Tesla's new Roadster is "the quickest car in the world"

[HEXUS]

And Tesla launches an electric semi truck which is "more aerodynamic than a Bugatti Chiron".

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[virtuo]

Wonder what the cooling will be like on the Founders edition

Trucks look good though, specially if the numbers are true.

[KrisWragg]

Had to stretch myself a bit to buy a Tesla Model S!

Would love one of these new Roadsters but definitely way out of my budget

Hopefully they get the cooling right and you could use it as a track car, otherwise it would be an expensive car for day to day use!

[scaryjim]

Tesla's new Roadster caused a bit of a surprise as, with a touch of theatre, it drove out of the back of the Tesla Semi trailer ...

Tesla just went full-Knight Rider....

[Ttaskmaster]

Tesla just went full-Knight Rider....

I'm afraid not, Michael.
Knight Rider requires a 5-litre V8 engine and actually sounds good revving up.
Tesla just goes whiper-whisper...

[TeePee]

whisper whisper, but they're having a lot of trouble making the Model 3.

But... NEW CARS!

[Gerrard]

Tesla's new Roadster is "the quickest car in the world"

...in a straight line. With that massive range, it isn't going to be light and I couldn't find a weight for it.

The biggest gain in the truck is probably the aerodynamics. I think I remember reading a few years' ago about someone petitioning the EU to change the current regulations on truck sizes to allow them to be more aerodynamic and the savings it would make.

whisper whisper, but they're having a lot of trouble making the Model 3.

But... NEW CARS!

I appreciate the sentiment of them trying to distract investors/shareholders from their current production problems (the BBC's article does bring that up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42021713), but I doubt not developing new products would address the issue, and it makes sense from a company's point of view to keep designers etc. busy with something else.

[directhex]

...in a straight line. With that massive range, it isn't going to be light and I couldn't find a weight for it.

It's a 200kWh battery, being promised in 2020. Tesla's older S/X battery, a Panasonic co-developed 18650 cell, hits 250Wh/kg. The newer 2170 cells for the 3/Semi are closer to 320Wh/kg. Assuming no improvements between now & 2020, then that's 625kg of battery. That's a false assumption - it'll be less than 500kg.

The original Roadster was 1.3 tonnes, of which 450kg was battery, so... there's no reason to believe it won't hit a similar weight point as the original Roadster, which is heavy compared to something like an Elise or MX5, but they're talking better-than-Veyron performance, at a weight a good 33% lower.

[elites2012]

with the rise in electricity. ill stick with a biodiesal dodge ram 1500. their is always some fast food place trying to cut cost of cooking oil disposal.

[Gerrard]

It's a 200kWh battery, being promised in 2020. Tesla's older S/X battery, a Panasonic co-developed 18650 cell, hits 250Wh/kg. The newer 2170 cells for the 3/Semi are closer to 320Wh/kg. Assuming no improvements between now & 2020, then that's 625kg of battery. That's a false assumption - it'll be less than 500kg.

I couldn't find any confirmation about the energy density of the 2170 as there doesn't appear to be a reliable source for their capacity of 5.75Ah. Whatever it is now, I don't think it will improve as it is already in production for the 3 and there is no doubt quite the lead time to test and design these. Add in all the extra ancilliaries and 625kg would be a minimum for a 200kWh battery. For a sports car I would have thought having the "normal" range of 300miles and making it lighter would be better, but I guess the extra range is actually a side-effect of needing more cells to provide the extra power.

[plexabit]

I guess the extra range is actually a side-effect of needing more cells to provide the extra power.

This is spot-on. More cells = more amps that can be pulled without busting the battery. Weirdly enough, more cells = more range too. Electric cars are weird.

[keithwalton]

Nice stat about the aerodynamics of the truck, just a shame it's entirely pointless.

coefficient of drag (cd) is a nice brochure number et all but cda (coefficient of drag x front area) is the real number that matters and I think the truck might just loose on that one.

The chiron also has a very poor cd by modern standards, mainly because it's designed not to take off at 270mph...
Most modern bog standard cars are under 0.3, aerodynamic things like the prius and other tesla's are under 0.25, do wonder what that new roadster is!

That truck will need a portion of the trailer to store its batteries.... 80% charge in 30mins sounds impressive though depends on how many kw's that is. Shame though that it has a range of a car and not a truck and wont be able to last a typical truck drivers shift without re-charging which is a big no-no when on the clock

[DanceswithUnix]

Tesla just went full-Knight Rider....

A couple more prototypes and they could remake the Italian Job (again)

[TeePee]

I appreciate the sentiment of them trying to distract investors/shareholders from their current production problems (the BBC's article does bring that up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42021713), but I doubt not developing new products would address the issue, and it makes sense from a company's point of view to keep designers etc. busy with something else.

Distracting investors is the whole point. The company is valued higher than Ford! It's insane. The mystery is how long they can continue to pull in funding to continue operations while losing money on every car they sell.

[deepblue08]

whisper whisper, but they're having a lot of trouble making the Model 3.

But... NEW CARS!

This car won't come out for 3-4 years so they don't have to worry about their mass production for a while.

[peterb]

Distracting investors is the whole point. The company is valued higher than Ford! It's insane. The mystery is how long they can continue to pull in funding to continue operations while losing money on every car they sell.

I guess investors are taking the long view. Amazon lost money for years as the business was being built. Automotive production, particularly at the cutting edge, isn't a cheap start up.