If you’re one of the people that plunked down the big bucks for a Tesla Roadster, your wait for the electric sports car just got a little longer. Tesla Motors CEO Michael Marks sent out a letter to customers earlier this week, informing them that the first shipment of fifty vehicles won’t happen until the first quarter of 2008. If you’re a little further down the list, naturally, your wait will be even longer. They hope to have 600 cars on the road by the end of the 2008 model year.

On the upside, you may have heard about the Tesla Roadster losing some range as a result of weight increases and other engineering changes. Well, their engineers have cranked out a few more efforts to help reverse those losses, bringing the effective range back up to snuff. The Tesla Roadster can now officially claim (on the EPA combined cycle) a 245 mile range. That breaks down to 252 miles in the city or 236 on the highway. Yes, it’s more efficient within the metropolis rather than on the open road.

To read the full letter from the Tesla CEO, click here. [Warning: PDF link]