Las Vegas, NV CES 2011 -Two days before the (real) crowds arrived I had the pleasure of spying from a distance one of the most amazingly beautiful cars ever to be built – the Tesla Model S.  As if I did not have enough giddy excitement about the upcoming cornucopia of technology that I was about to witness….it wasn’t fair.  I had arrived WAY too early it seems – there were two more days until the Central Plaza would be open to me.

Tesla Model S:

What is it?  It is a Sports Sedan – a fully electric automobile.  Unlike the first car manufactured by Tesla (a modified Lotus Elise) the Model S was designed and built by Tesla.  How many people can ride in this? “4 or 5, maybe if you don’t mind being somewhat cramped,” you say.  Wrong – it can hold 7 people, 5 adults and 2 children.  The cargo space is also more generous than a typical sedan.  Depending on your needs you can choose a battery pack that gives you a choice of 160, 230, or 300 miles per charge.  If you are worried about the charging time – DON’T!  The battery can be charged with Quick Charge in just 45 minutes.

Deliveries of the Model S are due to begin in 2012, reservations are being taken now.  Judging by how the car looks and the fact that it is a true electric car you would be forgiven for thinking you could never be able to afford the Model S.  In order to reserve your very own all you need is $49,000 with a $5,000 refundable deposit.  In comparison the Tesla Roadster can be yours for $101,500 (including a $7,500 tax credit) and a $9,900 deposit.

There was something that had me scratching my head as I sat in the hotel plotting my route to this car – WHY was it under an Nvidia tent?  I could not put my finger on it, I only had to wait 2 full days to find out. Amongst a slew of announcements – LG Optimus 2x, High Performance ARM processors, and an incredible presentation of Angry Birds playing on a 50′ projection screen, I found out the answer.  It was quite possibly the most amazing center stack I’ve ever seen in a car, let alone a production car – 17 inches of beautiful high resolution touch screen for navigation and infotainment and a second 12.3″ High Resolution screen for the instrument cluster.  Two different Tegra 2 processors handle the duties.  Here is what is featured in the Infotainment and Navigation Systems for the Model S.

Tesla made a decision to use Nvidia Tegra 2 processors for a number of reasons.  First is it’s high power and  low consumption:  In electric cars there is a need to minimize the drain on the electrical system, with the highly efficient nature of the Tegra platform it was a natural choice for this application.  Followed by the Tegra 2s stunning graphic performance:  With two High Resolution screens, the massive 17″ for navigation, information, weather, and climate control; 12.3″ High Resolution screen serving as the instrument cluster.

  The infotainment and navigation systems feature:

• 17-inch high resolution display, the largest display ever in a car
• Responsive touchscreen with a fully intuitive user interface
• Connected navigation with live traffic, points of interest and weather
• Touchscreen-based climate-control system

The all-digital instrument cluster features:

• Ultra high-resolution, driver-friendly 12.3″ LCD display
• Advanced 3D graphics providing data about the vehicle

About Tegra:

NVIDIA Tegra is the world’s first mobile superchip, with eight dedicated computing cores. These include the ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, the world’s only ultra-low power NVIDIA GeForce® GPU and the world’s first mobile 1080p HD video processor.

These features enable it to offer extremely realistic 3D graphics and advanced multimedia functionality and premium-quality accelerated user interfaces. Its auto-grade version has undergone specific testing for the automotive market and passed the industry-standard AEC-100 qualification for reliability, adhering to certain operating temperature ranges. It also offers a complete toolset for engineers to quickly build visually-appealing user interfaces.

Tesla Website – Model S page –  Blog – Nvidia Newsroom

Here are some pictures that I personally took while out here at CES 2011