New Roadster Goodies for 2014

[qwk]

It should not be to hard to fill some roadster ESS enclosures will Model S cells and voila: 81kWh pack with about 340 mile range.

I wouldn't be hard, but Model S cells aren't exactly cheap or readily available, unless of course one gets them out of a Model S pack. That is a lot of work though.

 

[wiztecy]

I wouldn't be hard, but Model S cells aren't exactly cheap or readily available, unless of course one gets them out of a Model S pack. That is a lot of work though.

Then you have to fabricate up some new sheet enclosures since the Roadster's have the cells epoxied into them. That would be a mess trying to clean and retrofit an old sheet, 11 of them.

 

[qwk]

Then you have to fabricate up some new sheet enclosures since the Roadster's have the cells epoxied into them. That would be a mess trying to clean and retrofit an old sheet, 11 of them.

That wouldn't be too hard, just time consuming.

 

[WarpedOne]

I wouldn't be hard, but Model S cells aren't exactly cheap or readily available, unless of course one gets them out of a Model S pack. That is a lot of work though.

I was thinking of tesla doing that using their old tools, not a third party garage job.

Tesla charged $44,5k for a new 85 kWh Model S battery, a new 81kWh ESS should run in similar numbers.

 

[Mark77a]

Anyone hear of any rumors of delivery recently?

For Roaster #164 I'm having no luck finding an dead 1.5 ESS enclosure (so I can build my own battery), and I'm about to give up on waiting for the new battery pack.

I Presume you've seen this 1.5 pack on ebay Germany under $10K > Tesla Roadster 2008 Batterie komplett | eBay

 

[Jackyche]

Thought I saw his email listed somewhere here NEW TO THE FORUM? Read this before posting. | Forums | Tesla Motors

Cool. Hopefully Elon's really like Steve Jobs and will answer to random occasional late night emails.

 

[bolosky]

The truth is that I'm happy that it's delayed. I've got almost 80K miles and more than 5 years on my 2.0, and I have almost 90% of the pack capacity remaining. I don't need a new battery, and while a larger one would make the occasional trip to Portland easier, really I will probably wait until my old pack wears out to spend all that money on an upgrade. That doesn't seem even close to happening yet, so if they take a few more years, maybe we'll wind up with a 500 mile pack when I need it rather than a 400 that's too early.

I suspect that most people are in the same boat as me. I drive my Roadster more than most people, and it's from about a 1/4 of the way through the run, so very few folks should be where I am (though, to be fair, I seem to have better than average luck with battery longevity given Tom Saxton's report).

 

[spaceballs]

I Presume you've seen this 1.5 pack on ebay Germany under $10K > Tesla Roadster 2008 Batterie komplett | eBay

Yep I have, shipping lipos from Germany kinda kills it for me.

 

[Jackyche]

Its true that 99% of us won't actually NEED a replacement pack at this very moment, it would however be nice to know what are the options in case we do need one. These things have sudden onset and is unpredictable. So if one's battery does fail and need a typical $4k fix, wouldn't you like to know that, say, a 400-mile replacement pack is $20k that will be available in mid 2015? Its more about making informed decision rather than having latest and greatest.

I don't mind Elon not having a 400-mile pack available by Dec 31st, 2014. Not that important. However, I would like to know some sort of long term plan/strategy going forward regarding replacement packs. If he says, a 400-mile pack will be ready in 2017, that would be fine with me. If he says it'll cost $40k, at least I'll know that.

The truth is that I'm happy that it's delayed. I've got almost 80K miles and more than 5 years on my 2.0, and I have almost 90% of the pack capacity remaining. I don't need a new battery, and while a larger one would make the occasional trip to Portland easier, really I will probably wait until my old pack wears out to spend all that money on an upgrade. That doesn't seem even close to happening yet, so if they take a few more years, maybe we'll wind up with a 500 mile pack when I need it rather than a 400 that's too early.

I suspect that most people are in the same boat as me. I drive my Roadster more than most people, and it's from about a 1/4 of the way through the run, so very few folks should be where I am (though, to be fair, I seem to have better than average luck with battery longevity given Tom Saxton's report).

 

[dpeilow]

It can't be too long until it's seven years since the first cars were sold, so they need to have something ready. Buy personally I'm not planning to replace just yet so I could also wait for the next generation

 

[ML Auto]

That wouldn't be too hard, just time consuming.

Yeah, REAL time consuming. Or did you forget about the 27324 sonic welds you have to do on the "fuses" attaching the batteries (6831 cells, 13662 fuses, 2 welds per fuse). They are so tiny and brittle that you cant save them.

 

[spaceballs]

Yeah, REAL time consuming. Or did you forget about the 27324 sonic welds you have to do on the "fuses" attaching the batteries (6831 cells, 13662 fuses, 2 welds per fuse). They are so tiny and brittle that you cant save them.

btw a battery spot welder would do just fine (sonic is just neater), I thought about taking my bad sheet apart and rebuilding it (I have all the tools).. but I got lazy, as even one sheet would take a lot to time to do. I have a few of the tiny wires (their not that brittle, but not reusable), one of these days I should test the max current you can push through them... as my existing bench power supplies didn't have enough amps to pop them.

 

[ML Auto]

btw a battery spot welder would do just fine (sonic is just neater), I thought about taking my bad sheet apart and rebuilding it (I have all the tools).. but I got lazy, as even one sheet would take a lot to time to do. I have a few of the tiny wires (their not that brittle, but not reusable), one of these days I should test the max current you can push through them... as my existing bench power supplies didn't have enough amps to pop them.

I tested a few of the fuse wires and they all melted around 15 amps.

 

[spaceballs]

I tested a few of the fuse wires and they all melted around 15 amps.

Great info!

So across 69 cells, that be ~1000 Amps! Sounds like there is about ~500amps headroom from max the PEM can pull to blowing the wire fuses.

 

[Mitrovic]

Talked to my Tesla mechanic today and they have no knowledge when the battery pack will be available...

 

[ML Auto]

Great info!

So across 69 cells, that be ~1000 Amps! Sounds like there is about ~500amps headroom from max the PEM can pull to blowing the wire fuses.

The main sheet fuses are only 400A, So the PEM is probably limited to around 375A.

 

[JRP3]

If it's a slow blow fuse it can take 400 amps for a short time, so the PEM may get to see higher currents occasionally. I use a 250 amp rated circuit breaker in my car but the controller can pull 550 amps for a short time.

 

[djp]

If it's a slow blow fuse it can take 400 amps for a short time, so the PEM may get to see higher currents occasionally. I use a 250 amp rated circuit breaker in my car but the controller can pull 550 amps for a short time.

Agreed. The Roadster maxes out around 200kW, so if you punch it when the battery is low it can draw up to 560 amps.

 

[ML Auto]

I'm not sure I believe the dash gauge as far as power output is concerned. I really dont think Tesla would allow the current to reach 400A due to the problems in changing the internal fuses if they blow. Its not like a circuit breaker or under dash fuse. Currently an internal fuse replacement would involve sending the ESS back to the factory. Since the individual cell fuse wires have over 1000A total capacity, Tesla could have easily installed much larger fuses than 400A. I doubt any electrical engineer would install a 400A fuse in a system that can draw 500+ amps.

 

[M67v]

Maybe it's a new Roadster.