Tesla Model S Photos (SLIDESHOW)

UPDATE: After an early leak of photos by Digg godd Kevin Rose, Tesla Motors showed off their pretty new car, the Tesla Model S.

It looks less futuristic and more like a car people will buy. People with $49,000 to blow, that is.

In any case, here are a bunch of photos of the car, straight from Tesla:

• • • • • • • •

EARLIER:

Kevin Rose, of Digg.com fame, wrote on his twitter feed today: "someone leaked me some tesla model s (electric car) pics, seems to have a huge touch screen display". He then links to a Flickr photo album that contains three photos (more below). The most intriguing one shows a not fully assembled interior, and there's a huge screen.

Comments

[Kache]

Well isn't that special!

There is enough lithium on this planet to convert California and Oregon to electric cars - and 60% of it is in one dried lake bed in Bolivia. After that we're back to squirrels running in cages. Electricity is not a viable the way to store energy for cars.

[BlackbirdHighway]

That is absolutely BS. There is plenty of lithium available, enough for over a trillion cars.

http://lithiumabundance.blogspot.com/

[The Ghost]

As opposed to the INFINITE amount of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

[The Meek]

What do you suggest that we do then?

[Big0725]

That's quite an attractive car. Maybe if it catches on, the price will go down.

I've got one concern. Which recharging method will become the standard. Will it be a conductive or inductive plug?

[gjohntheterrible]

I believe the idea is to be able to drive and swap out your battery when you need to. Much like stopping for gas you can stop at a station and swap your battery for a fully charged one. Almost like swapping propane tanks for your grill.

[tapeatsbill]

JFK boldly announced that we would go to the moon by the end of the decade and we did.

We WILL do miracles with hybrid cars and cheap clean green energy for our homes.

If you doubt this you have lost perspective, lost to fear and lost your dreams. Regain your vision and lets all get to work. If our elected officials or heads of industry won't challenge the country to a green revolution then I sure as hell am.

We will create the green energies for the world. We WILL lead. We WILL export this to the rest of the world. We WILL not have to fight to oil. We WILL help the rest of the world.

Mankind has now one common enemy - carbon based energy. Perhaps it can unite us before we end up living on Frank Herbert's Dune?

[proggirl]

This model is $30K less than than last year's Tesla. I've been watching these guys for a while, waiting for increased production to bring their prices into a more practical range for more people. Looks like taht time is coming.
I, for one, could not be happier about it.

[Big0725]

If I can get something that attractive, I'll give up my Chrysler 300 is a minute!

[Mike4Obama]

Wait till they combine this with recharging of batteries through breaking, small fans hidden in air intake valves and small solar cells under some sort of protective coating covering the car. You'll be getting 1000+ miles.

[BMissy]

Air Car
http://zeropollutionmotors.us/

High Fuel Economy
The Compressed Air Vehicles’s revolutionary compressed air engine is expected to achieve a fuel economy of a remarkable 106 miles per gallon. When the energy used to heat compressed air entering the engine is accounted for, and average driving speeds factored, the average economy is expected to be 106 gasoline-equivalent mpg. See How the CAE Engine Works. Compare the Compressed Air Vehicle’s fuel economy with those vehicles listed as “The Greenest Vehicles of 2007” by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (Source: www.greenercars.com).

[Camel54]

I've been watching and waiting for the compressed air cars for a long time. For most commuters these vehicles are ideal. The MDI version is further along, but there is a man in Australia who has a different version of a compressed air engine that is more efficient, quieter, smoother, and really just amazing. http://www.gizmag.com/go/3185/picture/6137/ by engineer Angelo Di Pietro.

I don't believe any one solution is the answer, but I believe this one should be much larger part of the solution cocktail than it is.

[BMissy]

I read that Australia is ready to sell the smaller version of the air car ...the city commuter one. I'm surprised they have a better version and are using the french car.

[JnrNorman]

Would you rather have Chrysler PimpMobile or that?
The PimpMobile might be cheaper payments butt that is electric now the future!
Hats off to Tesla For an Lectric Mobile with style.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/the-obama-deception/1757361927

[BMissy]

Nice video..now go out ..and don't forget to wear your tin foil hat!

[The Meek]

Constructing conspiracy theories must be fun. Computers and the internet are great tools for doing it, but what does that have to do with the Tesla.

I don't like the Tesla because you can't haul a sheet of plywood with it and it's a snob car.

Be a conspiracy of one. Convert an older vehicle. The technology is available thanks to the geeks, nerds and gearheads.

[Motes]

What new technologies has Tesla developed? Integrating batteries into a car does not count. If these are effectively the same type of batteries that go into a laptop then there will be a very high maintenance cost (and battery waste cost) involved with this. I am happy if my laptop battery goes three years; I will not be happy if I have to replace 63.2% of my effective engine every three years. Are the quick charge times based on a quick charge? If so then that will reduce both the stored charge and the lifetime of the battery. There is research looking to improve that for batteries (although there might be questions with power loss in storage since the ions are effectively more mobile), but that is not being done by Tesla. If all Tesla is doing slapping off the shelf parts together are we so negative of the world' car industry that you do not think this has been considered before?

[The Ghost]

Why don't you go to their website and see for yourself. http://www.teslamotors.com/

The showroom is right down the street from my house so I see the technology in action everyday. This is the middle of Silicon Vally and the founders are all experienced successful Venture Capitalists. We don't screw around down here. This IS the future.

[Motes]

The information posted on either their website or external publications is quite limited. For example, the post something like a warrenty for the batteries, but the if these operate like a link set of standard Li batteries (and I have seen nothing to the contrary) then I would expect the batteries to start failing before that. As a vehicle operator that means your range will slowly start to decrease over time well before 5 years. Yes it is true that some of your batteries will function at 5 years, so technically the battery pack still works, but if your range is 20% of what it was initially I would not call it a good solution.
As far as it being silicon valley and the founders are successful venture capitalists that means absolutely nothing. Are they experiance car designers/­engineers? and more importantly in the automotive industry you have to guarantee that your company is still in existance 10-20 years in the future or else you cause severe problems with the customers. Venture captialists are exactly the type of people I would NOT trust in maintaining a business. I would go for the prius or the new honda or even the new GM/Ford hybrid options before this.

[gjohntheterrible]

Didn't realize this but these cars would not require your standard oil changes, so you also save on maintenance cost of the vehicle thereby driving down the cost of ownership. So far the only issue I see is the fact that we don't have enough battery swapping stations in this country so it could be awhile before this really takes off.

[scooterdog]

Now, can someone design an electric or hybrid like a small SUV (Honda CRV or ToyotaRav) so we can put our dogs, surfboards, mtn. bikes, snowboards, etc. in them? I want to do the right thing and buy an environmentally friendly car, but I need a little more cargo space like the small SUVs offer.

[gjohntheterrible]

This car by Tesla is advertised as having more room than a station wagon.

[BlackbirdHighway]

Toyota made an electric version of the RAV4 ten years ago under the California ZEV mandate. Ford made an electric version of the Ranger pickup truck.

The automakers sued state, the Bush administration sided with the automakers, and the ZEV program was scrapped. Most of the electric vehicles were crushed. A few RAV4EVs are still on the road after all this time, and still fetch high prices when resold.

[The Ghost]

1972 Datsun w/ electric power plant does 1/4 mile in 10.76 sec.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAYrsEOxqYc&feature=player_embedded

[foster1990]

.... with sixty lead-acid batteries and two seats.

Old story.

[The Ghost]

Watch the whole video, he replaces the lead batteries with lithium, drops the weight and increases the horse power @ 50%.

Beats EVERY internal combustion engine, including a CORVETTE and a HP BMW.

I'm sorry if the future bores you.

[KillTheMessenger]

I can do better for $50k. I can emit far less carbon dioxide by investing the price difference between a Prius and this thing in solar or wind energy. Let's take solar... Prius: $25k. This car: $50k. That makes $25k difference. For $25k in solar panels I get approx. 5kW peak for a rooftop installation these days. 5kW peak is 1kW average. So over the course of 25 years lifetime the solar panels will produce approx. 220,000kWh. One kWh is approx. 1lbs. of CO2 release given our average energy mix. So the panels will save me approx. 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The Prius, on the other hand, produces the CO2 equivalent of 500 gallons worth of gas every year. Let's do that for 12 years and we are up to 6000 gallons. That's 53 tons of CO2 produced plus about 10% more for the production of the panels, i.e. about 60 tons in total. So I am still saving 100 tons. And that's if I invest at today's solar prices. If I wait 5 years, I can buy way more panels for the same money... even better.

Wind energy is even more favorable.

In other words... it's still not green. It's still a toy.

But let them make it for $35k and we are in business.

[The Ghost]

You have CONSISTENTLY been wrong about Tesla. I expect you to continue your perfect track record.

[BlackbirdHighway]

Wow where do you live? According to your calculations, the sun shines 24 hours a day there!

Where I live (Earth), that solar array will provide 125,000 kWh over 25 years. When I put that solar generated power into the Tesla I'm at zero CO2 over 25 years.

Zero. Nothing, Nil, Nix, Nada, Naught, Zilch.

Beat that.

Oh and by the way, unlike you in your Prius, I'm no longer supporting Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and all those other countries that are not the USA by buying oil from them.

[ipv4]

You are such a hater. Just cause you can't afford it does not make it a toy. This car would be go nice with my soon to be placed solar panels. I plan to be completely off the grid.

But go ahead and buy that prius.

[LADawson]

I'm not sure I agree with your numbers, but I still think the price is off. The car is more sensible though. Something actual useful to real people instead of a novelty roadster... but I'm still not that interested in paying 50k, which will probably be marked up to 60-70k by the time it sees any dealership. I will be waiting to see what the BlueStar (their next model) will be like. Supposedly they're aiming to make it more affordable.

[The Ghost]

The price point is the same as a Lexus, BMW or Mercedes. Plenty of people can afford this car.

[vfx]

Wow, a great looking 4 door sedan at 1/2 the price of their sport car. They say an even cheaper economy car is next. These guys are showing everyone that it can be done. Electric cars are here and now.

The Feds need to back this kind of thinking so the dinosaurs and their dinosaur powered cars go the way of ....

[Moabkid]

I think the government should be looking to invest R&D monies into companies like Tesla. Or maybe they already have.