Hello all!
Has anyone explored the possibility that Model S was designed to be a hybrid and/or could easily be modified to be one? Think about it. The frunk could easily accommodate a range extending engine and the trunk below floor storage could easily accommodate a gas tank. Potentially giving the Model S a combined range of over 600 miles! Do you care to comment Mr Musk?
There is no question that Tesla could make a (better) i3 REx type hybrid out of the Model S (and X) if they chose to - there's ample space in the Frunk for a small range extender and gas tank.
However, Tesla's mission from the beginning has been to move the industry to sustainable transport, and that's what they are trying to do. Making an EREV version of the S doesn't help them with that in any way I can see - the goal of the Model S was to show the world that an electric car doesn't have to have any compromises (aside from price, of course...)
In terms of component sizing, it wouldn't make sense to build such a big battery pack if you're also going to include a range extender. In that case, you should be aiming to cover normal daily usage electrically, expecting that long trips will require the range extender. GM proved that ~40 miles was enough to cover 80% of all miles driven, and is telling us that they expect 53 miles to cover around 90%. Why would you carry another couple hundred miles of very expensive battery if you're also going to carry a range extender?
There is a lot to be said for a car like the Volt as a transition, and they are great cars. It's not what Tesla wanted the S to be, and so it isn't what they designed. Having a big pack also makes large amounts of power possible - it'd be very hard to get P90D performance levels without the 90 kWh pack.
What I thought was more intriguing was the idea of a recyclable primary battery for the Frunk of a Model S...
At demonstrated performance levels, a 150 pound Aluminum Air pack in the Frunk would double the range - and if they improve it a little, the theoretical limits are over five times that - more than a thousand miles of range in the Frunk. (Of course, then you have to replace the aluminum plates - the proponents of the technology believe that the aluminum could be recycled for something close to the current cost of gas once infrastructure was built out.)
Tesla took a couple patents that seemed related, but we haven't seen anything since - and really I think they're going to focus on more mundane solutions - driving down the cost of Lithium cells while improving capacity, and extending the supercharger network to cover everything. They're already at the point where the typical user won't really feel much impact on a road trip; another 20-30% faster/longer ranged will cover most of the hard core drivers, too.
Walter
