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0-60 all in first gear?

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TEG

Teslafanatic
Moderator
Aug 20, 2006
22,101
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I had come to the conclusion that the Roadster was a carefully engineered "balancing act" designed to give optimal 0-60 in 1st gear, and then 2nd gear would be used to go right to redline at top speed ( > 130mph )

Recent developments have changed the "balance equation". Apparently the original 13,500 RPM redline was a bit too much for eMotor durability, so they dropped it down to 13,000 RPM max. That seems to have reduced the top speed closer to 125 MPH now. I also wonder if it causes one to need to shift out of 1st sooner, so perhaps you can't quite make it to 60MPH all in first anymore.

Having to do a shift could really cut into your 0-60 times, so reports of ~3.8s 0-60 even with the latest specs are all the more amazing. With reduced redline, and more weight added they must have had to do something like create more torque (at lower RPMs) out of the eMotor to make up for the other changes.

In a way it is unfortunate the 0-60 is such a "benchmark". Cars have to be designed just to optimize that when in the real world, you are frequently needed acceleration between different speeds.

I wonder how the Roadster stacks up in 0-50 times now compared to other supercars.
 
It could also be that 13.5k is OK for very short bursts, so as a transition point on the way past 60mph it would be fine (but as an endpoint in a sustained max speed test, would be a problem). In other words, they may keep it in first to just past 60, then force the gear change.

Yes, 0-60 is really a horrid benchmark. I find that 50-70 is a much more telling benchmark, and one that the Tesla will excell at, even in second. It's just like that old saying, Americans shop horsepower but buy torque.

-Scott
 
If one considers Project Gotham Racing 4 an accurate simulation, you redline at about 65 in first gear, then redline at 130 MPH in second. The game's redline is 13500, so they obviously used an earlier prototype.

Losing 500 RPM would drop your speed to maybe 61-62, so you can still do 0-60 in first gear.

-Ryan / Kardax