New Roadster Goodies for 2014

[markwj]

Not too often the verge gets it wrong:

Elon Musk says Tesla is revealing a new Roadster this week | The Verge

The meat of the story is good, but the headline. Oh, dear.

 

[Chillout]

Someone at the Verge is clearly not a good journalist

 

[dsm363]

Someone at the Verge is clearly not a good journalist

That's usually the editor I think who will change the title. The author likely had it right.

Looks like he got enough e-mails to change it. Title now

Elon Musk says Tesla is revealing the 'exciting' Roadster update this week

 

[JRP3]

More of the same, only worse: http://news.yahoo.com/tesla-gearing-roadster-reveal-112818008.html

There's a good chance that the Roadster -- whether a brand new model or an upgrade for the existing car -- will use the same dual engine, four-wheel-drive set-up to improve handling, grip and acceleration.

 

[Doug_G]

Despite fixing the title the journalism is still pretty crappy. The explosion of a test flight at SpaceX has absolutely nothing to do with any delays at Tesla. More likely the problems getting the P85D out were a major impact.

 

[AnOutsider]

You think those headlines were bad?

Tesla to Announce Second Generation Model X Roadster This Week

Don't even know where to begin with that one, and it isn't just the title:

According to the Tesla CEO, the Model X Roadster was put on ice for no other reason than to address “several crisis issues with higher priority” over recent months and years – a clear reference to the more popular Model S sedan.

 

[ecarfan]

While there is good journalism online, the proliferation of hastily written "article" where not even the most rudimentary fact checking has taken place continues to surprise me. It's pathetic.

 

[Kevin Harney]

Roadster Update Promised for 2014 made good ?!?

Saw this article today and thought I would share here. Sorry if it has been posted already. I am assuming that this is in regards to the battery upgrade to a 400 mile pack but who knows ....

The Verge Article

Should give some of you a Merry Christmas !!

 

[Chillout]

It's about the battery upgrade. Probably someone misunderstood the Roadster upgrade lingo on Twitter

I was at the local Tesla service station today and they told me they are reaaaaly curious about what Elon is about to unveil. They're hoping for supercharger enablement of the Roadster, and possibly a bigger pack, but they told me they are kept in the dark when it comes to stuff like this.

 

[ratsbew]

I'm late to this party, but I'm guessing that the new Roadster pack will be a subsidized product to test state-of-the-art cells (perhaps 3800mAh) that will be used in the Model 3. I also believe that Supercharging hardware will be included in the upgrade.

 

[Doug_G]

I expect the pack architecture to be identical to the original one, including the use of slighly modified (but newer tech) commodity cells.

I really doubt they woukd use it to test new pack architectures. It would be much simpler to derive those from the newer Model S pack design.

 

[ecarfan]

I'm late to this party, but I'm guessing that the new Roadster pack will be a subsidized product to test state-of-the-art cells (perhaps 3800mAh) that will be used in the Model 3. I also believe that Supercharging hardware will be included in the upgrade.

I do not believe that Tesla would risk the goodwill of Roadster owners, and risk a PR problem, by using the much anticipated new Roadster battery to "test" the very latest cell formulation.

Tesla will use the most current and reliable Model S cells. Those cells will significantly increase the pack capacity compared to the original pack, range will go way up, Roadster owners will be thrilled, the market will be impressed, and there will be no risk of problems down the road.

And as Tesla has said, no Supercharging for the Roadster. Not feasible for any kind of reasonable cost.

 

[TEG]

...And as Tesla has said, no Supercharging for the Roadster. Not feasible for any kind of reasonable cost...

I think they could do it, but perhaps not at the full charge rate that a Model S supports. And because of that they possibly won't do it because they don't want any Model S owners to complain that they are stuck waiting for a Roadster to finish using the Supercharger...

 

[Juanmax]

And as Tesla has said, no Supercharging for the Roadster. Not feasible for any kind of reasonable cost.

I disagree on the "not feasible for reasonable cost". Probably most roadster owners would pay up to 5000$ to be able to use SC. I assume there is no (extensive) high power hardware required to enable SC since DC goes straight to the battery and the one in the Roadster is already AC cooled.

New charge socket on the car, wiring harnesses and reprogramming or adding another ECU. Should be under that amount of money...

 

[Juanmax]

I really hope (dreaming is free), that Tesla offers SC conversion. Charging 85kWh in the typical 220V@32A (7.4kW) European chargers would takes ages.

 

[dmckinstry]

I hope Tesla is not planning on making a profit on the much anticipated new Roadster battery. The numbers will be so low that a profitable price will be crazy high. My money is on Elon deciding to sell the new battery at cost or even well below. It would be the right thing to do in this case.

I'm not a Roadster owner, so doesn't directly affect me. However, I suspect as a goodwill gesture they may even be willing to sell it at a loss. Especially considering the relatively small number of Roadsters and even smaller number of owners that want to do the upgrade.

 

[aronth5]

I disagree on the "not feasible for reasonable cost". Probably most roadster owners would pay up to 5000$ to be able to use SC. I assume there is no (extensive) high power hardware required to enable SC since DC goes straight to the battery and the one in the Roadster is already AC cooled.

New charge socket on the car, wiring harnesses and reprogramming or adding another ECU. Should be under that amount of money...

If you read thru some of the earlier posts in this thread you will see that the general consensus is that supercharging for the Roadster is not practical and few are expecting it.

 

[NigelM]

I disagree on the "not feasible for reasonable cost". Probably most roadster owners would pay up to 5000$ to be able to use SC.

I disagree. Although there are folks who have done road trips with a Roadster, it's lack of luggage room alone makes it a car not really suited to regular long drives. I'd wouldn't assume that I'm typical but i wouldn't supercharge my Roadster more than once or maybe twice a year; an upgrade cost of $5k would mean an average discounted cost over 10 years of ~$500 per charge. Somehow I doubt most Roadster owners would be willing to pay that.

 

[djp]

I wonder if we'll see a performance improvement with the new pack. I'm thinking there should be less voltage sag with the higher capacity pack, so more juice to the motor during heavy acceleration, even with no changes to the PEM or the motor itself.

 

[JRP3]

That is my prediction. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...dies-for-2014)?p=346523&viewfull=1#post346523