A 100% Electric car.
An ultra fast car that goes 0 to 60 miles in 4 seconds flat, with a top speed over 130 mph.
A car that provides 100% torque all the time - great performance and acceleration anytime from stop to start to go.
A car that is six times as efficient as the best sports cars while producing one-tenth of the pollution.
A car that requires no stopping for 250 long miles until you need a recharge – you can now make that trip from San Francisco to Santa Barbara.
And all this speed, power and efficiency at 135 miles per gallon. An equivalent cost of about 1 cent per mile.
Sounds too good to be true? This must be a concept car, perhaps available in 2010 or beyond.
NOT!
Introducing Tesla Roadster - a great innovation and one of the 25 best inventions of 2006 according to the latest Time Magazine.
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
Many Innovations
Besides creating a 100% electric car that drives super fast, Tesla Roadster creates solid security and safety innovations including:
Customized PIN
Enter a unique PIN, and only then the car will start. This virtually makes it impossible to hotwire a car.
Valet Mode
How do you prevent valets from taking your car out for a ride? Tesla roadster has a Valet mode that limits the car‘s range, acceleration, and speed until the PIN is entered again.
Charging Intelligence
The charger is really safe, and is programmed to prevent overcharging. The charger will shut itself down if power cord is not connected correctly, undue tension on the cord, if the car detects water or smoke, or even if airbags have been deployed.
Solid Safety
Roadster includes superior tires, custom and directional wheels, tire pressure monitoring, independent tire mechanism, 4-Channel ABS system without steering lockup, extra protective side beam, roll-over protection, and charging and energy storage safety.
Creativity, Innovation and Vision
The creativity and innovation of the Tesla roadster is driven by the vision to create solutions that reduces dependence on foreign oil, resulting environmental benefits from using 100% electrical energy, energy efficiency that is even better than the Toyota Prius, the best selling hybrid, and incentives for green innovation including:
* Single-occupancy access to all carpool lanes.
* Income tax credit, although it expires in 2006.
* A luxury car that’s fully exempt from the luxury car tax
* Free parking at charging stations at LAX and other airports
* No parking meter fees in an increasing number of major metropolitan areas.
But more importantly, the creativity and innovation driven by the founders - both consummate electrical and computer engineers - Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
Here's an interesting story:
"Martin Eberhard learned to drive on a farm in Kansas when he was just 13 years old. There began a lifelong fascination with, and love of, cars and driving. So much so that Martin can still remember every car he's ever purchased, how much it cost, and how many miles were on it when he got it."
Martin and Marc have co-founded engineering companies before and successfully sold it for profits. And the founders are highly passionate about great engineering, superb customer experience, and the environment.
What are Buyers saying?
Here is what Bob Bressler, owner of Bressler Vineyards, said about his experience on owning the Tesla roadster on the Tesla Blog:
"* It is plug-in technology. The United States gets almost all of its electricity from coal, nuclear, natural gas, and hydro. This is important for three reasons. First, there is a much greater supply of the resources needed for that energy. Second, the use of oil has at least as large a political impact as an environmental one. Third, it is much easier to incorporate new technologies that can add power to the electrical grid than to develop small mobile technologies that will fit into a car.
* I can have the sports car performance I loved in my Corvette and can still pretend that I am Graham Hill.
* I can drive all the way from my home in Napa Valley, Calif., to San Francisco without thinking about fuel. (My Sparrow is legal for driving in the carpool lanes here, but there are no carpool lanes within the range of the car. With the Tesla Roadster, I’ll get the carpool lane AND range.)
* I like having a car that has other people smiling and thanking me. We get more than our fair share of Ferrari and Lamborghini exotics in Napa Valley and I love parking my Sparrow next to them. When I come out of the store, are people crowded around the Ferraris? No, they are all looking at my Sparrow. More and more, people understand the importance of environmental issues.
* I can carry a passenger! Okay, I still can’t carry many cases of wine, but one thing at a time.
* I have battery management. With a sophisticated computer driven system, the car can give me the pertinent information I need. Good news, it is all just software. It is easy for Tesla Motors to adapt as people start using the cars and find out what they really want to know. And, as I mentioned, they have the software to do the “fuel gauge” the right way. They can measure what is going on in great detail and implement the right algorithms to give me a simple and accurate “fuel gauge.”
* They are using Li-ion the right way – i.e., they picked the technology being manufactured in huge quantity and have invested in the software to make a battery management system that adjusts the usage of the batteries for the best life, safety, and (of course) performance."
Money, money, money
Interested in buying this too good to be true roadster? It's not available currently. All sold out. But you can reserve one for 2008. And oh, and be prepared to shell out $100K and change.
Or wait until the company creates cars that compete against the current hybrids.
Besides creating a 100% electric car that drives super fast, Tesla Roadster creates solid security and safety innovations including:
Customized PIN
Enter a unique PIN, and only then the car will start. This virtually makes it impossible to hotwire a car.
Valet Mode
How do you prevent valets from taking your car out for a ride? Tesla roadster has a Valet mode that limits the car‘s range, acceleration, and speed until the PIN is entered again.
Charging Intelligence
The charger is really safe, and is programmed to prevent overcharging. The charger will shut itself down if power cord is not connected correctly, undue tension on the cord, if the car detects water or smoke, or even if airbags have been deployed.
Solid Safety
Roadster includes superior tires, custom and directional wheels, tire pressure monitoring, independent tire mechanism, 4-Channel ABS system without steering lockup, extra protective side beam, roll-over protection, and charging and energy storage safety.
Creativity, Innovation and Vision
The creativity and innovation of the Tesla roadster is driven by the vision to create solutions that reduces dependence on foreign oil, resulting environmental benefits from using 100% electrical energy, energy efficiency that is even better than the Toyota Prius, the best selling hybrid, and incentives for green innovation including:
* Single-occupancy access to all carpool lanes.
* Income tax credit, although it expires in 2006.
* A luxury car that’s fully exempt from the luxury car tax
* Free parking at charging stations at LAX and other airports
* No parking meter fees in an increasing number of major metropolitan areas.
But more importantly, the creativity and innovation driven by the founders - both consummate electrical and computer engineers - Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
Here's an interesting story:
"Martin Eberhard learned to drive on a farm in Kansas when he was just 13 years old. There began a lifelong fascination with, and love of, cars and driving. So much so that Martin can still remember every car he's ever purchased, how much it cost, and how many miles were on it when he got it."
Martin and Marc have co-founded engineering companies before and successfully sold it for profits. And the founders are highly passionate about great engineering, superb customer experience, and the environment.
What are Buyers saying?
Here is what Bob Bressler, owner of Bressler Vineyards, said about his experience on owning the Tesla roadster on the Tesla Blog:
"* It is plug-in technology. The United States gets almost all of its electricity from coal, nuclear, natural gas, and hydro. This is important for three reasons. First, there is a much greater supply of the resources needed for that energy. Second, the use of oil has at least as large a political impact as an environmental one. Third, it is much easier to incorporate new technologies that can add power to the electrical grid than to develop small mobile technologies that will fit into a car.
* I can have the sports car performance I loved in my Corvette and can still pretend that I am Graham Hill.
* I can drive all the way from my home in Napa Valley, Calif., to San Francisco without thinking about fuel. (My Sparrow is legal for driving in the carpool lanes here, but there are no carpool lanes within the range of the car. With the Tesla Roadster, I’ll get the carpool lane AND range.)
* I like having a car that has other people smiling and thanking me. We get more than our fair share of Ferrari and Lamborghini exotics in Napa Valley and I love parking my Sparrow next to them. When I come out of the store, are people crowded around the Ferraris? No, they are all looking at my Sparrow. More and more, people understand the importance of environmental issues.
* I can carry a passenger! Okay, I still can’t carry many cases of wine, but one thing at a time.
* I have battery management. With a sophisticated computer driven system, the car can give me the pertinent information I need. Good news, it is all just software. It is easy for Tesla Motors to adapt as people start using the cars and find out what they really want to know. And, as I mentioned, they have the software to do the “fuel gauge” the right way. They can measure what is going on in great detail and implement the right algorithms to give me a simple and accurate “fuel gauge.”
* They are using Li-ion the right way – i.e., they picked the technology being manufactured in huge quantity and have invested in the software to make a battery management system that adjusts the usage of the batteries for the best life, safety, and (of course) performance."
Money, money, money
Interested in buying this too good to be true roadster? It's not available currently. All sold out. But you can reserve one for 2008. And oh, and be prepared to shell out $100K and change.
Or wait until the company creates cars that compete against the current hybrids.
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
References:
Time Magazine: www.time.com
Tesla Motors Website: www.teslamotors.com
Tesla Blog: www.teslamotors.com/blog1
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