Recent content by jjkroll

I've got it. They are going to put a phone cradle in the steering wheel, a la "Faraway Future". Then your phone will display the gauges. In case sarcasm goes over any heads.. This is a joke and I hope Tesla is listening.

I am sure I have seen this elsewhere, but simple logic can be applied. Just looking at geometry, you could assume the loss of 4 out of the 16 battery modules. That is if nothing else about cell/module size or density changed. That would give you 12/16 the space for model 3 batteries. Scaling...

I drove by on Friday, 2/5, and they are definitely powerpacks. They were unwrapped and guys were there with a forklift setting them into place. I went by too fast for pictures or counting, but I am guessing at least a few MWhrs.

This is fun to read. My prediction follows. All the car manufacturers will fund 150KW chargers as soon as they build large battery cars. They will all build these large battery cars as soon as the 150KW charger network is built. Standards like CCS are a nightmare. They are the reason Tesla...

The entire structure you see in the latest video is the pilot section. The completed plant will be at least 4-5 times the current footprint. Notice how large the leveled construction pad is with respect to the current structure. My guess is they are concentrating on getting the pilot pack...

Well it is when someone is trying to make a point that SolarCity is an evil company out to sell an inferior product. I do think ~$5/watt is expensive, but I haven't seen someone else offer the 30 year loan and 30 year warranty. In California, for most people, this makes it cheaper per month to...

My understanding is that last year Musk talked to Wyler at length and was in discussions about working on this together. I believe Wyler was working on this while at Google and decided to leave to do it on his own. I thought Musk disagreed with Wyler on the basic architecture. Wyler wanted...

Thanks. You beat me to it. I had just done this before checking back here. Now I just need to look at a model for thermal conductivity of copper wire gages to see if this could just be a liquid cooled heatsink attached to the wire in the pedestal. The copper wire itself could be conducting...

Of course, I believe you are correct. Now you have me thinking about how much power dissipation there is in that roughly 6-8 feet long cable. Sounds like a quick and fun weekend project to design a liquid cooled supercharger cable, at least on paper.

I would assume they are using a non-electrically conductive liquid for cooling, which could potentially provide better protection than the rubber insulation. This could also be a mostly passive system with just thermal conductive heat transfer. Not necessarily a pump/flow based system. Just...

I say Tesla should just make it inconvenient. They could make boths screens red with a big warning saying "CHARGER TAPER DISABLED DUE TO LOCAL CHARGING. STOP CHARGING MANUALLY AT 60% OR YOUR BATTERY WILL SUFFER DEGRADATION." That way they force the person to stay at the car and make it an...

Remember that cell production, at the Gigafactory, does not need to happen for pack production to start. I took this to mean that Powerwall/Powerpack production equipment will be operational in the Gigafactory in Q1 2016. They will use Panasonic sourced cells, from Japan, until Gigafactory...

You are bringing logic to an emotional and illogical discussion. It's like my Mom says, "Stop confusing me with facts!!" Obviously, the world will be swallowed by a raining, snowing black hole as soon as the first "production" falcon wing door opens.

Rampant speculation is that the modules are now the same as the modules in the 85kWhr pack. This would mean a higher voltage than 60kWhr modules and additional efficiency gain from lower losses. I think this is the best explanation I have seen for them being the same cells. That being said, I...

I say there is something interesting going on. Notice that the 70D EPA rating doesn't appear to take much of a hit in wh/mile like the 85 does. From the 60s 209 mile EPA spec, 70D would be 209*70/60=244miles. The 85 would have been 296 miles, with no weight gain penalty. So, for the 85, the...