Additional batteries and second charger

[juliusa]

You could probably rig up a way to get your phone to charge the battery through the USB port, instead of having the battery charge your phone.

Strapping a battery pack to the roof and running wires to the main battery should work too - you will need wires for the high voltage and also for the contactors. You will also need to beef up the suspension for the extra weight, and handling will suffer with all that weight up high. Range may not increase all that much with the extra weight and wind resistance. You will also want to make an extension for a supercharger cable to you can supercharge both packs at the same time using two non-paired stalls.

Once you get that working, finding and installing a second charger for the car will be easy - after you install it, I think the service center can program it for you.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[SSedan]

Giving up supercharger access will hurt effect range more than you can increase it with extra batteries.

 

[Jillmark99]

I am still not clear why you want to do this. If you need a vehicle for a special purpose there may be better choices. The issue that I see is lack of reliability once you have built a 'hot rod' version of a Model S. Keeping a vehicle going with roadside repair is from the past. You will need a chase truck with equipment and experts. I would like to know the purpose of a custom Model S with two battery packs.

I want to do it because it hasn’t been done before. I know the Tesla supercharger network and I have a charger at home and at work. It’s not a matter of running out of battery, it’s a matter of doing it just because. Would be a fun project.

 

[ucmndd]

No it’s not a joke. And nothing is impossible. Anyone that tells you something is impossible is simply afraid to try

“Impossible to accomplish legally” is probably more accurate.

You basically need the source code to
tesla’s battery management system to get anywhere at all. You’re not getting that legally.

Or I suppose you could write your own from scratch.

Either way, you’re vastly underestimating the complexity of this little project. This isn’t like tinkering with an RC car.

 

[Benjanos]

Are there not rules in Canada to stop people modifying their cars so heavily? The result could be a liability to other roads users.

I don’t mind people modify the hell out of their cars and killing themselves in the resulting accident/inferno, that’s just Darwin theory in action. But if they wipe out me any my family because their science experiment failed, I’d be furious.

 

[Don85D]

I want to do it because it hasn’t been done before. I know the Tesla supercharger network and I have a charger at home and at work. It’s not a matter of running out of battery, it’s a matter of doing it just because. Would be a fun project.

Let me suggest a prototype approach to get the bugs and code worked out first. Find a wrecked Model S and strip out the battery pack, charger and cooling system then mount these on a small trailer that you can tow behind your Model S. When the main battery runs out of range you connect the battery on the trailer, some how.

Personally I like the idea of using Model S components from a wreck to make a F150 viable. That should challenge you just as much.

For now I'll stop following this thread and check back in 12 months. Have fun.

 

[DMC-Orangeville]

Personally I like the idea of using Model S components from a wreck to make a F150 viable. That should challenge you just as much.

This....
I have a 2012 F250 in the barn. I'd love it to be electric......

 

[maximizese]

It sounds like you're interested in a Franken-Tesla project to be different. I'm not sure if you'd be required to get the car legally inspected after your done since there would be a change to the load and distributions in the event of an accident, but maybe you should consult a custom shop that specializes in EVs. There are a number of project cars with Tesla drive units, Bolt battery modules, and Volt chargers. I've even heard of someone rigging an extra battery to a hitched trailer. I have no idea how stable these cars are, but it seems like there are a number of folks who are tinkering around the junkyard with scrap EV parts.

 

[Takumi]

Oh, I see you're thinking about making your own Roadster.

https://epc.teslamotors.com/#/login

 

[DMan]

There was a guy on Rich Rebuilds that transformed a RS5/S5 Audi body into a full EV using Tesla batteries. There's definitely a way to do it.

 

[Jashev]

There was a guy on Rich Rebuilds that transformed a RS5/S5 Audi body into a full EV using Tesla batteries. There's definitely a way to do it.

This is a buddy of mine in Lancaster, PA. He does all kinds of cool stuff building EV's from ICE vehicles:

Electric Vehicle Conversion ampREVOLT

 

[Zooomer]

I want to do it because it hasn’t been done before. I know the Tesla supercharger network and I have a charger at home and at work. It’s not a matter of running out of battery, it’s a matter of doing it just because. Would be a fun project.

It's not a 'fun project'. It's just you looking for someone to pay to do it, if you don't know how. I wouldn't call that a fun project. I'd just call it an expense.

 

[pinball_player]

To me it seems like this is something that might be technically possible, but with the amount of work to do it would be so prohibitive that it simply is not feasible.

This reminds me of the people who were going to purchase a RWD Model 3 and thought that you could buy the front motor and 'bolt it in' because it is the same car so the front motor should just plug in. That is not the case.

But in the case of adding another additional battery where are you going to even put it? If you put it in the trunk the rear wheels would be having to carry and additional 1000 lbs and the front of the car would not drive correctly. If you put it in the frunk (good luck there), then the front wheel would be carrying that weight and the car would not drive acceptably either. Plus you would need to take the 'donor' battery and rip it apart into modules and re-architect the battery module into a different shape. Also the current cooling/heating system in the car is designed to handle a single battery. You would need to increase that also.

So bottom line it maybe possible, but it is not something any sane person would do.

 

[beachmiles]

This guy drove 407 miles in a model X while towing his camper trailer built on top of a battery pack directly connected to the car. Granted his average speed was only 53 miles/hour but he was towing a camper trailer at the same time and still had a 7% charge at the end!

 

[airborne spoon]

I’m not worried about the additional weight. The vehicle could easily carry 1200 lbs of passengers and I almost always drive alone.

the car can only hold 950 lbs of cargo. look in your door jam the sticker with all the curb weights and stuff says cargo may not exceed 950 lbs.