New electric sports sedan for under $75K

What’s quicker and cheaper than a BMW 5 Series and can transport seven people in similar luxury for up to 480km without using a single drop of fuel?

The answer is Tesla’s all-new Model S sedan, which was launched last week in California and will hit Australian roads from mid-2013, priced from under the $75,373 luxury car tax threshold for electric vehicles.

That’s right, upstart American EV maker Tesla has launched its revolutionary new Model S sedan, which comes with another unique party trick by offering up to seven seats, in the US with a starting price of $US57,400, or $US49,900 after the US federal tax credit.

Tesla’s local arm says that will equate to an Australian starting price of less than $75,000 – and potentially much less – for the entry-level Model S when first deliveries begin here in around 12 months.

Billed as the world’s first premium electric sedan, the Model S has already attracted more than 50 confirmed Australian buyers from an initial 2012 production run of 5000 vehicles, and a further 20,000 next year.

The Model S will be available with three battery options, with the base model coming as standard with a 40kWh lithium-ion battery that can accelerate the large luxury sedan in near silence to 100km/h in just 6.5 seconds.

That makes the most affordable Model S quicker than BMW’s entry-level 520i sedan, which costs $77,900 and can hit 100km/h in eight seconds. While the BMW consumes 6.4 litres of petrol per 100km, however, the Tesla has no internal combustion engine and can cruise for up to 250km on electric power alone.

To date, EVs like Mitsubishi’s pioneering i-MiEV city-hatchback, which costs $48,800, Nissan’s Leaf family hatch ($51,500) and Holden’s upcoming Volt plug-in hybrid, which should cost about $60,000 here, all offer a driving range of about 160km.

Furthermore, Tesla’s 60kWh and 85kWh battery options for the Model S increase both performance and driving range, with the top-shelf model claimed to accelerate to 100km/h in just 4.5 seconds on its way to a 200km/h top speed.

With an expected price of about $130,000, the flagship Model S will therefore be both cheaper and quicker than BMW’s twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8-powered 550i sedan, which costs $179,900 and sprints to 100km/h in five seconds.

What’s more, while the 550i consumes petrol at the rate of 10.4L/100km, the range-topping Tesla Model S Performance sedan produces zero exhaust emissions for up to 480km and a 200,000km drivetrain warranty.

Read the full review of the Tesla Model S here.

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