Well, todays "fast fotos" should be a little bit better, but still not optimal.
Find two examples here:
and the total photostream here:
This weekend and FLP details - a set on Flickr
malcolm, RGB,
yes, this "airflow issue" is on discussion.
At first, RGB I am sorry that we could not meet last thursday. As you might know, I had an non-relocatable appointment at 10:15, but this unexpectedly took till 13:30, and then it was too late to go to vienna.
On the other side it was good that I did not go, because at 14:00 suddenly I got an surprising call from Tesla and 5 minutes later Craig and Rudy drove into my parking space.
They looked at the car, took some notes on the things that were not performed so well; and the first comment from Rudy was on the licence plate position. But as Rudy is a nice guy, we got in discussion about this and exchanged arguments. My arguments were the beauty of that position, and everyone agreed. The next argument were, that when driving, the battery ALWAYS stayed at the blue level. I have read from americans in the owners forum which always drive in the yellow battery level, and never reach blue levels. Rudy argued that in an "cold country like austria" this might work, but for example if I would bring this licence plate to the middle east, the car would die. Well, thats not my intention. His biggest concern was not while driving, his biggest concern was charging. He told me, that while charging, especially with the HPC, the front fans run at a speed equivalent to 80km/h. They need to get enough airflow to remain the batteries at temperature wanted. But I dont have an HPC, and I think I do not plan to buy one next spring when it comes available for us europeans.
On the other side, I got compliments for the mechanical solution (well, at least 50% of that compliments now should go to steve chasner for designing the basics of that bracket), and especially that there is space between the plate and the grill. See detailed photos. I was told that "others" simply mounted the plate on the grill, which then covers it fully, and that in any way is a no-go. This is the place where I asked Rudy if they dont share datas with the americans. Because there a LOT of people are driving with the Steve Casner Plate, or have mounted it directly to the grill (see Tom Saxton), and there are absolutely NO reports of having airflow problems. The US plate is more narrow, ok, but the EU plate allows airflow above and under the plate, which the US does not because of its height.
Rudy than stated that there might be a difference that it does not play that much role on roadster 1.5, but on 2.0, if I understood it right the HVAC compressor is "twice as strong as on the 1.5", but the heat exchanger stayed at same size. So we need that airflow. My arguments were that in the US also Roadster 2.0 were running with that Steve Casner Plate.
But Rudy also sees some problem, that even if it will might work, for example than at high power charging, the fans might run a little bit longer. (for me no problem). But through the cars GSM connection, this might be recorded as some "abnormal operartion", and there an error message like "we have a fan/airflow problem" might pop up in his office every time - which is not true in this way. (where are the good old times where you were alone with your car ;-)
At the end, I could convince Rudy to check back with the americans, which experience they have with the mid-mounted front licence plate drivers, and then he will come back to me.
My problem is, that they will play it over the warranty card. They cant force me to move the licence plate, but they can say that I will loose my warranty if I keep driving with the licence plate in that position. And that I cant risk. I even have bought the extended warranty, so if they say I will have to move it, I must. I really hope they do not make an easy decision out of it and keep on real facts instead of saying "its a warranty thing, its your decision, thats it.".
Lets see.
BTW, when Rudy was here, he showed to me how the suspension is to be adjusted. Its just this one thing that you can turn from "1" to "10", with 1 is soft and 10 is hard. Typical roadster setting is 2 or 3 I was told, mine is set to 7 as I wanted it hard. But wasnt that suspension always advertised as a 3-way adjustible, and one of this parameters was the height of the car? I forgot to ask this, maybe anyone knows.
