Aussies line up for Tesla S

The all-alloy fastback sedan with seating for seven is due to go onsale in the USA in the middle of 2012. Right-hand drive versions of the rear-drive vehicle (which boasts a 0-60mph time of 5.6sec) will go into production in the fourth quarter of 2012, with Australian deliveries expected to commence in Q1 of 2013.

Australian Tesla Country Manager, Jay McCormack, told motoring.com.au that 53 Aussies already had their names down for the new sedan. Along with US market reservees, the Aussies will be invited to participate in the first test drives of ‘Beta’ versions of the Model S in California in October.

“Our model is a little bit different from the normal car company, we’re inviting prospective owners and partners to drive the new car first. There are no firm plans for media drives,” McCormack told motoring.com.au.

Just seven examples of the $206,188 two-seater Tesla Roadster have been delivered to new owners in Australia since the company arrived Down Under last year. Another four cars are under construction. Unlike other markets, purchasers of electric cars get no vehicle-specific tax breaks Down Under.

“Australia is the only market in the world where there are no tax rebates [for electric vehicle purchasers],” McCormack said.

“We qualify for the low emission vehicle sub-$75K ‘break’ in terms of Luxury Car Tax, but that’s it. There needs to be a big focus [by the FCAI, on negotiations with government on this point]. But we’re confident that we will in time at least get a conversation started.”

McCormack said that the Australian Government had “missed a golden opportunity” to show its “buy-in” to electric vehicles by not offering some form of incentive. “Even if it was phased out over the next few years,” he said.

Accordingly, McCormack is reluctant to talk pricing on the new Model S. In the USA Tesla has quoted a price around $US50,000 once state and federal government rebates are taken into account. Tesla will offer more extensively equipped and longer range versions at higher cost. But he says that the Model S will compete “strongly” with its key target competitor models – BMW’s 5 Series and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

“It’s not our philosophy to build the best electric car in the [competitive] set, but the best car outright. We’re confident the Model S will be very, very competitive with the 5 and E-Class when it arrives [in Australia],” he stated.

McCormack said Tesla would soon announce details of a significant expansion of its cooperation with Toyota. The EV specialist recently purchased a manufacturing facility from Toyota which, along with Daimler, has a significant shareholding in Tesla.

Whether in all-out, 400Nm default mode or the hardly less handy (350Nm) range mode, the Roadster will easily stay ahead of most cars on the road.

While motoring.com.au has driven the Roadster overseas, this was our first experience on local roads — and driving the ADR-homologated version 2.5.

Jay McCormack provided a walk-around briefing for the short drive, pointing out the 6831 separate lithium-ion battery cells, bundled together in 96 cases and 11 sheets. Rearward of the batteries is the electronics module that controls the flow of energy and maintains cell chemistry and temperature.

Below and aft of the electronics module is the drivetrain for the car, an AC electric motor driving through a single-speed transmission to the rear wheels. It's a direct-drive set-up in both senses — direct to the diff without an intervening clutch or torque converter, and direct in the sense of being a 1:1 ratio.

According to McCormack, the motor, which will deliver torque from minimal revs through to 14,000rpm, can propel the car to 100km/h from a standing start in under four seconds — and the Roadster will continue on its way to a top speed of 215km/h.

Despite the intensive packaging behind the cabin — batteries, electronics module and drivetrain — there's still 170 litres of bootspace available there. It's a deep, useful bin that runs the full width of the car.

Unlike the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Tesla can actually be recharged from a 10Amp power plug. While McCormack gives no indication of the time required to charge up the Tesla fully, we're guessing it would be a considerable wait charging from a standard domestic outlet. Time is the only resource wasted, however; according to McCormack, the Roadster will recharge fully for between $8 and $10.

McCormack expects that 80 per cent of Roadster owners will recharge from the standard outlet, but probably not expecting the vehicle to be fully recharged come the next time it's needed.

But that's okay, since the Roadster offers a decent range. The vehicle driven by motoring.com.au was showing 15 per cent battery discharge, but the range remaining was 368km, according to the on-board display.

Tesla offers local owners other recharging options too; there's a 32Amp connector available, for instance. It comprises a five-pin socket for a three-phase outlet, although the Tesla only uses single-phase recharging in this scenario and will charge the car to the max within a 6.5-hour period. Wiring at home for this system will set back the consumer between $600 and $800, McCormack says.

There's a 63Amp home-charging system that will charge the car fully within three hours, but it doesn't come cheap. Installed at home it will gobble up $3000, with a further $500 or $600 for wiring. Seems steep, but it's the perfect complement for your plus-$200,000 electric sports car.

The Roadster's outer panels are formed entirely from carbon-fibre and are constructed by a French aerospace company. This helps the power-to-weight ratio; the car otherwise being weighed down by the heavy battery pack.

Once inside the Roadster — and there's no dignified way of getting into the seat, although McCormack seems to have perfected a method that involves placing one's posterior on the sill first — the first-time driver or passenger is struck by the highly functional look of the instruments and controls. There's no fat in the design, although the computerised LED touchscreen in the centre console almost looks out of place packed in with suede and leather.

That display incorporates a trip computer that, among other things, helps you plan a trip. It's one feature that McCormack claims won't result in the Roadster owner being left stranded by the side of the road with a flat battery.

"You have to do it on purpose," he said of running the battery flat. "There's no way you wouldn't know you won't reach your destination."

Asked about the infamous Top Gear episode, when a Tesla Roadster allegedly ran out of charge, McCormack explains that the TV show didn't present the Roadster in an accurate light and that the video of the car being pushed back to base was a set up.

"The Roadster itself still had 30 per cent of charge [remaining]," he said. With the batteries storing that amount of charge, the Roadster was still good for "perhaps" 200km, he explained.

Driving the car is a matter of inserting the key into the lock barrel and holding it while the car cycles through its start-up procedures. Hold the brake pedal pressed and punch the button in the centre console marked 'D'. The car is now ready to move off. There's no sequential shift, because there's only the one gear. The illuminated drive buttons in the centre console mimic conventional transmission modes ('P' for park, 'D' for Drive, 'R' for Reverse, 'N' for Neutral).

If you love the sound of a high-performance internal-combustion engine, the Roadster may be an anticlimax, but it's hard to imagine anyone dismissing the car once they've pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor. The major dial on the right of the instrument panel shows how much power is being drawn from the batteries or (on the left side of the dial) how much power is being returned to the batteries through regenerative braking.

Over on the right side of the instrument binnacle is a speedo, but not only does it tell you the car's road speed, there's a concentric inner circle of calibrations that correspond to the motor's revs. Since the motor runs at a speed in direct proportion to the road speed, the needle of the dial always passes through the same revs at the same respective road speed. It's something that makes the Tesla unusual, even by the standards of EVs.

If the performance of the Roadster is at the cutting edge of drivetrain and alternative-energy technologies, there's one way in which the Tesla is very, very conventional — old fashioned even. Since all the weight of the car is mounted over the rear axle, there's just little call for power-assisted steering. At lower speeds the weight of the steering is high, but here is one EV (the only EV?) that will deliver you monster truck-loads of feedback through the wheel.

So never mind your preconceptions of what an electric-powered car can be and should be, the Tesla Roadster is F-U-N.

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