Arguably the most successful startup company to build and sell electric vehicles, Tesla is beginning delivery of its second car today: the Model S sedan. 

Official confirmation by the automaker has yet to be released, but Ward’s Auto tweeted that delivery is beginning today to customers out of its Fremont, Calif. factory. According to the company’s website, delivery of the EV isn’t slated to start until a month from now, but for at least a few people that date seems to have been ignored.

With its latest entrant, the brand offers a more practical and easier-to-sell car that costs less and competes more directly with luxury cars like the Audi A6 and BMW 5 Series. Priced between $50,000 and $60,000, it costs roughly half as much as the Roadster, which while offering a unique experience, is entirely impractical.

The Model S, on the other hand, offers better range than anything else on the market today. Recently released charts from Tesla show that drivers will probably enjoy somewhere between 250 and 350 miles on a full charge, which shames the 100-mile industry average set by cars like the Nissan Leaf.

If you can forget about the widely different price tags, the closest competitor would be the Ford Focus EV because it’s also a sedan. That being said, Ford’s EV only gets about 75 miles per charge, so it’s really not much of a comparison.

If it manages to get a positive reception from the public, the Model S could be a good example of how Tesla is pushing technological boundaries ahead of the industry. It’s not so surprising, though, when you realize that today marks the launch of CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX commercial cargo space craft. If the man behind the Tesla Roadster and Model S can successfully orchestrate a space delivery, what’s a few electric cars?

The automotive industry is a global business that is constantly evolving and growing, and we here at AutoGuide know it can be hard to keep up sometimes. So here is a summary of the top stories you may have missed this week:

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The 400 Mile Range Electric Car is Here: Tesla Model S

Customers who buy the new Tesla Model S, due out in a month’s time, could enjoy the longest range of any EV…

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Customers who buy the new Tesla Model S, due out in a month’s time, could enjoy the longest range of any EV to date according to CEO Elon Musk, though you’ll definitely never achieve the 400-mile potential range.

What you will get is ridiculously good range from the newest car to come from the California-based startup currently known for its Roadster EV. Musk explained that under the two-cycle testing required by the EPA, which is composed of 55 percent city driving and 45 percent on the highway, the Model S managed to travel 350 miles on a single charge.

“At Tesla we pride ourselves on transparency with customers and feel that range is a topic where this is particularly important,” Musk wrote in a blog post. “There is not a single fixed range for any given vehicle or battery. The simple reality is that driving range can and will vary by a large amount depending on how you operate the vehicle and external factors such as wind and elevation change.”

He went on to elaborate on the finer points behind managing a 350-mile range in the Model S, which would be achieved in the best of the three available batteries. Musk also mentioned that the average driver is still unlikely to come out with the 350 miles managed during testing because the varying conditions behind every day driving will force the range down even further.

Driving at a constant highway speed between 50 and 70 mph, the Model S should manage to travel between 250 and 350 miles. That’s a big swing from bottom to top, but as Musk said, the company is trying to release numbers that won’t leave buyers thinking they’ve been taken for a ride. As the chart to the right shows, driving at a constant speed around 35 mph should allow for a range better than 400 miles. Similarly at 55 mph we see potential for more than 300 miles, which embarrasses the current industry standard around 100 miles. If you really hope to meet the range we mentioned in the headline you’ll need to drive in perfect conditions, with no wind, at around 35 mph. You can even stretch that to 450 miles if you’re willing to drive at a constant 450 mph, though that would take more than 22 hours to achieve — no pee breaks either.

When the Tesla Roadster was released, the EPA required a two-cycle test, which is what the numbers above are based on. Now, the testing has been ramped up to a five-cycle test. Originally, range was measured in an environment with a 75 degree temperature with highway and city driving measured. Those conditions are still used, but the car is also run in cold conditions with the heater on and warmer settings with the air conditioner. There’s also a high-speed cycle with speeds over 80 mph and rapid acceleration, all meant to push EVs further to better understand their range.

Under those tests, the Model S still seemed to perform well, though with an understandably shorter range than before. With the new factors in place, the company reports a 265-mile range, which is still a record for electric vehicles.

Many are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Tesla Model S, mostly to see if it will live up to its hype.

The new electric sedan recently went through its paces in cold weather examination with the American automaker saying, “After days of rigorous testing, we left more confident than ever that Model S will set the standard for premium performance – no matter what’s in the forecast.”

Unfortunately the media won’t be getting its hands on the Model S before consumers do, so first reports of the vehicle’s performance will come straight from the buyer’s mouths. But those purchasing it can rest assured that it survived sub-zero weather out in Baudette, Minnesota where it underwent 19 different courses of testing on 820 acres of snow and ice.

The Model S is aiming to have a 0-60 mph sprint of around 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph and a 300-mile range. It’ll be priced at $57,400 before tax credits and will come with three choices of batteries and four trim levels.

Watch a video of the Tesla Model S conducting its cold weather testing after the break.

Tesla has been weathering a storm of questions regarding its Tesla Roadsters ‘bricking’. Earlier today, the company posted an entry in its blog explaining the situation, and claiming that newer models can last significantly longer without being plugged in.

The blog post titled “Plug It In” reminds Tesla Roadster owners to plug in their vehicles when not in use. Additionally, the company says that newer Roadsters will have the option to “contact Tesla headquarters once the state of charge falls below a specified level, and we can then contact the owner.”

This is coming after a blogger noted that a fully discharged Tesla Roadster was left unplugged for two months. When the owner attempted to recharge the car after the two months, it wouldn’t work, and required a $40,000 repair.

Tesla finally noted that “Model S and Model X will have batteries that can sit unplugged for over a year when parked with only a 50 percent charge. And when that year is up, all you need to do is plug it in.” Meaning that negligent owners will have a longer grace period before their car’s batteries fail.

Despite Tesla’s claims and reminders about plugging in its vehicles, no where in the blog post does it explicitly say that Tesla vehicles cannot brick.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk held an emergency conference call today to address concerns after news broke of two key executives leaving the company last week, sparking a 19 percent decline in the electric car maker’s stock value.

Addressing investors and media, Musk apologized for how the news came across and denied accusations that Tesla was looking to “dump” the news into the weekend.

“It’s actually a positive development that was misconstrued,” explains Musk, commenting that the changes are a part of a natural progression within any company, with different people better suited to different stages in a company’s life. The executives in question include Peter Rawlinson and Nick Sampson, both engineers involved in vehicle development.

Musk also waylaid concerns that Tesla was losing its brightest minds, stating that Rawlinson wasn’t the chief engineer of the new Model S sedan in its entirety, but rather the chief engineer in charge of body and chassis. “He was not responsible for powertrain, electrics or software,” said Musk.

In addition, Musk commented that Rawlinson left for personal reasons and, “that’s not a euphemism for something else.”

Looking to reassure investors and potential buyers further, Musk said he is, “highly confident” that Tesla will deliver 20,000 Model S vehicles next year.

Hints were also given about the upcoming Model X crossover, of which two prototypes have already begun testing, with a planned debut of February 9th.

In response to the assurances Tesla stock values spiked 15 percent in pre-market trading.

The Tesla Roadster (right) has impressive acceleration and handling, you also never have to buy gas for it, but at more than $100,000 it’s pretty expensive.

Their current one-car offering and the big price tag didn’t help the company. They posted a $65.1 million net loss in the past quarter, up from the $34.9 million they posted last year.

Past failures aside, it is still be early to write Tesla off. Despite losing money, they struck a deal with Daimler AG to supply  them with a powertrain for their electric vehicles.

“Even though they’re losing money, the fact that their batteries are attractive to other automakers gives them some revenue and some credibility,” said Alan Baum, an industry consultant at Baum & Associates in Michigan in an interview with Automotive News. “They are catching a few breaks in the sense that people want to do business with them.”

In addition to selling parts to other manufacturers, Tesla’s own Model S sedan, new for next year, is already sold out. The more practical iteration of their take on electric transportation also costs about half as much at $50,000 as the performance-oriented Roadster.

CEO Elon Musk said in an October 28 interview on Bloomberg TV that the company actually expects to earn a profit in 2013.

Musk remains optimistic that the company is gaining from experience in the market that will help when the Model S is released.

Their third-quarter revenue exceeded analyst expectations, reaching $57.4 million instead of $46.4 million.

GALLERY: Tesla Model S

[Source: Automotive News]

The little electric company that could has some bad news for its critics as its latest vehicle, the $50,000 electric four door sedan Model S, is sold out. According to CEO Elon Musk, Tesla has received orders for “more than 6,500″ Model S cars for next year.

Moreover, Musk claims that most orders of the Model S are from brand new buyers. “Only about 600 people who have ordered Roadsters have also bought the Model S.”

Aiming for a mid-2012 deliver date, Tesla is confident that the success of the Model S will reward them with the honor of becoming the first profitable maker of battery-powered automobiles by 2013. As of now, the company has yet to report an annual profit.

GALLERY: Tesla Model S

[Source: Bloomberg]

Electric car maker Tesla Motors had previously announced it would offer several different versions of its new Model S luxury sedan with different range capabilities, but now CEO Elon Musk has revealed those different levels will also boast varying levels of performance. Topping the lineup will be a 300 mile range-capable version that will cut almost a second from the standard car’s 0-60 time, with an impressive 4.6 second sprint compared to the 5.5 second run for the rest of the model range.

Two additional trim levels will be offered, one with a 230 mile range and another with a 160 mile range. In addition Tesla also has announced it will offer optional aerodynamic wheels that should add an additional 20 miles of range to the top level model.

Speaking at a showing for a prototype of the car in Silicon Valley, Musk commented that, “It’ll be better than anyone thinks a car like this can be. The goal with the Model S was to build the best car, not just the best electric vehicle.”

The model S will feature a unique battery swapping capability with a battery change time of roughly one minute. Plus, with a special fast-charging system even the 300 mile range model will be able to be recharged and back on the road in just one hour.

So far, over 6,000 people have placed a deposit on the model S, accounting for all of the car’s first year of production.

[Source: AutoCar]

And pretty quickly, too—the Model S is expected to go from 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds, under fully-electric power that allows it up to 300 miles before recharging. It will accomplish this with five adults and the option for two children facing backwards, like some futuristic Vista Cruiser, and will sell for around $57,000 after federal and state incentives. We know what it looks like, which renders the Palo Alto company’s secrecy moot. But alas, we’ll have to wait until next year to actually look at it up close.

Click the jump to watch the short teaser.

[Source: LA Times]

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Tesla is making a big name for themselves. As if the Model S and and Roadster weren’t enough, the battery-powered company is planning to introduce more models to their lineup: the Model X, as they plan to call it, will be an electric crossover based on the same architecture as developed by Lotus, the Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA). The VVA is an all-aluminum platform shared by contemprary Lotuses (Loti?), but its ability to be resized makes it perfect for both the Model X, their sedan, the Model S, an upcoming three-row SUV, as well as a coupe, to complete the metaphor of multiplying like cell biology.

The Model X is the will be an all-electric crossover with AWD capabilities, and is the vehicle after the Model S most likely to be constructed. The Roadster, Tesla’s first and most well-known product, was considered by one engineer to be a “proof of concept,” a way for the company to demonstrate its capabilities, but its production is scheduled to end soon. The Models S and X will be the real money makers for the small company, while the SUV and coupe are still years off. Let’s hope Tesla won’t bite off more than it can chew.

[Source: Car and Driver]

Here at the AutoGuide office, we are quite fond of the Tesla Roadster. We like its battery technology, its range, and most of all its amazing performance. It certainly has shown us a glimpse of the future, and thankfully its not boring.

However, the Roadster model is quite expensive and impractical and Tesla is aware of that. So to appeal to the masses, Tesla has been working on a sedan of its very own, known as the Model S (obviously taking naming inspiration from the Ford Model T).

It looks now that the Model S has gotten closer to production as the company just released a video of it rolling along silently in the countryside.  Tesla’s vehicle dynamicist Graham Sutherland says the Model S is “amazingly agile for a car of its size. It has great handling balance and poised ride with communicative steering.” He attributes these qualities thanks to a stiff body and a low center of gravity.

Tesla claims that the Model S will have a range of about 300-miles on a full charge and will accelerate from 0-60 mph in just 5.6 seconds. Sounds good to us and we hope to get our hands on one in the near future.

Follow the jump to view the video: