• On The Insider: Judge Bans Real Housewives Sex Tape
January 24, 2008 4:24 PM PST

Tesla Roadster to be a one-speed car

by Michael Kanellos

The engineers at Tesla Motors have designed a new single-speed transmission for its sports car that will let it hit the promised zero to 60 mph in four seconds.

Photos: Under the hood of the Tesla Roadster

The transmission won't come out on the first Tesla Roadsters coming off the line, the company said in a press release. Those early production cars will have a two-speed transmission that will only let the car get to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds. Problems with the transmission were part of the reason the company delayed the cars from the middle of last year until now. Some modifications to the engine will be necessary to accommodate the transmission.

So when will the first Tesla Roadsters hit the street? Soon. Chairman Elon Musk gets his next week, said the company. Production of the Tesla Roadster is set to begin March 17, it added. However, the company didn't give exact delivery dates. Considering that the company sells the car directly, there may not be a huge delay.

Recent posts from Green Tech
Microsoft opens Hohm to energy monitoring
Report: Toyota to mass-produce plug-ins in 2012
Best Buy shifts into electric vehicles sales
Fisker's good Karma
Cleantech Group: Green investing sees uptick
Greenpeace guide frowns on HP, still loves Nokia
U.S. government maps solar energy future
Yahoo redesigns data center, ditches carbon offsets
advertisement

Look before leaping to short URLs

Fueled by Twitter's rise, services that scrunch Web addresses are taking off. They bring a host of problems, but some are working to fix them.

In Utah desert, it's bombs away

road trip At the massive Utah Test & Training Range, the Air Force runs 15,000 sorties a year to ensure that pilots and weapons are on the mark.
• Photos: Training and testing

About Green Tech

Innovation in energy and environmental technologies is long overdue, in business and at home. Green-tech guru Martin LaMonica and other CNET writers serve up fresh clean-tech news and commentary.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Green Tech topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right