New York (NY) – Tesla said it has just delivered the 500th unit of its Lotus Elise-based all-electric Roadster.
The 500th Roadster went to Martin Tuchman, former chairman and CEO of Interpool, and chairman of The Tuchman Foundation and a board member of The Parkinson’s Alliance and Parkinson’s Disease Foundation of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Tuchman said he plans to charge his Roadster partly with solar energy thanks to photovoltaic panels he helped install throughout his hometown of Kingston, NJ.
The 2009 Tesla Roadster is currently priced at $101,500 in its 248 hp base configuration. Tesla will begin offering a $121,000 performance model in July, which is promised to deliver 288 hp and shaves off two tenths from the 0-60 mph time (3.7 seconds for the performance model).
Tesla plans to introduce its first sedan, called the Model S, in 2011 as a limited edition version to 1000 buyers. The price of this limited edition has not been determined yet, but we know that the full-production version of the Model S, which is scheduled for a 2012 launch, will cost $49,900 in its base configuration.
