View BusinessWeek' slideshow over here. I must point out that my Future Timeline for Energy, written back on February 25, 2007, has described many of the items that BusinessWeek noticed some 7 months later. In fact, the following articles go back even earlier :
CFLs and LEDs : September 25, 2006
Tesla Roadster : December 26, 2006
This is not the first time an article here on The Futurist was written months before BusinessWeek featured the same technology. My article Terrorism, Oil, Globalization, and the Impact of Computing, from August 22, 2006, predated a BusinessWeek slideshow on the same topic released on February 20, 2007, or 6 months later. View the slideshow here.
Membership Fee. You pay an amount, which in this description of the Tesla Roadster Club we're calling a membership fee to join the Tesla Roadster Club. The membership fee is fully refundable up to the day that you confirm your option selections, which is three months prior to the production of your Tesla Roadster. The membership fee is as follows:
Premium Buyer: $50,000
Patient Buyer: $30,000 (The Patient Buyer will permit Premium Buyer to take priority in terms of order and delivery dates; however, the Patient Buyer will receive a 2008 Tesla Roadster.)
Order Placement & Credit. When Tesla Motors begins accepting orders for the Tesla Roadster, each Tesla Roadster Club member will be given the opportunity to place an order for a 2008 model year, before Tesla Roadster orders are accepted from the general public. The membership fee will be credited against Tesla Roadster acquisition costs.
Yet in another article you mention, it states that production will not begin until 2009.
Tesla is more and more becoming a myth rather than a reality.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 16, 2007 at 02:09 PM
jeffolie,
The Tesla Roadster is produced now, and has been since 2006.
It is the Tesla WhiteStar, the 4-door Sedan, that will be produced in 2009 or 2010.
Posted by: GK | September 16, 2007 at 07:00 PM
Build Your Own
2008 Tesla Roadster
We invite you to customize and reserve a 2008 Tesla Roadster. Your car will come standard with a rich set of features, and you can select from a variety of options here. (Don't worry, you won't be locked-in to these options. We will confirm your choices three months prior to production of your car.)
Base price excludes tax and state fees. Cars are available for sale and delivery exclusively in the contiguous United States. Your car will be reserved when we receive your reservation payment. The delivery date is an estimate and is subject to change.
http://www.teslamotors.com/buy/buyPage1.php
According to the website you can not take delivery:
"delivery date is an estimate and is subject to change"
Posted by: jeffolie | September 17, 2007 at 11:31 AM
Is anyone an owner and driving one on city streets?
Posted by: jeffolie | September 17, 2007 at 11:34 AM
Construction yet to begin on Tesla Motors factory in Albuquerque
By Erik Siemers (Contact)
Monday, August 20, 2007
The company's immediate focus remains on its first model, the two-seat Tesla Roadster, a $98,000 all-electric sports car. Tesla hopes by this fall to begin production and delivery of the Roadster, pending any delays caused by upcoming crash and durability testing, Siry said. The Roadster is being assembled in the United Kingdom.
Siry said the company intends to apply lessons learned while developing the Roadster to its work on the WhiteStar.
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/aug/20/construction-yet-begin-tesla-motors-factory-albuqu/
According to the above article, Tesla is not even producing the Roadster for sale yet.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 17, 2007 at 11:48 AM
Tesla looks like a fraud.
There are no owners.
The Roadster is not in production with cars that can be driven on the street and that you can take delivery.
Scam
Fraud
Posted by: jeffolie | September 17, 2007 at 11:57 AM
jeffolie,
What? I have seen them on the streets many times. They DO exist. About 200 are in private ownership so far.
First you ask if someone owns one, and then, 14 minutes later, as no one replies, you insist that it is not in production and is a scam.
That is not very logical.
They are backed by some of the biggest VCs, financed by Elon Musk, and have had many articles in major publications. They may eventually succeed or fail, but have been selling a Roadster for some time.
Posted by: GK | September 17, 2007 at 01:23 PM
Prove that there are owners of the Roadster driving on the streets.
I dare you.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 17, 2007 at 01:59 PM
What specifically would constitute 'proof'?
I have seen them on the Highway.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, and Matt Damon have each bought one - something Tesla could not legally claim if not true.
I suggest you go to an auto show or otherwise probe deeper, before jumping to 'fraud' conclusions.
At least we have migrated you from 'electic cars will never be possible' to 'Tesla doesn't actually sell these cars'. That itself is a huge step in the right direction.
Posted by: GK | September 17, 2007 at 02:17 PM
I never said that electric cars are not possible.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 17, 2007 at 05:11 PM
You said they would not be commercially bought by the masses in the next 50 years.
Posted by: GK | September 17, 2007 at 05:47 PM
I said that a particular electric car that you were predicting would not be commercially bought by the masses. I did not state that electric cars would not be sold to the masses. In fact, small, slow electric cars are sold to the masses. I referred to the car you predicted: a sedan seating 5 selling for less than $20,000.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 18, 2007 at 10:25 AM
jeffolie,
You have said :
In 20, 30, 50 years, maybe these 'dream electic cars' will be mass produced'
They were not cost effective. History is replete with 'dream' cars.
Go ahead, dream.
That's fine, that can be your opinion. But if you insist that Tesla is a fraud, despite evidence to the contrary, then it is your job to provide proof.
And, to be precise, I said a 4-door family car, with 240 hp and 60 mpg equivalent, will be available for middle-class prices by 2015, which by then (due to inflation, growth, etc.), will be about $35,000.
Posted by: GK | September 18, 2007 at 12:24 PM
OK
So now we have the accurate posts.
You think that it will be 2015 for the 4 door 240 hp, 60 mpg at $35,000.
I think it will be 20 years or more.
We have an honest difference of opinion, fair enough.
As for Tesla, I may yet be right. They maybe a con and a fraud. They may collapse into bankruptcy before they mass produce and deliver the 2008 Roadster which has a "delivery date is an estimate and is subject to change".
Posted by: jeffolie | September 18, 2007 at 02:33 PM
jeffolie,
But they have already sold 100+ units of the 2007 Roadster. I have seen them, and some current owners are listed.
The 2008 Roadster is to be released, but they have 500+ on pre-order.
Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page are not stupid enough to defraud 500 rich and famous customers to make a few million dollars each, when all 3 of them already have net worths of $500M, $12B, and $12B respectively. They are not Nigerians, you know.
You can say you doubt their technology, but can't claim they are a 'scam'.
Posted by: GK | September 18, 2007 at 02:40 PM
On a different note, I'm not sure if you've seen this:
http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/economists-v-ecologists/
I thought it might be an interesting topic for you to dig into.
BTW, still waiting for the simple quasi-anonymous, email addy you need to set up...
Posted by: Greg O'Byrne | September 19, 2007 at 09:33 AM
BTW, still waiting for the simple quasi-anonymous, email addy you need to set up...
My email address is in the form to send comments to you.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 19, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Many companies that fail have taken hundred of 'deposits' before failing. Taking deposits before having a product to deliever is suspicious.
Posted by: jeffolie | September 19, 2007 at 12:12 PM
There's only one serious problem with the Tesla roadster...RANGE. They say it goes 200 miles between charges and that, my friend, is impossible. The L-Ion batteries in it, have the energy density of 2 gallons of gasoline. Driving the Tesla like grandma, you may get 100 miles out of it. Lead footing around town, more like 40 miles. Big problem.
Posted by: ron johnron | December 09, 2007 at 12:12 PM
BTW: Nobody has ever even driven a Tesla, other than Tesla employees, yet alone put one in their garage. All of the people who have ever ridden in one, were in the passenger seat for 5 minute rides. If people knew the truth about the true range, the company wouldn't be able to collect deposits.
Posted by: ron johnron | December 09, 2007 at 12:24 PM
ron johnson,
Time will tell, particularly after the 500 units of 2008 models are delivered. Tesla took deposits from many high-profile people, so they know that they would not be able to get away with any misrepresentation. This leads me the believe they would not misrepresent.
Posted by: GK | December 09, 2007 at 02:29 PM
Tesla reminds me of another company called BRE-X . I am wondering where all that money is going.... Humm
What is the backgroung of Elon??? How about Ze'ev Drori ??? It is not about financing or producing an electric car, it is about money being funelled out of the country .....both of them .... interesting backgrounds
Posted by: Jean Pierre | January 09, 2008 at 03:12 PM