GigaOm has a short photo function on Tesla's latest electric car, within Tesla Model S Alpha Workshop. Their next model shoot a 300 mile range and, if you click the previous post about prices look, is shooting for a price of about $ 80 k, a little less with tax credits.
$ 80 K is of course a bit much for most of us, but it is a sports car and not give them away for free, especially custom built-in electric ones.
The article has a nice collection of photos, give a glimpse into what powers the new Tesla, beginning with the sleek power pack that integrates in the Panel. What really caught my eye is the drive. I went on the road to Tesla's technology to read on the page. It's basically everything outside of the batteries: electric motor, gearbox, drive inverter (motor controller) and computers. All liquid cooled and all integrated in the rear axle.
That means for those who are not keeping score, that there is nothing under the hood. The car will have both a front and a rear trunk. That is one of the great advantages of starting from scratch and design your own car: you don't need to reuse of existing components or preconceived notions about how it should be mounted.
Now, you and I can never come close to buying a Tesla but we are all the same will benefit. Other budding car engineers are coming to collect ideas and realizations about what's possible, maybe create a few of their own progress. As the price of gas up the incentives for coming to market with alternative designs, such as electric, only increase. Technology continues to advance, design and simulation tools to improve and suddenly an integrated electric drive is commonplace, maybe even a raw material that electric car hobbyists can use.
Each day brings more news of commercial electric cars. Now that the industry starts to "step outside the box" will be very interesting to see what they come up with and where things are going in the next few years. I welcome to Tesla Motors for their part in making them more mainstream.
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