Ever since Tesla Motors started letting outsiders actually drive the Roadster late last year the reviews of the over-the-road experience have been largely favorable. In recent months, Tesla has been taking the Roadster on a European tour trying to drum up sales on the continent. One of the people who drove the Roadster was Guido Reinking, editor of Automobilewoche. Reinking praised the performance saying "the car offered the emotional, heart-pounding ride of a street racer." However, he also highlighted powertrain and battery issues we haven't heard about before, aside from the well-documented transmission issues.

Of the three cars available for the test drive, one apparently didn't run at all, while a second reportedly emitted smoke from the battery compartment. Reinking uses these issues to highlight the problem of battery reliability and why the Roadster might not be ready for mass production. However, we checked with Tesla SVP of marketing Darryl Siry who was also on hand for these 16 days of media and prospective customer drives. According to Darryl, two of the three cars on hand were equipped with the new 1.5 drivetrain while the third had the 1.0 interim drivetrain. Siry tells us that the car that wouldn't go had a faulty parking pawl sensor. The parking pawl is essentially a locking mechanism for the transmission that keeps the car from rolling when the gear lever is in park just as it does on a conventional automatic. The sensor erroneously detected park being engaged and prevented the car from moving. Read on after the jump for more on the "smoky" battery.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

The lead mouth-piece at Top Gear, the incomparable Jeremy Clarkson, has a mixed record when it comes to greener vehicles. He did great with a round trip from London to Edinburgh in an diesel Audi A8, averaging over 33 mpg. However, his more recent encounter with the electric G-Wiz ended less favorably. The UK daily The Independent is reporting that on the next series of the best car show ever created, Clarkson will try again with battery power. This time around he will be going a little more upscale as he is to sample the Tesla Roadster. We checked with Tesla's SVP Darryl Siry to find out which version of the Roadster that Top Gear would be driving, drivetain 1.5, 2-speed or interim single speed. Siry was unaware of the British report. He confirmed that Tesla had been in contact with Top Gear producers but nothing has been scheduled or confirmed yet. He did tell ABG that "You can bet it will be with our best foot forward," implying that when the test happens it will be with the upgraded drivetrain 1.5.

Clarkson's a fairly big guy so it will be interesting to see how he fits in the car when the drive does happen. He will no doubt be pleased with the performance of the Roadster, and it will be interesting to see what kind of range the Top Gear crew will be able to muster when the Roadster is driven in their usual manner. It will also be interesting to see what self-improvement recording the Stig listens to as he takes to the track in the Roadster. Thanks to Jamie for the tip!

[Source: The Independent, Tesla Motors]

Tesla's SVP of marketing Darryl Siry has been on another sales tour of Europe filling in the magazines over there on the company's future product plans. For the most part there was nothing new that we haven't already reported on here over the past year. The upcoming Model S (formerly known as WhiteStar) will not be sharing a platform with any existing vehicle. That doesn't mean every single component of the car will be completely bespoke. It wouldn't make financial sense to build every single part just for this one car, so parts like brakes, steering hardware and perhaps even some suspension bits will be borrowed from other cars. According to Siry, the Model S design is about 90 percent done.

For the Model S and future programs, Tesla's engineers have reconfigured the battery pack to make it more practical for different body configurations. The Roadster's pack is upright and sits in the middle of the car behind the passenger compartment. For the new car, a low-slung pack that fits under the floor will be used. When we contacted Siry he declined to comment on whether Tesla would continue to use the laptop type cells for the new pack or switch to one of the new larger format cells being designed for automotive use. The under-floor setup mirrors the configuration being used by many other EV manufacturers. Continue reading after the jump.

[Sources: AutoCar, CAR, Tesla Motors]

It's time to throw some ideas against the wall and see what sticks. Disclaimer: I have no inside knowledge to back up any of what follows. This is all pure speculation based on putting together some puzzle pieces that may or may not actually fit. Let's begin with a few things that we do know:

Daimler and Tesla Motors have some sort of deal, but we have no knowledge about the details. This news came out of an interview that Tesla Chairman Elon Musk did with Fox Business News a couple of months ago. At the time I speculated that this could be either a deal to license some battery management technology to Daimler or for the Germans to supply the Smart engine to Tesla as a range extender for the Model S. We now know that the idea of an ER-EV Model S has been discarded which brings us back to the first idea.

Recently we've heard about a couple of different Daimler projects that involve batteries. One is the ML450 hybrid. Mercedes has a contract with Cobasys to supply nickel metal hydride batteries for the ML450. However, business problems at Cobasys have led Mercedes to file suit against the company. A Mercedes spokesman told ABG that the program is still on track but did not comment on whether a sourcing change would be made. Continue reading this twisted little tale after the jump.

Tesla Motors has hired Deepak Ahuja away from the Ford Motor Company to serve as its new Chief Financial Officer. This announcement comes right after the automaker's hiring of Franz von Holzhausen from Mazda to serve as its Design Director. Seems like Tesla is serious about bringing in talent from Detroit to mesh with the Silicon Valley minds it already has procured. Ahuja had previously served as the man in charge of bringing small European-market Ford products to America. Before that, he was the CFO of Ford of Southern Africa and for Auto Alliance International, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Mazda. It sounds as if Ahuja has the right stuff to guide Tesla's financial future as the company continues the extremely difficult task of launching mainstream electric vehicles before even the established players are able to do so. We've pasted the official press release after the break.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

Click above for more shots of the Mazda Furai concept

We've received confirmation from both Darryl Siry and Mike Bumbeck at Tesla Motors that Franz von Holzhausen, the designer who since February of 2005 oversaw the design and development of all concept and production vehicles for Mazda North America, has moved on to the EV startup, where he will be the Design Director. This move is an interesting one, as he was reportedly 'hand-picked' by Elon Musk for the job. Considering just how awesome the Furai concept from the last Detroit Auto Show was with its E100 fueled three rotor Wankel engine, we think Tesla's got a good one on their hands here.

Right out of the gate, von Holzhausen will need to assemble a team of designers who will then likely get right to work on Tesla Motor's next batch of electric cars. This hiring also means that Tesla's future designs will all be created in-house, ending the need to bring in outsiders like the company had to do with Henrik Fisker. We all know how that turned out.


[Source: Tesla Motors via Car Design News]

Over at the Tesla Motors blog, future Roadster owner Ken Jacobs has written a guest post about his recent visit to England. While he and his wife were in the UK, they hopped over to Hethel, the home of Lotus and primary assembly site of the Roadster. They were given a tour of the factory and the assembly line where Lotus employees take the thousands of bits and pieces that comprise a Roadster and bolt them together. The regular Elise assembly line has been modified to simultaneously accommodate both the Roadster and the Elise. At the moment, Roadsters are still only being started at the rate of around 4 cars per week, although that should increase rapidly later in August as Tesla prepares to switch over to the updated drivetrain. Lotus assembles "gliders" whose motor and battery get installed once the rolling chassis arrives in California. Tesla is ships the cars by boat from England, a trip that takes several weeks.

[Source: Tesla]

Over at the old gray lady, Joe Nocera has cast a jaundiced eye upon the phenomenon that is Tesla Motors and comes away with the conclusion that the Chevy Volt will come away as the winner. In fact Nocera seems very skeptical that pure battery electric cars will be a viable mainstream prospect anytime soon. Certainly based solely on the example of Tesla, it does not seem likely that a start-up will succeed in producing an EV for the masses profitably anytime soon. As I've said here many times building an affordable mass market car is actually a lot harder than building a high-dollar sports car, and Tesla has clearly shown that even that is no easy feat. Tesla hopes to build the Model S sedan in about two years at a cost starting at $60,000. The model S is unlikely to match the nominal range of the Roadster at the base price, especially when you consider that it will be a much larger heavier car made of aluminum rather than carbon fiber (over an aluminum structure). Even the Roadster only achieves a little more than half its nominal range of 227 miles when driven hard. Contrary to Elon Musk who thinks hybrids and ER-EVs are a red herring, Nocera feels that the Volt is a far more viable candidate for success.

What Nocera doesn't touch on is the small Japanese EVs that are coming from the likes of Mitsubishi, Subaru and Nissan. Mitsubishi in particular seems extremely confident about the iMiEV. Only time will tell.

[Source: New York Times]

Tesla Motors held the grand opening of its Northern California dealership in Menlo Park Saturday evening. A slew of valet parkers greeted. Then, I walked down the red carpet past an orange Tesla Roadster to the large showroom. Beyond the gazpacho cocktails and first of three full bars one entered the even larger service area where the Elon Musk and Ze'ev Drori mingled among the hundred or so invited guests.

Conversation with various Tesla personnel revealed that founder Martin Eberhard received his repaired Roadster earlier in the day. Presumably his blog will shortly contain his first impressions. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, I was told, will be delivered his Roadster within a few weeks, although the color remains top secret. Once he and the state's First Lady Maria Shriver spend some time driving this powerful and impressive electric car one can only hope state policies will begin to reflect the near-term role that plug-in cars can play in carbon and petroleum reduction.

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]

Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria recently got some face-to-face time with Elon Musk, who, as you surely know by now, is one of the "product architects" at Tesla Motors. There were plenty of interesting quotes to come from the interview, but a few truly stood out from the rest. For instance, Musk slams plug-in hybrids pretty mercilessly while also claiming that the "a majority of all new cars produced in the United States, perhaps worldwide, will be electric. And I don't mean hybrid. I mean pure electric," within just thirty years. What's more, Musk adds that one of his other start-up companies, SolarCity, has the solution to what he refers to as the "'long tailpipe' criticism," where EV opponents point to the fact that much of the electricity in the U.S. comes from dirty sources such as coal. A small solar-panel setup of about 10 by 15 feet [is enough] to generate 200 to 400 miles a week of electricity for your car," according to Musk. We can get behind the idea of charging our own electric cars for the week with our own solar array mounted atop the roof our our garage. Maybe in thirty years that won't sound so far-fetched.

[Source: Newsweek]

The round of firings at Tesla Motors that followed the departure of co-founder Martin Eberhard late in 2007 has resulted in yet another lawsuit for the company. This time litigation comes in the form of a class action suit from former employee David Vespremi for breach of contract, libel and slander. During his time with Tesla Vespremi held a number of positions including public relations director. The suit alleges that Tesla violated California labor laws, dealt with him and other employees in bad faith and made disparaging comments about him and other former employees. CEO Ze'ev Drori and Marketing VP Darry Siry about named in suit along with the company. The full filing with San Mateo Superior Court is available on line. Both Siry and Vespremi declined comment when contacted by ABG.

UPDATE: The class action component only refers to the arbitration and solicitation clauses in the employment agreement. The rest of Vespremi's suit only covers his own case.

[Source: San Mateo Court]

Over on the Tesla blog, company CEO Ze'ev Drori has posted another production update for all you fans of the Roadster. Some time back, Tesla made the decision that the Roadsters would be shipped from the Lotus factory in England as gliders -- complete cars without a drivetrain. The first couple of production units had their battery packs and motors installed in the workshop at the company's San Carlos headquarters. As work has proceeded on preparing the second Tesla store in Menlo Park for opening, the final drivetrain installation work has been shifted to the dealership service bays. According to Drori, nine production Roadsters have now been shipped to California, with at least three of those having been delivered. In total, 27 cars are now in various stages of assembly. The upgraded motors, electronics and transmissions that comprise drivetrain 1.5 are scheduled to be installed in cars for delivery beginning in September. After that, the company hopes to ramp up production to the rate of 100 cars per month by the end of the year. At that rate, they'll probably need a bigger workspace than the Menlo Park shop to finish drivetrain installations.

[Source: Tesla]

Click above for more shots of this orange Tesla Roadster

Thanks to a tipster named Eric, we have some pictures of an orange Tesla Roadster which was spotted in the parking lot of a place called the 99 Ranch in Richmond, California. Considering that just a handful of Roadsters have actually been delivered to customers so far, we're thinking that this is almost certainly the same Validation Prototype that was seen being driven by Elon Musk in the Fox News clip we posted here. We are unsure who was driving this particular car, but whenever a Tesla is spotted out and about, at least until they become more common sights on our nation's roadways, expect somebody to recognize what it is and snap off a few pics. After all, you never know who may be behind the wheel. The spotter seems to think that the interior of the car is a bit spartan and too plasticy, though this is likely a preproduction car, so take that with a grain of salt. Thanks for the tip, Eric!


[Source: Nipple Dial]