Hi Tony,
Good to have you here to update the Roadster community.
Are you able to give a general update on progress?
Have you managed to find a local 2.x to check the CAN messages are the same?
First, let me offer an overview of the project. JdeMO for the Tesla Roadster is a follow on to the successful program for the Toyota RAV4 EV. For that vehicle, we have delivered over 50 units, with almost 50 more prepaid orders.
This past week, I was involved with updating the firmware on 14 JdeMO units, all in Northern California. I was able to drive my RAV4 EV (with a range of 100 to 140 miles) that is equipped with JdeMO over 1700 miles in 6 days from San Diego to Sacramento, and return. JdeMO truly is a game changer for any car that doesn't have fast DC charging capability, like the Tesla Roadster. I did this trip entirely with fast DC charging and never once pulled out my UMC (JESLA).
Currently, there are over 10,000 CHAdeMO stations in the world. Approximately 2000 of those are in the United States, primarily on the east and west coast and around major metro areas in the middle of the country. In other words, you will still want to bring your UMC with you for coast-to-coast journeys. In Europe, the CHAdeMO stations are far more pervasive, with almost 3000 installed with much more even disbursement throughout the region. CHAdeMO is not only the largest network of chargers in the world, it is also the only one that uses the exact same plug everywhere in the world. Not even Tesla can say that.
Most public fast charge stations will allow 120 amps, therefore the Roadster will charge its 300 volt to 415 volt battery at about 45kW up to about 80% capacity. A typical charge from 20% to 80% will take approximately 40 minutes.
For the Roadster JdeMO project specifically, we performed a proof of concept charge event in December of last year, just six weeks ago with a 1.5 car. We have written software now specific for the Roadster, which was completed this past Thursday. At 11 AM today, we will be testing that new software in Orange County, California.
Contrary to early reports, we will not be installing the charge inlet in the boot / trunk. Our default location will be from behind the rear license plate, however folks who would like to place it elsewhere are welcome to do so. We just won't be involved with that type of work.
On the hardware front, we will be using most of the existing hardware that was developed for the RAV4 EV. This allows us to have an excellerated development program, which we intend to have complete by June 2016. Deliveries of production units are intended to begin this summer.
We have not tested integration with Roadster 2.0 or 2.5, however we do not expect any surprises.
It's an easy trip from Belgium - there is a Roadster HPC near the Channel Tunnel on the UK side and one near Bruges on the Belgium side.
