The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) sports car, based on the Lotus Elise chassis, that was produced from 2008 to 2012.
The Roadster was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 320 kilometres per charge. It is also the first production car to be launched into deep space, carried by a Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018.
Tesla sold about 2450 Roadsters in over 30 countries and most of the last Roadsters were sold in Europe and Asia during the fourth quarter of 2012.
The Roadster is powered by a 3-phase, 4-pole, induction electric motor with a maximum output power of 248 hp. The car can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 201 km/h.
The Sport model introduced during the Jan 2009 Detroit Auto Show includes a motor with a higher density, hand-wound stator that produces a maximum of 288 hp.
The first Tesla Roadster was delivered in February 2008 to Tesla co-founder, chairman and product architect Elon Musk. The company produced 500 similar vehicles through June 2009. In July 2009, Tesla began production of its 2010 model-year Roadster—the first major product upgrade. Simultaneously, Tesla began producing the Roadster Sport, the first derivative of Tesla's proprietary, patented powertrain. The car accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds, compared to 3.9 seconds for the standard Roadster.
Tesla produced the Roadster until January 2012, when its supply of gliders ran out, as its contract with Lotus Cars for 2500 gliders expired at the end of 2011.
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