Resources used in manufacturing the Roadster?

[Hunter]

Hi everybody.

I've mentioned this on the Tesla blog a couple times. Does anyone have any information concerning what resources go into actually building a Tesla Roadster? In particular, my understanding is that the carbon fiber and plastics used in construction are made from oil. I've even heard people commenting on press articles claiming that there will be more oil used in the manufacture than a normal car would burn in its life. I don't believe that for a second, but seeing as I can find no real data at all on the subject, it does leave me wondering.

It would be really cool if TM brought out a lifecycle analysis. Failing that, does anyone have decent numbers on what fossil fuels go into carbon fiber and generic plastics, from which we could make some educated guesses as to the resource content of the Roadster?

A couple related questions might be a total cost of ownership comparison to ICE cars (over 100k and 200k miles perhaps) and a treatment of the recycleability of the entire car (since they've already done a blog about the batteries).

Just some thoughts...thanks in advance to anyone who helps out.

 

[Cobos]

It seems most lifecycle analysis says that about 15-25% of the oil/energy a car uses in it's lifetime is for construction and transportation to it's point of sale. I can't find any sources now but I beleive the sources refuting the Hummer is more green than the Prius has some data on this. Regardless since the carbonfiber has a very low weight I doubt it's construction uses up all that much oil if you factor in the energy cost of transportation. Tesla did have an early blog about the carbon fiber panels though, you might find some info there?

Cobos