Tesla Motors Starts Shipping The Model S Sedan, Its First Family-Focused Electric Car [Livestream]

Tesla Motors, the electric car company founded by PalPal founder and all-around tech industry badass Elon Musk, today began shipments of the Model S, the electricity-powered sedan it first unveiled back in 2009. Above we’ve embedded a livestream of the event, being held right now in Fremont, California.

According to Tesla, the response to the Model S has been solid: The company has more than than 10,000 reservations placed for the car, it says, and it plans to produce and deliver 20,000 vehicles per year beginning in 2013. The specs on the vehicle are pretty impressive — zero to 60 in less than six seconds with instant torque (that’s a big perk of electric vehicles) and an electric vehicle range of 265 miles, purportedly a new record for the industry. Its dashboard has a 17 inch touchscreen connected to 3G, which Tesla says puts “streaming radio, web browsing and navigation at the driver’s fingertips.” Not too shabby.

It’s also a much more practical car than Tesla’s slick flagship vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, as it seats five adults and two children.