Recent content by Martin

Yes, I finally got my car back late last week. The bodywork was done at Chilton's Auto Body in San Carlos, CA, where Tesla had the bodywork done after they crashed the car the first time... Much of the work this time was done at Tesla (replacing the battery, for example). I believe that several...

Can it be repaired I think so. Though the door was smashed, it still opened fine. The frame seemed undamaged, though an alignment test will tell for sure. There is a big foam block on the side, just behind the door and behind the rocker panel, and this seems to have taken most of the impact (as...

What happened No big story really. I was driving home from work in the rain and the dark, going up highway 84. I was maybe 4th in a line of 5 cars, going about 15 mph. The next thing I knew, my glasses flew off my face and the car spun around and off the road from an impact just behind the...

I built 15 RFMC's, so I guess there are actually 15 Founder's Series RFMCs including my own. They are all serial numbered, though I did not always put a serial number sticker on the bottom. But every unit I built has the serial number written in black pen on the label of the Lambda power supply...

Anyone interested in the design of the RFMC, take a look at my blog Tesla Founders Blog. I explain a bit about how it works, give you full schematics, and source code. Our friend TEG has already pointed out a handful of typos and spelling errors in my comments! I am sure there are more, and I...

Great. Hopefully, all Tesla owners who have received a car have read that topic and applied for their rebates. As previously mentioned, I am no longer participating in the Tesla Owner's forum. Darryl Siry sent me a note saying that my ban would be lifted provided that I only write nice things...

We just got approved for a $5,000 rebate check from CARB - an incentive program that Tesla never mentioned to us. Read about it at my blog: www.teslafounders.com. This incentive program also applies to other EVs and to natural gas vehicles as well.

Unfortunately, it takes extraordinary action to charge to 50% - the "normal" charge takes to to well above 80%. Also, it kind of takes away the point of the fancy battery pack if you only charge it half way. Part of the point of a 200+ mile driving range is that you don't have to worry about...

TEG, It's been more than a year since I was relieved of control at Tesla. Lots and lots of technical decisions have been made since then. When I left my post as CEO, we were not yet ready to ship the car; there were many technical issues left to resolve. Were I still there, I would have...

Zak's explanation on the Owner's Forum is more detailed than the explanations any Tesla employee gave me, though I did ask why the pump behaved as it did. Note that I get "special treatment" at the Owner's Forum - Darryl Siry told me that any negative comments that I post there will be deleted...

Edmunds also has a funny definition of the word "courtesy" as in "photo courtesy of teslafounders.com". What they mean here is that they scraped the image from my website without even asking me...

When I left, the engineers were still refining the control algorithms. At that stage, we all knew that we still had a lot of work to do before the car was ready for prime time. Obviously, I cannot be specific. :cool:

Totally. I hope they let the pump rest with the 1.5 drive train!

Have you ever noticed the sound of a water pump running in the back of a parked Tesla? It runs pretty much all the time, and makes the coolant gurgle in its overflow tank in the back of the car. I got curious about it and did a few experiments to determine how much energy this little pump...

Guess what? Making a decent, production electric car is REALLY HARD. Although $40K will push the Volt out of the price range for many consumers, it is still a major, major advance for electric cars and will drive the auto industry in the direction it desperately needs to go. Even at $40K, I...