Can the Roadster output electricity from the battery?

[ecarfan]

I just read this Tesla could ‘revisit’ vehicle-to-grid technology, says Elon Musk

Yesterday, in response to someone on Twitter asking Elon if Tesla would ever allow one Tesla to connect to and charge the battery of another Tesla in an emergency situation, Elon responded:

“Very early on, we had the ability to use the car as a battery outputting power. Maybe worth revisiting that.”

The Electrek article states: “Tesla’s first generation Roadster had the capacity to output power from the battery pack to something other than its electric motor. The technology is often called vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-home and it enables electric car owners to power their home with their electric vehicle battery pack. The automaker has since dropped the technology for its more mass-market vehicles, but it is making a comeback with other automakers and now Tesla is considering bringing it back too, says Elon Musk.”

I did not know that the Roadster, or some early version of the Roadster, had that capability. Is that true?

 

[racevpr]

Considering the AC Propulsion Tzero was the design template for the Roadster, and the beta Roadsters used this inverter technology, at some point the Roadsters might have included V2G since the Tzero was V2G capable.

Fortunately, the Tzero documentation, including schematics and operations manual, survived our fire last year.

A V2G capability is not a daunting technology, and certainly makes sense since Tesla is so closely tied to solar energy products.

 

[petergrub]

The predecessor to the Tesla Roadster was AC Propulsion's Tzero. The Tzero had this capability and the Tzero's powertrain was originally licensed to Tesla. Tesla then redesigned AC Propulsion's motor controller and came up with the digital motor controller. Tesla stopped paying licensing fees to AC Propulsion because they weren't using AC Propulsion's analog motor controller anymore.

TEG or Pete Gruber know the AC Propulsion story better than myself, however the Roadster currently does not have the ability in the firmware to do V2G, vehicle to grid, or V2V, vehicle to vehicle. The Model S, X, and 3 are well equipped for such a function due to their ability to charge with direct DC (supercharging).

Nevertheless, a modification could be provided by Tesla to enable the V2G/V2V feature on the Roadster. DC fast charging for the Roadster has already been developed by Quick Charge Power.

 

[ecarfan]

TEG or Pete Gruber know the AC Propulsion story better than myself, however the Roadster currently does not have the ability in the firmware to do V2G, vehicle to grid, or V2V, vehicle to vehicle

Yes, I understand the Roadster currently does not have V2G or V2V capability, I was just surprised to hear that at some point in the past some Roadsters had that capability (possibly pre-production cars?).

So you, @petergrub, say @Pete Gruber “know the AC Propulsion story better than myself”. Those two usernames are remarkably similar.

 

[supersnoop]

I thought v2h was part of the CHAdeMO spec. Wouldn’t the S/X/3 support it though that interface?

 

[petergrub]

Those two usernames are remarkably similar.

Peter Gruber Jr. and I don't know Pete; Pete doesn't seem to have any content either. Also, I could draw a parallel about your username being similar to ecarecar, but the point is moot. What purpose does it serve? None. ecarfan, if you have a grievance to air, please send me a private message.

 

[supersnoop]

Peter Gruber Jr. and I don't know Pete; Pete doesn't seem to have any content either. Also, I could draw a parallel about your username being similar to ecarecar, but the point is moot. What purpose does it serve? None. ecarfan, if you have a grievance to air, please send me a private message.

There was a space in that link that you missed. He’s saying that “Peter Gruber” deferred to “Pete Gruber” on the topic.

Pete Gruber

 

[petergrub]

There was a space in that link that you missed

Sure about that?

"say @Pete Gruber 'know the AC Propulsion story..."

 

[supersnoop]

Sure about that?

Yes.

 

[wycolo]

It might be useful to know if one Tesla could charge another Tesla which had run out of battery just a few miles from home, for example. Needed would be a small 12v inverter with sufficiently clean AC waveform to enable the emergency charge cable to add several miles to the dead car.
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