Someone in Australia is Selling a 2011 Tesla Roadster for a Cool $190,000

Someone in Australia is Selling a 2011 Tesla Roadster for a Cool $190,000

A 2011 Tesla Roadster is available for purchase in Perth for $190,000.

The Carsales listing, showing one of the famous proof-of-concept electric cars, complete with a 2011-era Lotus chassis, red colouring and all of its specs, lists the car as only having travelled 96,646 kilometres. In 11 years, that’s pretty good for the old Tesla Roadster! According to Redbook, the original price of the Tesla Roadster 2011 was $242,000 (that’s a $52,000 price drop since release).

The original Tesla Roadster was a testing ground for the Tesla business. The first model was released in 2008, with revised models released in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Only about 2,400 original Tesla Roadsters were sold.

“Get off the mark from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds! Bluetooth capability that allows you to make hands free phone calls while driving,” the listing reads.

Compared to modern standards, the 2011 Tesla Roadster was a pretty unexceptional car, but back then it was thought of as pretty cool, being one of the first electric cars. The car features iPod connectivity, remote central locking and front power windows. Additionally, there’s air conditioning and USB audio input. Cutting edge features!

That being said, zero to 100 kilometres in 3.9 seconds is pretty fast even today. You’ve got to keep in mind that the Tesla Roadster was where it all began for the company. The company was using Lotus chassis at the time and didn’t have its own profile or aesthetic worked out yet.

Timeskip to today and you can see the influence some aspects of the original Lotus chassis had on the identity of the rest of the brand. Aesthetically the cars have a similar silhouette, though the modern Teslas are a bit bigger. Perhaps the closest similarity between the Lotus-era Teslas and the modern Teslas are the headlights.

Back to the 2011 Tesla Roadster in question, the expected range is about 394 kilometres. Again, terrific for the day, but pretty unexceptional when compared to cars like today, especially the much cheaper Tesla Model 3 Standard Range with its 491 kilometre WLTP range.

Not that you’d buy this Roadster to drive, per se, but more because it’s fast becoming a collectors item. This was one of the cars that started it all and it looks like the Tesla Train is going to keep chugging. That being said, it would be cool to drive such a vehicle.

The Roadster badge has been on ice for a long time now. We know there’s a new one in development that you can reserve, and apparently it will actually be coming out in 2023 (despite an original release planned for 2020), along with the Cybertruck.

Supposedly, the new Roadster will feature a top speed of over 400 kilometres per hour, and a zero to 100 kilometres per hour speed of 2.1 seconds. Apparently, it’ll have a range of 1,000 kilometres, putting it on par with modern petrol vehicles and making it the longest range EV on the market.

If you’d like to pick up the 2011 Tesla Roadster in Perth, here’s the Carsales listing. If you’re interested in buying a new electric car in Australia, here are your options.


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