The Tesla Roadster Shows an Electric Car Can Be Fast

On July 19, 2006, more than 350 invited guests gathered at Barker Hangar beside the Santa Monica Airport in California for the public debut of the Tesla Roadster, and many took rides in prototypes along the airport tarmac. Conceived in 2003 by Silicon Valley engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla Motors sought to demonstrate that an electric vehicle could deliver high-end sports car performance rather than utilitarian economy. In 2004, Elon Musk led a $7.5 million funding round and became the controlling investor and chairman of the company's board, backing a plan to launch with an expensive high-performance model that could help fund later, more affordable cars.

Developing the car required extensive engineering adaptations. Tesla initially based the car on the Lotus Elise chassis, entering a manufacturing and development partnership with the British automaker in 2005. Musk later recalled that the first prototype had essentially been electric car parts jammed into an Elise and that the car ended up far heavier than the Lotus. The production Roadster used a carbon fiber body to save weight around its entirely new electric powertrain.