[Cartoday]
If you thought that Elise-inspired sportscars would be Tesla’s sole preserve, guess again. Its upcoming saloon will form the basis of a number of completely new all-electric cars.
The plug-in saloon, known internally by its codename – the Model S –, will look to build upon the pleasing lines of the Roadster, thanks to Tesla’s most addition to the team, Franz von Holzhausen. Responsible for the sweeping bodywork of Mazda’s rotary-engined Furai concept car, He’ll now lead design team that will style all of the company’s future products.
The saloon will be a stand-alone model, developed from the ground up as a sleek four-door capable of carrying five passengers and powered by an all-electric drivetrain. Company bosses claim that the car is “ninety percent” designed and will appear in 2010, from which point the company intends to sell up to 20 000 units a year.
Unlike the Roadster, Tesla’s Model S, will use aluminium in its construction instead of carbon-fibre to save weight and production costs. The car will use a set of compact lithium-ion batteries mounted flat on the chassis floor. This compact design will form the basis of a ‘coupe-saloon’ (much like the Mercedes CLS) and an SUV by 2015. The batteries can be recharged from any mains power source, and should alow the saloon to sprint from 0-100 km/h in less than under six-seconds using a single-gear drive.
The biggest obstacle to the company’s ambitious plans are the present technological limitations of lithium-ion batteries. Tesla currently sources its lithium-ion batteries from Japan, making them expensive to buy and to replace after their 5-year lifespan. The Japanese companies have, however, promised that the lower costs and improved efficiency as the technology develops over the next few years.
Tesla also has plans to update its Roadster in a couple of year’s time, and has even voiced its intention to develop a stripped-down track special version in a bid to gain a presence in motorsport.
A driving impression of the Tesla Roadster appears in the September issue of CAR, on sale now.