can't wait!

Tesla Headquarters: Hmm... we could sell this car with a 51,000 base price and remain quite profitable, but isn't the government giving out a tax break?

Sorry Tesla, I need a range of at least 560 miles. I drive that much onw-way every other weekend (long road back home). If I could recharge it off the wall in less than 30 minutes, I might consider.

Electric is still only practical for an in-city driver, and until I can get an electric for under $20k, I won't even consider it.

If everyone had an electric car, the U.S. electric grid would most likely fail.

Uh yeah, if anyone believes that car will ultimately be priced at $57k, then I've got some Bear Sterns stock for you as well. As of today, the car is just a clay mock up and nothing more. There are no designs for the chassis, interior, or powertrain. I know because I work for the company. It's a beautiful dream and not much more.

My main concern is, how much would it cost the consumer every month to charge it if they drove 50 miles every day. 100 miles? 200 miles?

Watt for Watt, electricity is FAR cheaper than gasoline. The only problem has been that storing electricity is HEAVY and EXPENSIVE (on the front end).

[citation][nom]I know because I work for the company.[/citation]

You work for the company but were not let go via email? I'd say good for you, but, I don't think that's the case.

Regardless, hopefully you can help them turn their already bad name around. Good luck!

Write your congressman! The Detroit Big 3 (Who are fronts for the oil companies), the banks (Who conduit the oil company money) and AIG (who keeps the oil companies protected) were handed “money in a sack” within a few days with no questions asked, no application, no budget, no use-of-funds proposal, and no review process but the alternative energy people, ie: wind, solar and electric cars; must pay massive fees, file thousands of pages of paper and wait years to see if they MIGHT get some money. It seems as if there is an intentional program going on to delay alternative energy. Already, multiple solar companies that were waiting for that money have been forced to go out of business by the delay and most of the electric car companies are going to die soon too.

The roadster costs about 2.5 cents per mile to drive, probably less in city only. So, mixed highway/city cost for 100 miles would be $2.50 versus $6 for a car that gets 33 mpg and $10 for one that gets 20. Of course gas prices have been higher before...

The sedan will be heavier, but less powerful, so maybe 2 cents city, 4 highway? If you compare the TCO to an Audi A4, it will probably require a lot of driving to pay for itself, but it could for some. And the price will probably drop as production ramps up for both cars and batteries.

do you have to actually plug the car into the socket yourself or will it handle this automatically itself like those roomba things?

It has been just over a year since the Roadster went into production. It took Tesla until February to deliver the 200 cars that were initially ordered back in 2006!

They still have no dealership network outside of California (if you count the two dealers in California a "network"), they've been involved in two lawsuits with Fisker and Magna International, and they've already expressed concern that they won't be able to produce the Model S on time without a cash infusion from the government. In fact, they had to change the plans for the new Model S production facility from a greenfield site to a brownfield to secure a federal DOE loan.

A Silicon Valley company has never stepped up and played in an industry as heavily regulated as the auto industry. There is good reason why new auto companies don't come along too often; it's not an easy business. Besides the government, the competition doesn't make it any easier. Given that Tesla has made it this far, only producing about 300(!) saleable vehicles, it is pretty surprising. I attribiute that more to the deep-pocket venture capitalists funding the project than to the leadership team of the company. Unfortunatly, unless the economy starts shoring up a bit, those deep pockets tend to get tighter as VCs move their money to safer and more mainstream investments.

Ah, but the real questions are:

1. When will it really ship?

2. How much extra will people have to pay to actually get one when Tesla raises the price right for everyone who placed deposits for them before they even start production?

how far does it travel on one chrge ??? the 100, K + model does 200 miles supposably so i imagine a price cut like this wilklmost likely reduce the battery capacity for cheaper batteries so how much will they go on one charge ? if they can do atleast 75 miles on a charge ... this will revolutionise the world... either that or throw us into a great depression as the bottom falls out of the gas car industry , as well as teh oil industry whe eve one start buyign these.

Elon Musk is quickly destroying this once-innovative company. And yet when Telsa's declared bankruptcy and all those great engineers who've worked their tails off are out looking for jobs, Mr. Musk will claim it was "everyone else's fault!" and walk away with millions.

$50,000 is no within reach of the everyman. 30 or less is what we need.

I need a car

Love the idea of the Tesla cars, however here are some concerns that I see with all electric cars.

1. Batteries: They are extremely heavy and most require more than one. Also batteries do not last forever so how much to replace?
2. Distance: No electric car I have seen can match the distance that one gets from a internal combustion engine.
3. Price

Whats good from what I have read anyway.

1. Long term savings (course still do not know how long batteries last and how much they cost to replace)
2. Instant power to the wheels. Nice.
3. Just guessing on this one: Could be quite easy to upgrade the components depending how it is designed. The aftermarket, should they take off, you could see a whole new segment, designs, and ideas.

I would consider this unit as a second vehicle only, used for cruising to work and/or around the City. It simply can’t be your only vehicle if you make reasonably long trips. Price is a huge concern… 20k-30k I would consider, I can’t justify spending more on any vehicle, regardless of my income.

My two main concerns are price, and RE-charging the car away from home…

No Question..
Doesn’t the grid drop in some states during the summer because of Air conditioners? (I’m in Canada)

The USA’s power demand is massive; I can’t even guess how many cars are in the USA… You guys would need a whole lot more Nuclear Power plants if ALL the cars were electric. Or destroy the earth with more coal plants if the laws aren’t changed.

"do you have to actually plug the car into the socket yourself or will it handle this automatically itself like those roomba things"


ya, because you're going to want your car to drive around by itself looking for a plug.

so far away and yet still the first? i somehow doubt that but at the same time, it shows how out-of-touch other companies are because i'm sure there's a real demand for EV's. let's keep things moving and hope your 3rd model keeps that approx. 30k sticker price, or better yet, get some freaking competition, already

But but but....prices of houses built by freeways will go up. It's the f#$%ing end of the world!