Tesla Roadster Travels 313 Miles (501 Km) on a Single Charge

The pair drove from Alice Springs, in the Australian Northern Territory, to the finish marker at a point 183 km north of Coober Pedy, in South Australia.

The previous distance record for an electric vehicle was set in April, when another Roadster was the only vehicle to complete the entire, 241-mile Rallye Monte Carlo d’Energies Alternatives. It had an estimated 38 miles left on the charge.

The Tesla Roadster is the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production EV with a range greater than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. Tesla has delivered about 900 electric cars Roadsters to customers so far.

Hackett sent Tesla the following note before going to bed last night:

"Emilis and I have decades of experience flying gliders competitively and we applied the same energy conservation techniques to our driving, with significant results! The car had about 3 miles of range left when the drive was completed. We travelled 501km on a single charge. Let that sink in for a minute.

“The security seal was applied to the charge port door when we started the journey. As this is being done as part of the Global Green Challenge, we have a full set of official verifiers here who will attest to the results and to achieving the outcome. We were followed along the journey by our support crew and a documentary film crew – so we have it on film.

“It’s late here and we have another 541 k to drive (with an intermediate charge stop) tomorrow – and another two days of the event left after that. When we’re done, we will have driven over 3000 km’s in the Roadster over the course of only six days, from Darwin to Adelaide."

Tesla Motors’ goal is to produce increasingly affordable electric cars to mainstream buyers – relentlessly driving down the cost of EVs. San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla sells electric vehicles online and has delivered about 900 Roadsters to customers. Tesla operates galleries in California’s Silicon Valley and Los Angeles; New York; Seattle; Boulder, Colorado; London and Munich.

Tesla achieved overall corporate profitability in July, thanks to strong demand for the Roadster. The all-electric sports car is faster than Porsche 911 or Audi R8 yet is six times as efficient as conventional sports cars. Tesla services cars in its galleries and through “house calls” so owners can enjoy hassle-free service without leaving their home or office.

Tesla To Build Model S Sedan Plant In California. The exact location for the plant isn’t yet known, but the cities of Long Beach and Downey are both front runners. About $238 million will be spent on the plant itself, while another $59 million will go to upgrade the existing Palo Alto powertrain production facility. All of these funds come from the U.S. Department of Energy loan secured earlier this year, worth $465 million.

The 2012 Tesla Model S sedan, in addition to being seriously good-looking, is expected to be one of the first all-electric sedans to market. It will also carry forward some of the perform legacy built by the Tesla Roadster, with an expected 0-60 mph time of 5.5 seconds in the running with many gasoline sports sedans. In some configurations the sedan will also be capable of a 300 to 600-mile range.

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