The Tesla Model S is a full-sized battery electric sedan in development by Tesla Motors. It is an electric car that was codenamed
WhiteStar during research and preliminary development. It was announced in a press release on June 30, 2008. The prototype vehicle was displayed at a press conference on March 26, 2009.Production for the retail market is expected to begin in mid 2012, with a base price of US$57,400. The base model will have a range of 160 miles (260 km) when fully charged, and a 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) acceleration of 5.6 seconds. The premium Signature Series will have a larger battery pack available with ranges of 230 and 300 miles (370 and 480 km). The first 1,000 cars to be produced will be of the premium version. Normal charging times will be three to five hours, depending on the battery capacity, and a 45-minute QuickCharge will be possible when connected to a 480 V outlet. In addition, a battery swap will be possible in less than two minutes.
Tesla Model Great Mobile Apps Platform?
Through a connection, I visited Tesla Motors on Saturday evening during its open house for buyers of the coming Model S electric sedan. It pretty much hit the holy trinity of
awesome-ness for me: great food and drink, hanging out with pals (a number of the dads of my kids’ school friends work at Tesla) and seeing mind-blowing tech in action.On the latter, there was almost too much to geek out over. There were Tesla’s ‘trainable’ manufacturing robots, which wowed my kids but felt a little
early-Skynet to me. There was the eco-tastic choice of materials for the Model S, like the compressed banana leaf veneer for your door and dashboard. It’s really cool, but to future Model S owners: Please don’t name-drop it at your next cocktail party lest you sound like Ron Burgundy mentioning his leather-bound book collection and apartment smelling of rich mahogany. And while a lot of you have heard about the Model S’s peerless electric battery system, did you know it can now beat the BMW M5 and other muscle-bound Euro luxury sedans in a sprint?I’ll focus on the Model S’s infotainment system, based around the vertical 17-inch LCD screen that takes up the entire center console ((there is another 12.3 inch LCD screen in front of the driver that will display speed, fuel remaining, etc.)In the party tent, I spoke to several of the engineers working on the system and gleaned some details not previously reported at the Model S’s prior
unveilings. While I think it’s extremely exciting for consumers and pushes the state-of-the-art for mobile electronics, its viability for would-be developers remains unclear.
Is the Model S’s 17-inch LCD-based system the future of in-car infotainment?
Let’s start with the good stuff. At about 100-plus square inches, the LCD is about 3 times larger than the 10-inch screens (about 36 square inches) of the iPad and the next-largest car display, the 2009 BMW 7-Series. Indeed, the tennis-racket-sized screen is about 8 times larger than the 6-inch screens in most of today’s conventional 2-DIN LCD car stereos/DVD players.
playing Angry Birds on that:
Here’s the not as good. The screen as of today is a single-finger touch, lacking the multi-touch swipes and gestures of the iPhone and iPad. Instead of the projected capacitive technology used by the latest smartphones and tablets, the screen uses infrared.Now, there are two kinds of infrared touchscreens. The first is a relatively old technology that has been used in point-of-sale systems and outdoor displays. The second is a variety its makers like to call ‘optical imaging’ and which is used in modern
multi-touch-enabled PCs like HP’s
TouchSmart. It sounded like Tesla is using the latter variety. Thus, I’m guessing that the single-touch is a correctable software issue.
Optical imaging screens do have two chief advantages over capacitive screens like the iPad. First, users are not required to use their bare finger (which creates an electrostatic charge detectable by a capacitive touchscreen. That means users can be wearing driving gloves on the Model S screen. Perhaps more important, optical imaging screens are way cheaper today than capacitive ones at sizes like 17-inches.Despite all of that, Tesla might still move to a capacitive touchscreen, I was told.On the internal guts: the system will run an ARM-based
Nvidia Tegra CPU/GPU combo. Today, that would be the Nvidia Tegra 2 based on the dual-core Arm Cortex-A9.By the mid-2012 release of the Model S, however, it could be a Tegra 3 (Kal-El) that will be five times faster than the Tegra 2 inside the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablets, the Motorola Xoom and others. Or it could even be a Tegra (Wayne) with a 4-core ARM Cortex-A15 that will reportedly be 10x faster than the Tegra 2.
Performance:
Acceleration of the 3,825 pounds (1,735 kg) vehicle is anticipated to be 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 5.6 seconds aided by a drag coefficient of 0.28.
Price:
Pricing has been announced at US$57,400 for the base-level model with a 160 mi (260 km) range, US$67,400 for an intermediate model with a 230 mi (370 km) range, and US$77,400 for a high-end “Signature Series” model with a 300 mi (480 km) range. For qualified consumers there is a US$7,500 federal tax credit in the United States and there are other applicable local incentives available in several states.The company also announced plans to rent or lease high capacity battery packs which offer a 300 mi (480 km) range. Profits from the Model S are expected to fund development of a more affordable third vehicle codenamed
"BlueStar
Battery Packs:
The base model will have a range of 160 miles (260 km) when fully charged using a 42 kW·h battery pack (24 kW·h/100 mi, 108 mpgge). Larger, longer range battery pack options will be available as well; the options announced include a range of 230 miles (370 km) from a 65 kW·h pack (26 kW·h/100 mi, 100 mpgge) and a range of 300 miles (480 km) from an 85 kW·h pack (26 kW·h/100 mi, 100 mpgge). The base battery pack will contain 5,000 lithium-ion cells, reported to be sourced from Panasonic, while the larger battery packs will both contain 8,000 cells and weigh approximately 1,200 pounds (540 kg). The largest pack will use the same number of cells, but each cell will have a 30% higher specific energy to enable the pack to store the additional energy A 45-minute
QuickCharge of the 42 kW·h pack will be possible when a 3-phase 480 volt, 100 amp circuit is available (80 amp continuous draw from a 100 amp breaker).
Tesla Model S: Quicker Than a Porsche 911?
As the car market anticipates the arrival of the Tesla Model S electric-powered sedan next year, new information about the car continues on trickle forth. According to numerous reports Tesla boss Elon Musk said at a weekend event the company will also sell a higher-performance version of the car.The souped-up Model S reportedly will accelerate to 60 mph from a standstill in 4.5 seconds, which is two-tenths of a second quicker than the 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera with a manual transmission. If you order the Porsche with the company’s quick-shifting
PDK automatic it will match the Tesla at 4.5 seconds in the zero-to-60 sprint.There are versions of the 911 including the Carrera S, GT3 and Turbo that will could more easily outrun the Tesla. But what is important is that the big sedan will be able to run with the Porsche, Chevrolet Corvette, Audi R8 and other muscular sports cars. It would also establish electric power as a performance feature, not just a gasoline-saving one. Even the basic Model S is quick at 5.6 seconds from zero to 60.The car is to roll out next year as a 2013 model with prices starting at $50,000. Tesla says the S will have a range of up to 300 miles, depending on which battery option the buyer chooses. The company could not be reached immediately for comment.".
