Tesla Roadster is Fast and Safe?

We’ve learned just how fast the Tesla Roadster is, sprinting to 60mph in 3.9 seconds and running the quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds. Even though there are only a few of these EV’s on the road, there have already been three crashes. The first crash occurred when a technician was testing the vehicle and rear ended a truck. The second occurred in San Francisco when the driver failed to stop fast enough at a stop light and rear ended the car in front of them.

The third crash, which happened on October 29th, 2008 in southern France, was much more serious. The accident happened during a test drive where the sales director was demonstrating how sporty the suspension is… at 100 mph. The roads were wet and visibility was reportedly low.

Details are limited, but the accident happened during a high speed turn. The passenger (and potential customer) was ejected from the vehicle upon impact. Fortunately for both of them, their injuries were relatively minor. The driver suffered a broken hand and some bruises. The passengers injuries are unknown, but he has already been released from the hospital.

Check out the carnage below, do you think the Tesla Roadster can be classified as a safe car or were these two people just extremely lucky?

Source: WreckedExotics.com

How Fast is the Tesla Roadster?

Pretty fast. The Tesla Roadster is the hottest new EV on the market. The company has had some troubles lately, including executive turnovers and cash flow problems, but a recent procurement of capital should help keep the company afloat and those Tesla’s rolling out of the factory.

We already know that the latest drivetrain revision lets the EV Roadster go 0-60 in 3.9 seconds, but what about a quarter-mile run? One of the lucky few who already owns a Tesla Roadster recently ran the all electric vehicle at the Infineon raceway in California.

The verdict: even with an R/T of .764 the Roadster still ran the quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds. This is one quick EV! Hit the jump to see the time slip.

Source: AutoBlog

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Tesla Finishes Up Drivetrain 1.5, Now Ready to Crank Up Production of the Roadster

Tesla has put the finishing touches on version 1.5 of the drive train for their Roadster. Gone is the original 2-speed gearbox, now the Roadster sports a BorgWarner 1-speed transmission. Although half of the gears are now missing, torque output has gone up from 211 to 280 foot-pounds! Note that since this vehicle is electric, all 280 ft-lbs are available from 0 (zero) RPM’s. What’s more is that the total range on an electric charge has increased 10% to 244 miles.

Lets review these improvements: there are half as many gears which means there is less to break, they’ve increased torque by 37% and it now goes 10% farther on a charge… that’s a bang-up job! Tesla hasn’t updated the performance stats for the Roadster yet, but with all that extra torque, you can bet it’ll be faster than the original 3.9 second 0-60 time.

Tesla has been producing only 4 cars per week, but will now be outputting 10 per week, ramping up to 40 per week by next march. All Tesla Roadsters that have been sold to date can have their gear boxes upgraded for free.

Source: Tesla Motors via AutoBlog Green