Lots of big Tesla Model S news today!

Geeze, I would love to have one of these! First step, sell wife, or win Lotto!

Thanks, I was surprised how much better they did than the roadster's 244 miles on the 2-cycle test.
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-efficiency-and-range

I saw a red Model S on the road a couple weeks ago (Hwy 237 in Milpitas CA) when driving home from work, assume it's some sort of beta tester. I've always liked the pictures, but in person that car is drop dead gorgeous. Maybe someday...

Evan: That's all really great news. Note that the second link in your post goes to a facebook page and then when you click through it goes to the Tesla page. Austingreen's link is direct to the Tesla page.

It's worth noting that the range figures mentioned are for the 85 kWh pack. And with 50% more batteries, it's not surprising that it goes farther than the roadster.

Of course, the Roadster is prettier, and quicker.

Exciting news. Supposed to sell for $50k, yes? OOps, but that is for the base model, not the one with 50% more batteries and the extended range. And will it be available nationwide?

Still a little bit out of reach for the average Joe, I'm afraid.

As were cars when they first came out. The development cost is paid via the premium for low volume, working product financed by the early adopters who can afford it. As the products develop and gain commercial traction it starts to broaden its economic base making use of production and technology advances and economies of scale to lower price.

In the case of electrics (as with early gasoline engines) the infrastructure needed to support it.

Tesla is first useable electric car with a range for everything but three a year big ski trips.

Correct. The base model, 40 kWh pack, 160 miles at 55 mph, is $57,400, which is $49,900 after the $7,500 federal tax credit, assuming you qualify for the credit. (You get to subtract $7,500 from your total tax, but if that yields a negative number, your tax becomes zero, you don't get money, and you cannot carry over to following years.)

The 300 mile trim level (85 kWh pack, 300 miles at 55 mph) is $77,400 ($69,900 after the tax credit). And the fully-loaded "Signature Performance" trim level is $105,400 ($97,900 after the tax credit). Some states have additional incentives. In WA there is no sales tax on electric cars purchased new.

Pricing and Options.

So, yes, it's still out of reach for the average Joe. But remember that Tesla is a new company that intends to build and sell an affordable ($30K) electric car. As a new company, they could not have started with the mass market. Instead they started with the high performance Roadster, now they're getting ready to build the Model S. Next year they'll sell the Model X (a crossover) and a year (?) after that will be Bluestar, which should be in the same price class as the Leaf or the Prius.

I do not know about Alaska and Hawai'i, but the Model S is available at least in all 48 states, as well as some foreign countries. If you click on Buy and then Change Country you see the following. I'm assuming those are countries it's available.

The Tesla business plan as of several years ago was to build a high performance sports car, then use the R&D, economies of scale, and revenue from the sports car to build a more mainstream and lower priced sports sedan, then use the R&D, economies of scale, and revenue from the sports sedan to build a more mainstream and lower priced ... you get the picture.

Average Joe is not ready to be an EV buyer anyway. As a country, we are not ready. I take the view that EVs will be mainstream by 2025, as new CAFE rules come in to full force, manufacturers lower their prices as they improve their production, charging stations become more plentiful, and other factors conspire to make EVs practical for Average Joe.

The range-extended Model S shows what is possible: range to match a gas fueled car. The missing pieces are: lower cost, charging infrastructure, and rapid charging. The last, rapid charging, is the most difficult problem to solve, but, if you had a Model S and you could put 80% charge back into it in 10 minutes, and there was a charging station where every gas station is now, the constraints of an EV would be no different from an ICE.

You knew that the chance to be struck by a lightning is 26 times more than to win a Lotto, didn't you? I guess you have one option left out of two...

Good luck to them. For what it's worth I find it impressive that a new company is the primary "mover and shaker" in the EV field.

Daniel, any chance you'll swap your roadster for an S?

Those of us that hit the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) will not benefit from the federal tax credit. That's the majority of those that can afford a Tesla.

JeffD

Is that true? What a bummer. I think that would knock 80% of early adopters out of the picture...like me.

Well, we are getting conflicting info here... I tried to check it out on a few websites, one was an accountant's site, and even there he seemed to speak out of both sides of his mouth. In one paragraph, he says you can take it, and in another one, he says no.

I will check with my accountant, but that will take a few days.

Ah, I found this...at justanswer.tax

Treatment of Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit as a Personal Credit Allowed Against AMT (Section 1144): Starting in 2009, the new law allows the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit, including the tax credit for purchasing hybrid vehicles, to be applied against the Alternative Minimum Tax. Prior to the new law, the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit could not be used to offset the AMT. This means the credit could not be taken if a taxpayer owed AMT or was reduced for some taxpayers who did not owe AMT.

So it seems that prior to 2009, you could not get the credit if you were subject to AMT, but since then you can. Whew...was hoping to buy an iMiev.

Roadster will go about 15% further on the same epa 2 cycle test. I was expecting more of a performance penalty since I assume the S is much heavier with a much bigger frontal area. I think if they use 2 cycle it will get 103 mpge which is higher than leaf, very impressive numbers.

I did post that link after I followed the other one to facebook and a warning.

The roadster is indeed prettier, and I'm sure handles much better. The performance of the S performance(4.4second 0-60) is plenty fast for most of us.

Did they update the battery pack sizes (40kWh/60kWh) for the 160 miles and the 230 miles models? I thought they were 42kWh and 65kWh before.

Model S Options and Pricing | Tesla Motors
AFAIK they were always 40, 60, 85. They just finished getting the car to production ready, which meant they could put out real mileage on the epa test, instead of guessed mileage. They estimated 300 miles AER on the EPA 2 cycle test, and it ended up at 320 miles.

There is also the tougher 5 cycle test which it gets 265. I don't know which one the epa uses for 2013. We should see the official sticker soon, as they will be shipping in June.

As fjpod posted, you DO get the tax credit even if you are subject to the AMT.

In the intervening years they made improvements in the efficiency of the entire system, and the batteries in the S have more energy per kg. So the S does not suffer for its weight and cd as much as it otherwise would.

The S is a more practical car. The Roadster is more fun.

I'd have bought the S instead of the Roadster if it had been available a year ago. I would have bought (and tried to buy) a Leaf instead of the Roadster. But now that I've driven the Roadster for close to a year, I would not trade it.