New Tesla sedan to be built in New Mexico

The initial Tesla model, the Roadster, which has sold out of its initial production run (deliveries are scheduled for the fall of 2007), will be built at the Lotus plant in Hethel, England. This makes sense, because large parts of the Roadster are based upon the Lotus Elise sports car.

However, for the WhiteStar, Tesla is using its own exterior design, instead of basing it substantially on someone else’s, as was done with the Roadster. The WhiteStar will be a four-door, five-passenger sedan, though it will use the same drivetrain as the Roadster—a 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor that puts out 185 kW (which is equivalent to about 248 hp).

Pricing for the WhiteStar, which is supposed to rival the BMW 5-Series in terms of size and function, will be near $50,000, while the premium model (with greater performance and range) will sell for $65,000.

Some websites have postulated that the miles-per-gallon equivalency of the WhiteStar will be 110 mpg, but that figure is slippery, because it depends on which equivalency calculation one uses. At the Wikipedia article on the Roadster, for instance, equivalency figures from 135 mpg to 401 mpg are bandied about, and if one factors out the “fuel content factor of 1/0.15,” the equivalent mpg drops to 60. (Some of those figures change depending on how the electricity used to power the batteries is generated.) If you want to think totally in an electric manner, then Tesla says that the Roadster—whose powertrain will appear in the WhiteStar, as noted above—gets an overall charge-to-wheel efficiency rating of 128 watt-hour per kilometer.

Construction on the 150,000 square-foot plant that will build the WhiteStar will begin this April, with the first cars set to roll off the assembly line in the fall of 2009. [ href = http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/02/tesla_motors_to.html#more ]

New Mexico was one of several states that courted Tesla Motors, when they were made aware that Tesla was actively looking for sites for its new factory (another state that was rumored to be on the short list was Michigan). When the deal with New Mexico was announced, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson instructed the state’s General Services Division, along with other agencies, to look into the possibility of purchasing 100 Tesla WhiteStars, to demonstrate the state’s commitment to “green” energy.


Tesla Motors will receive several incentives from the state of New Mexico, including the high-wage job tax credit, the manufacturer’s investment tax credit, and Job Training Incentive Program assistance.

Via: Mobile Mag