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Tesla Motors, a startup company based in Silicon Valley, unveiled a new electric car on Thursday which is billed as "world's first mass-produced, highway-capable electric vehicle."
The four-door Model S is an all electric family sedan that can carry seven people and travel 300 miles (about 483 kilometers) percharge, the company said in a statement.
Anticipated base price of Model S is 49,900 U.S. dollars after a federal tax credit of 7,500 dollars. Tesla is now taking orders for the new model, which is expected to go into production in late 2011.
The company is now waiting to receive 350 million dollars in federal loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the Model S assembly plant in California.
"Model S doesn't compromise on performance, efficiency or utility — it's truly the only car you need," Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive officer, said in the statement.
"Tesla is relentlessly driving down the cost of electric vehicle technology, and this is just the first of many mainstream cars we're developing," he added.
Tesla began to deliver Roadster, a two-seat electric sports car, to customers in North America and Europe last year.
So far, the company has delivered nearly 300 Roadsters, with 1,000 more customers on the wait list.
The base price of Roadster is 101,500 dollars after a federal tax credit, Tesla said.
