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Next Gen Tesla Sportscar

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It apparently will not be a Roadster:

Next Tesla sportscar to have back seat, AWD, rear seats and storage

With that in mind, perhaps it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Musk has plans to make the next sportscar from Tesla a much more practical vehicle. That reportedly includes the addition of rear seats, plenty of storage space and possibly even all-wheel drive. All of this means that it will definitely not be based on the underpinnings of the Lotus Elise, as is the case with the current Roadster. Instead, the next Tesla sportscar will share its guts with the automaker's planned Model S, which will allow for "greater functionality with avant garde, aggressive" styling. Perfect
 
Yes, I count myself lucky to have one of the real sports cars. Seats in back does not a real sports car make. The 911 was just too darned big, heavy. Ok, so maybe an electric 2+2 wouldn't be slow, but it would really be too bad if they dropped having a nice, small car.
 
This is just following from earlier Model S announcements. Their intention is to design the Model S chassis so that they can reuse it with "different hats". An SUV and a sports car have been mentioned in the past. But that Model S chassis is pretty big, so I wouldn't expect the sports car based on that to be a roadster. Hopefully they'll still find a way to make Roadsters, though, and integrate in the liquid cooled motor.
 
Is it possible this is the same car as the Model S sport they have talked about earlier? They talked about a Model S with upgraded something to push accel down below 5s. Or what exactly defines a sports car ?

Cobos
 
I'm OK with that... They should focus on cars from now on that follow their own in-house design style and which are practical. It's no secret I find the roadster ugly, and seating two adults in it is fine if you want to ride arm-in-arm
 
It looks like that is just where it is:

More Details on Tesla, Daimler EV Collaboration and the Future Roadster - AllCarsElectric.com

As for the future of the Roadster, which we reported on earlier this week, Musk said that the vehicle is not currently being worked on, and won't likely see production until 2013. He envisions the car as a 2+2 with enough rear legroom to comfortably transport two five and a half foot passengers. The car will have ample trunk space and be available in hardtop and convertible varieties. Customers will be able to choose between rear-wheel and all-wheel drive.

With 2+2 seating and a hardtop version, it's not really a roadster at all, is it? I'm surprised by the number of car sites that have reported it as such. IMHO there's room in the range for both.
 
Meh

Put this on the back-burner where it belongs. There are more important things to be doing.

It's all relevant. Tesla seems to be intending to use the same wheelbase, and a lot of the same technology for the Model S in it's next "few" cars. We've heard talk about an SUV, etc being built on the Model S base as well. So they need to be forward thinking and make it all compatible. Makes sense though.
 
Good point. Elon commented on switching to larger format batteries, but I'm not sure if that's simply for the less expensive models or whether they intend to move away from the laptop cell-based packs.

Will be interesting to see if they can develop a modular platform with several different motor/PEM/battery combinations which can be stretched/expanded/shrunk for a variety of vehicle types.
 
Malcolm,

I don't know if you remember the GM Hy-wire concept car from 2002, but that was the same basic idea. This is from the Wikipedia page:

Due to hydrogen fuel cell drive system used by the Hy-wire the conventional car layout has been revamped. Without the need for a conventional engine block and transmission system coupled to the steering column and pedals through mechanical linkage the car's power system and single electric motor are built into a flat skateboard configuration. This serves to lower the car's center of gravity but more importantly to standardize vehicle drive train systems. Because all propulsion and energy storage systems are housed in the skateboard designers are free to arrange the passenger compartment however they see fit. This allows for highly flexible vehicle configurations such as a 4 door sedan, mini van, or even a small bus to be placed on the same drive system, with the only difference being the shape of the car's upper body and the location of seats. The skateboard itself contains crumple zones similar to those in conventional automobiles.
Here's a link to some pictures:

General Motors Hywire concept
 
With all else equal, a skateboard design implies a taller seating position and thus a taller vehicle. Air drag, which accounts for most of the power on the highway, goes up with area. For rough numbers, increasing the height from four feet to five feet implies 25% more drag and requires maybe 20% more power, yielding something like that much less highway range for an EV. Wow, what a concept!
 
With all else equal, a skateboard design implies a taller seating position and thus a taller vehicle. Air drag, which accounts for most of the power on the highway, goes up with area. For rough numbers, increasing the height from four feet to five feet implies 25% more drag and requires maybe 20% more power, yielding something like that much less highway range for an EV. Wow, what a concept!

I'd imagine this is something they would consider... this sounds like a random baseless bashing post.
 
With all else equal, a skateboard design implies a taller seating position and thus a taller vehicle. Air drag, which accounts for most of the power on the highway, goes up with area. For rough numbers, increasing the height from four feet to five feet implies 25% more drag and requires maybe 20% more power, yielding something like that much less highway range for an EV. Wow, what a concept!
Uh, no. A skateboard design implies any seating position you care to put onto it. Without the engine blocking your view, you could lay the drive prone.
 
This thread has been dormant for a while... let's get some life!

As for the future of the Roadster, which we reported on earlier this week, Musk said that the vehicle is not currently being worked on, and won't likely see production until 2013. He envisions the car as a 2+2 with enough rear legroom to comfortably transport two five and a half foot passengers. The car will have ample trunk space and be available in hardtop and convertible varieties. Customers will be able to choose between rear-wheel and all-wheel drive.

This was 2 years ago now. If they had a Roadster 3.0 on tap to be produced in 2 years, wouldn't we have seen it by now? I'm guessing this project got pushed back? Shame if so. I'd love to see what they could do now that they've got a new chassis, more money, and lots more experience (not to mention Franz!).

Still have the Model X to look forward to in a month in a half (if Frankfurt is the debut). With them showing the X then, plus having to show off the betas... not sure there's enough room to then spring a surprise roadster reboot in there too.
 
This was 2 years ago now. If they had a Roadster 3.0 on tap to be produced in 2 years, wouldn't we have seen it by now?

I wouldn't hold my breath. The Roadster served its purpose. They now need to execute Model S and Model X. After that Bluestar is the next opportunity.

Any direct Roadster replacement is going to be a low-volume vehicle, unless they somehow manage to build something with Roadster-plus performance at a fraction of the current price. Of course they might decide to do it just to maintain Tesla's reputation, but I don't think there would be a great business case for it.

If they do decide to build another sports car, I'd expect it to be more of a luxury sports car - something quite a bit larger, with rear seats, and derived from the Model S platform.