Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla Motors) has supplied its Roadster to a New Jersey philanthropist, Martin Tuchman. The company will also soon be opening stores in Chicago, London, Seattle, Miami, Washington, Monaco and Munich. The company will start deliveries in Europe in 2009 summer. The Roadster beats nearly every other car for acceleration yet is twice as energy efficient as a Toyota Prius. It costs roughly $4 to refuel and can be totally recharged in as low as 3.5 hours.
Martin Tuchman, former chairman and chief executive officer of Interpool, is a chairman of The Tuchman Foundation and a board member of The Parkinson’s Alliance and Parkinson’s Disease Foundation of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. He plans to charge his Roadster partly with solar energy using photovoltaic panels he helped deploy throughout his hometown of Kingston, New Jersey.
“My Roadster drives like a dream — it’s amazing,” stated Tuchman. Tuchman converted his 1937 Chris-Craft into an electric boat so he could take it on nearby Lake Carnegie, which prohibits gas-powered boats. He plans to use his Roadster as his principal commuter car.
Tuchman took delivery of a Twilight Blue Roadster before the estimated opening of a Tesla showroom in New York’s Chelsea Art District. Greater New York is Tesla Motors’ large market outside of California, and local electric vehicle (EV) owners enjoy many incentives.
Zero-emission vehicles are excused from New Jersey sales, use and luxury taxes. Single occupants of alternative-fuel vehicles may also use the high-occupancy commuter lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. These incentives are on top of a $7,500 US federal tax credit, which fully applies to all Tesla Roadsters.
Tesla Motors is the only production automaker selling highway-capable EVs in the US or Europe.
Michael van der Sande, Tesla Motors senior vice president of global sales, service and marketing, called the 500th delivery an important symbol for the new production automaker.
“We now have more than 500 real-world customers providing valuable feedback on our cars and contributing to Tesla’s spirit of continuous improvement,” added van der Sande. “We intend to leverage our first-mover advantage and continue to build brand loyalty for years – from our 500th to our 500,000th delivery.”