Tesla
Tesla Motors, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells electric cars and electric vehicle components. Tesla is a public company on the NASDAQ stock exchange. After 10 years, Tesla, which in 2008 produced the first fully electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, posted its first profit in 2013. The Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan, was the company’s second vehicle in 2009. Tesla says it aims at eventually selling electric cars at affordable prices to average consumers. The “Tesla” name honors physicist Nikola Tesla. The Roadster uses an alternating-current motor designed originally by Tesla in 1882.
The Tesla Roadster is the first production car to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production electric vehicle with a range of more than 200 miles per charge. From 2008 to 2012, Tesla sold more than 2,250 Roadsters in 31 countries. The Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds and has a top speed of 125. Motor Trend has reported an acceleration rate of 0 to 60 in 3.70 seconds. Tesla stopped taking Roadster orders in the American market in 2011 after exhausting its supply of Lotus chassis parts.
Tesla unveiled the Tesla Model S all-electric sedan in March 2009 and sold 2,650 of them in the North American market during 2012, mostly in the USA. In March 2013, Tesla had almost 3,000 full-time employees.
Tesla’s strategy is to enter the automotive market with an expensive high-end product for affluent buyers. After company products and consumer acceptance matured, it would appeal to a larger, more competitive, lower-priced customer base. The Roadster base price was $109,000, that of the Model S $57,400, and the company plans to launch a $30,000 BlueStar vehicle.
A Tesla goal is to increase the number and variety of electric vehicles available to most consumers by selling its own vehicles in its own showrooms and online and by selling electric vehicle components to other automakers. Tesla research and development focus on pure electric propulsion technology for ranges beyond 200 miles.
Tesla operates stores or galleries in shopping malls in 22 states and Washington, DC. Customers order their vehicles on the Tesla Motors website. The stores are showrooms where people learn about Tesla vehicles. The galleries are for states with laws that restrict discussion of prices, finances, and test drives.
Tesla’s strategy of direct customer sales departs from the dealership model. Tesla is the only automaker that sells cars to customers directly; all other automakers use independent dealers. Most state laws limit or ban direct sales to customers, and dealer associations have filed lawsuits to block the company from selling cars in some states. North Carolina and New Hampshire have sided with Tesla, but Virginia and Texas have not, but Tesla operates in both states with galleries.
Tesla Motors builds electric vehicle components for Daimler, Smart ForTwo, and Toyota. Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not use single-purpose, large-format battery cells. Tesla uses thousands of small, cylindrical lithium-ion 18650 battery cells common in laptops and other consumer electronics devices but a unique version cheaper and lighter than standard cells. Such savings in cost and weight require removal of some safety features that are unnecessary, Tesla says, because advanced thermal management by a protective intumescent chemical in the battery pack prevents fires. Currently Panasonic, a Tesla Motors investor, is the sole supplier of the battery cells.
In the Model S, Tesla integrated the battery pack into the floor of the vehicle; in the Roadster the battery pack is behind the seats. Batteries integrated into the floor take up no interior space. Mounting methods of other electric vehicles lose trunk or interior space. The location of the battery pack and the lower ride of the Model S put the battery at a higher risk of damage by road debris or an impact, so a quarter-inch alloy armor plate shields the battery pack. Its position permits a battery swap as quick as 90 seconds. There are no public Tesla battery replacement locations.
