Start with what the Tesla Roadster is: a 2-door roadster with electric motor, built from 2008 to 2012, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. What it meant takes a little longer. 2,450 were built.
Where it came from
The first generation Tesla Roadster is a battery electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise chassis, and was produced by Tesla Motors (now Tesla, Inc.) from 2008 to 2012. The Roadster was the first highway legal, serial production, all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car with a range of more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. Tesla sold about 2,450 Roadsters in over 30 countries, and most of the last Roadsters were sold in Europe and Asia during the fourth quarter of 2012. Tesla produced right-hand-drive Roadsters from early 2010. The Roadster qualified for government incentives in several nations.
According to the U.S. EPA, the Roadster can travel 244 miles (393 km) on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery pack. The vehicle can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in 3.7 or 3.9 seconds depending on the model. It has a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h). The Roadster's efficiency, as of September 2008, was reported as 120 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (28 kW⋅h/100 mi) (2.0 L/100 km). It uses 21.7 kWh/100 mi (135 Wh/km) battery-to-wheel, and has an efficiency of 88% on average.
Under the skin
The engine is electric motor. On the scales it comes to 2877 lb. Drive goes through a 1-speed BorgWarner (8.27:1 ratio). The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2352 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Tesla line-up the Tesla Roadster has a clear place: it handed the line to the Tesla Roadster (second generation); the factory was Hethel (Lotus Cars. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Nissan 370Z, the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Nissan GT-R. Nearby in the Tesla catalogue sit the Cybercab and the Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster.