Tesla released its first production car under the model name Roadster, introducing the company as an electric-vehicle manufacturer in 2008.
The first-generation Tesla Roadster was based on the Lotus Elise sports-car platform but used an electric powertrain and lithium-ion battery technology. Tesla delivered the first production Roadster to a customer on February 22, 2008.
The Roadster helped challenge the idea that electric cars had to be slow or limited to short-range urban travel. Tesla later expanded into larger-volume vehicles, beginning with the Model S sedan in 2012 and the Model X in 2015.
The Roadster is sometimes confused with the Model S because the Model S became Tesla’s first mass-market-style vehicle and attracted much wider attention. The Roadster came first, while the Model 3 later became Tesla’s high-volume model.