Tesla S all electric car: we’d like to call this the first showing of the new model S, however a closer peak at the show car reveals it is exactly that and no more, as doors were fixed shut, interior a mock up and the “chrome” finishing strips around windows etc were cracking under the heat of the show’s spotlights. Still, it’s not scheduled to come out the factory doors ’till 2011, so the cake’s got time to bake. It is at least an elegant and realistic shape that has a great chance of breaking into the mainstream if it can pull off it’s range and power goals at an affordable price. Their website announces $50,000 price tag, 300 mile range, unnecessarily fast acceleration, and sufficiently high top speed. Remarkably there’s room for 5 adults + 2 kids, as well as a front and back trunk.

Next to it, a fetching yellow Roadster Sport, that is available now, is a useful reminder that the future model S is a realistic proposition; even if the Roadster’s price compared to a petrol engined Elise makes you gasp. Remember how expensive a large Plasma screen TV was 10 years ago? And now? The 700th electric Roadster was delivered at the Frankfurt show to a German law student.

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