Tesla Roadster Electric Car Sets Distance Record

A Tesla Roadster electric car has claimed a new world distance record for vehicles within its class – having covered a distance of 313 miles off just one charge.  The drive took place in Australia in connection with the Global Green Challenge – an annual showcase event for new environmentally friendly vehicle technologies like electric, zero emission and hybrid cars. 

The Roadster was driven by Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas and, in subsequent comments published online, Hackett highlighted the efforts that had been made to ensure the record was recognised as a genuine event. 

“The security seal was applied to the charge port door when we started the journey”, he said.  “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.”

The Tesla Roadster

The Tesla Roadster is powered by a lithium ion battery, and this still had sufficient power to have carried the vehicle for three more miles!  As it was, the record-breaking drive took place between Alice Springs and Coober Pedy – a town in South Australia. 

This innovative car is unparalleled in its use of lithium-ion battery cells within a commercially available design.  It also represents the sole electric vehicle on the market (as of October 2009) able to travel in excess of 200 miles off a single charge.  As a design, the Roadster was put into wide-scale production around the beginning of 2008, and worldwide Roadster sales currently number approximately 900 units.

Distance Record: Electric Cars

It was a Roadster that claimed the previous distance record for electric cars five months ago, at 241 miles.  On that occasion, the battery was said to have been good for around 38 additional miles. 

Electric cars create none of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional car designs.  There are emissions associated with the battery recharge process, but these can be avoided by drawing on renewable energy sources for the power required. 

Tesla Roadster image provided by and copyright of Tesla Motors