good time to sit back and reflect on what it took to get the Roadster to this point, and that is exactly what Fortune magazine has done. Click here for their entire article.

A few juicy details were mentioned in the article, especially related to the upcoming Model S. As you may be aware, the new mid-size sedan is now expected to be built in California, but the most interesting tidbit from the article is that the new model may in fact be a hatchback. Score one for practicality, and consider us even more interested in seeing the new model in the flesh.

[Source: Fortune]

During the course of our discussion (presented in three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3).Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk described how he came to be a part of Tesla Motors and how he, as "Product Architect," influenced the development of the Roadster as and what will become the WhiteStar sedan. Based on his description of the events, that sounds like a perfectly reasonable title. Even as told by Martin Eberhard, co-architect doesn't seem inaccurate, although Eberhard might have preferred it to be otherwise. One thing that isn't in doubt is that Musk is not a founder.

Some in the mainstream media over-simplify things by referring to Musk as the creator of the Roadster, and if anything Musk's sin here may be more an error of omission. By not speaking up to clarify his role in the process previously, he has at least appeared to passively take credit for more than he should. If nothing else, as with so many successful entrepreneurs, his self-assurance can certainly come across as arrogance. I don't know the man personally so I can't really comment as to what he is like on a personal level. Aside from the financial aspects his role is probably most analogous to that of Bob Lutz at GM where he makes high level decisions about design direction which are then brought to fruition by the engineers, designers and technicians. Read on after the jump for the rest of my conclusions.

In the first two parts of our discussion, Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk described how he came to be a part of Tesla Motors and how he influenced the development of the Roadster. It's important to note that he never described himself as the designer or creator of the Roadster. Rather he considers himself the co-architect of the sports car.

With production of the Roadster now sort of underway and the updated drivetrain hopefully coming soon, it's time to look forward. As the self-declared Product Architect, Musk is playing perhaps an even bigger role with the next product, a sedan that we've known for some time by the code name WhiteStar. We had hoped to see WhiteStar this spring but that obviously hasn't happened yet. In the conclusion of our discussion, Musk gives out some hints about what to expect and what Tesla has learned over the past five years. Read on to learn more about what's coming next.

Make sure you read Part 1 and Part 2.

As we continue the tale of Elon and Martin, we pick up from the initial involvement of Elon Musk in Tesla Motors. Musk has put in the single largest chunk of money that has allowed Tesla to develop and now start building an electric car. Here we delve into the subject of his role in design decisions. As some in the mainstream media have taken to referring to Musk as the "creator" of the Tesla Roadster, this is a particularly contentious subject.

The whole issue of the choice of transmission suppliers is a particularly thorny one. Musk was insistent that Tesla should build a car worthy of the price tag. Anyone who has ever worked in the auto industry knows that is almost always a lot harder than it looks. The friction that clearly existed between Eberhard and Musk from very early on in their relationship definitely didn't help matters. (Note:If you missed Part 1 check it out first).

ABG: So, how did you get to the first stage, of the Roadster, the specs that debuted in 2006 with the first prototypes? How did that come about?

Read on after the jump.

Among the readers of this site, one of the cars that elicits a lot of passion is the Tesla Roadster. The battery-powered Roadster and its provenance have elicited a great deal of discussion over the past nine months, in particular since the demotion and ultimately the departure of co-founder Martin Eberhard. This is a complex tale involving passionate entrepreneurs with that all-too-common but in many ways necessary human frailty known as ego. When humans interact, they often see the same results through their own mental filters.

People can see exactly the same thing and interpret it in many different ways. Unfortunately in today's media landscape, particularly on television, but also in blogs we often see a very cut-down sound-bite version of things. Sound-bites by definition are taken out of context. In and of themselves they often lead to incorrect or at least inaccurate conclusions.

With all of that in mind I was recently contacted by Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk. Musk wanted to discuss his role at Tesla, and hopefully fill in some of the gaps in the story. What follows after the jump is the phone conversion that I had with Musk recently as well as some comments from Martin Eberhard via e-mail exchanges. Eberhard's version of events is italicized.

Update: Just to be clear Elon Musk contacted me immediately after a previous article where I called into question his role in the development of the Roadster. He wanted to clear up what he felt were misconceptions of his role rather than to pitch a story idea about him.

For the last couple of months there has been an ongoing discussion on various sites (including our own) about the status of Martin Eberhard's Tesla Roadster. For those just now tuning in to this little saga, Eberhard was the co-Founder of Tesla Motors, and was supposed to get production car #2 but at least three other cars have now been delivered ahead of his car. Since we last discussed the topic several weeks ago, things have been pretty quiet on this front, but we now have some new information.

During a recent call with Tesla Marketing VP Darryl Siry, I asked about the status of Eberhard's car, given that at least two and perhaps three other cars have now been delivered. It turns out that the car is here in the U.S. and was due to be delivered to Eberhard several weeks ago. Unfortunately, on the appointed day while a technician was doing a final checkout drive to make sure everything was working properly, there was an accident and the back front end of the car sustained significant damage. Continue after the jump for more.

Creating big things is generally the province of visionaries. All too often, big visions go hand in hand with big egos. Big egos are generally like electrons. Anyone who has studied sub-atomic particles knows that similarly charged particles repel each other. You can force them into the same space for a period of time but eventually they push each other apart. Such is often the case with startup companies.

Let's start with a little background. When Tesla Motors was first getting launched a few years back, as part of their initial investment in the company, the first two dozen or so people involved agreed to buy what became known as Founders Series cars. Initially, company founder Martin Eberhard who had the vision that became the Tesla Roadster intended to keep the first production unit for himself. When Paypal founder and seriously rich guy Elon Musk got involved as a major investor in Tesla Motors the situation changed. As Eberhard tells the tale (and I have no reason to doubt him on this) since Musk was putting up the bulk of the cash, he asked to get the first Roadster. After some back and forth Eberhard ultimately relented and took car #2. According to Martin:

During the entire time I was at Tesla, staff discussions about the early production cars rarely referred to the first two cars as "P1" and "P2." They were simply called "Elon's car" and "Martin's car." Everyone at Tesla knew this, and everyone knew how important these cars and their production sequence meant to both of us.

Continue reading the tale after the jump.

In a presentation at Gadgetoff 2007, Howard Morgan, co-founder of Idealab, says the Aptera (an Idealab company) will have a range of 1,000 miles in series hybrid mode. You can watch a video of Howard's presentation below the fold. Howard also says the Aptera will be a quarter to a third the price of the Tesla but it certainly does not look like Tesla.

Recently, I wrote about comments by Tesla co-founder, Martin Eberhard, on a mystery electric car in Martin's Gadgetoff 2007 presentation. Martin later commented it was actually in response to a dig at Tesla by Idealab. Howard and Martin, I hope this small, public fight is good natured ribbing. Variety in the market place is what makes it work.

[Source: YouTube]

Recently, I wrote that Tesla's co-founder Martin Eberhard made a joke about the lack of quality in other electric car companies. Does Martin really feel that other electric car companies suck? YES! In a video interview (which you can watch below the fold) with the Wall Street Journal, Martin says all other electric car companies business approaches are "wrong" and they make "crap." Here is the full quote:

"In general, it seemed to me that, the way all other people started electric car companies, got in the business, was wrong. They wanted to make a car that would save the world. So, they needed to make a car that everyone could afford and they tried to come in at the bottom end of the market. They try to go up against very, very mature companies in a very, very mature industry. Every single component they buy costs them double what Honda or Hyundai or somebody pays for that same part. So they wind up with a car that's a piece of crap. No one wants to buy it.

No other industry does that happen. No other industry do you start in the low end and work your way up. Think about cell phones and flat panel TVs and camcorders and refrigerators and air conditioners. All these things start off as an expensive product and are sold to people who can afford it that are buying it not to save a lot of money but to experience the luxury of this new thing. That allows the companies to develop their technologies, to develop their supply chains and to drive the costs down, step by step as they reach a broader and broader market every time."

Martin also explains Tesla was delayed a year (from the original schedule) because they added safety equipment to the battery to absorb the heat of a burning cell. The safety equipment added 15 percent to the size of the battery and hundreds of pounds to the car's weight. The interview ends with Martin talking about the mistakes of DeLorean and Tucker that, of course, Tesla is not repeating either. If Tesla fails, this interview will not seem ironic at all.

Editor's UPDATE: if you're going to comment on this post, which you're welcome to do, please read the comments that have already been posted. Mr. Eberhard himself contributed and said the WSJ took his "piece of crap" comment out of context. Just want to make sure we're all aware about the full story here. Thanks.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Recently, we wrote that Tesla's director of communications enjoyed crashing the company car in Project Gotham Racing 4. How about a taste of the real thing? Below the fold is a video from Gadgetoff 2007 of co-founder and ex-CEO of Tesla, Martin Eberhard, showing crash tests of the Tesla electric sports car. At the beginning of the video, Martin says these videos are the difference between Tesla and companies that make a "three wheel imaginary car that would never be safe on the highway." Could Martin be talking about Zap?

So how much does all this fun footage cost? Martin says the cars cost $350,000 to build and the tests cost another $100,000. The Tesla sells for $100,000 but the cars in the crash tests have equipment added to measure the damage done to the crash test dummies. Martin says Tesla has done about 8 tests; So the video is about a million dollars a minute, give or take a million. These are, of course, hand picked videos done by Tesla but the car looks amazingly safe. Air bags are "freaking amazing" as Martin points out.

[Source: YouTube]