-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Interesting factoid
There are two calipers on the rear wheels. At upper right is the electrically activated parking brake, which engages automatically when you put the car in park. The larger hydraulic brake caliper is on the left.
There are two calipers on the rear wheels. At upper right is the electrically activated parking brake, which engages automatically when you put the car in park. The larger hydraulic brake caliper is on the left.
mt2
Member
Ok, I gotta go do some stuff but here is a Flickr set with my raw photos:
Model S Beta Ride Event and Factory Tour. - a set on Flickr
I was asked to make a Flickr group for photos of the event.
That's here: Flickr: Tesla Model S ride and Factory
People who use Flickr can add pics to that if they wish. I haven't had a chance to add any of mine yet.
Model S Beta Ride Event and Factory Tour. - a set on Flickr
I was asked to make a Flickr group for photos of the event.
That's here: Flickr: Tesla Model S ride and Factory
People who use Flickr can add pics to that if they wish. I haven't had a chance to add any of mine yet.
Thank you, Doug, I was beginning to fret that there would be no good photos...going through them now.
Did you get a look at what's under the "driving" section of the car controls on the touch screen UI?
The only access to the touch screen we had were the pictures of the video screen demoing it. In fact, the screen in the ride was frozen up so we couldn't see that in action, either.
There were a lot of engineers there to talk to -- including those working on the design of the touch screen. The design is still very much in flux, but you can obviously see what they're currently thinking. I'm still recovering from walking around for 10 hours yesterday but I MAY go back this evening. Any particular questions (they won't be able to demo anything)?
There are controls on the steering wheel (helps make up for the lack of physical buttons on the touch screen) and there's some thought going into gestures.
Each window you seen in the touch screen is really a window. You can swap panes around (e.g. maps and music) to taste. I think I heard the web browser engine is webkit. And you can see the bottom climate control area is static. That panel is literally designed to run the entire car. "We have 17" of real-estate here and we're still discovering what we can do with it!" (paraphrase)
Videos of the speech and whatnot. Audio is terrible, but that's really what it sounded like in there 
I'll add these as they finish uploading to Youtube. Note that the 4th video, when it's ready, is of the Red Model S backing down the ramp ...
I'll add these as they finish uploading to Youtube. Note that the 4th video, when it's ready, is of the Red Model S backing down the ramp ...
Last edited by a moderator:
My photos
Here's my unedited collection of photos from last night. Sorry my son is in many of them!
Tesla S Event 2011-Oct
Here's my unedited collection of photos from last night. Sorry my son is in many of them!
Tesla S Event 2011-Oct
A couple of more useful ones:
I know others have already posted, but another ride in the S:
[video]http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1508724307_4tjK2vZ[/video]
Elon's arrival:
[video]http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1508938797_sBFKr9Z[/video]
Keep forgetting to mention a couple things I learned:
1) Because the inverter and motor are liquid-cooled, they can sustain long-term high-current abuse without getting near thermal limits. That means sporty mountain climbs with a fully-loaded car in extreme heat without power being cut back.
2) Two coolant loops (inverter + motor, battery) which can be joined so heat from inverter/motor can be used to heat battery and the like.
I also mentioned that it would be great to be able to pre-heat the battery when it's not connected to A/C because the loss of regen when it's really cold is irritating. They're clearly planning on letting you pre-heat the cabin (the iPhone app lets you control HVAC and you can see interior & exterior temps). He said the platform is built in such a way that this would be possible and he'd pass the idea along (this is someone who's been with Tesla since it was 30 employees -- obviously a senior guy with some clout -- so I didn't feel like my comments were going into the ether)
Related to loss of regen, he actually mentioned how ABS can kick in during regen and you feel like you're launching forward instead of slowing down. So they're aware of that issue for sure. No word on what's being done about it (outside of what he's been working on recently).
I did speak to an employee responsible for noise/vibration. She and I briefly spoke about how a car without a motor needs everything else that normally might make some noise to be silent.
Talked to a couple folks about the touch screen design and capabilities... I dug a little into the back-end of it ... so e.g. the radio UI is clearly Tesla, but it's a standard radio module it's controlling. APIs will be exposed to control components like those so e.g. developers can make better-than-Tesla apps for this stuff. He was nodding in full agreement. The entire platform is connected to cellular data and available to be manipulated via the iPhone app. In fact, the iPhone app was showing us a live map of where the two betas were. The touch screen system has google maps which can behave just like it would on your cellphone. It'll also have on-board maps for full GPS capabilities.
The systems are going through a LOT more testing than anything in the Roadster did. Extreme heat and cold (and what that does to all aspects of the car -- HVAC, LCD screens, drivetrain, door and handle operations, etc), water ingress, bumps, etc.
Crash-testing is going VERY well apparently. He couldn't answer exactly how well or when the five-star data would be released (not allowed to divulge) but we spoke about the CAD-to-real-world translation and he said that was working very well and very much to their advantage.
Excellent to meet folks from all the different engineering aspects. No other opportunity like this to be able to talk to the folks actually working on the car. I'll keep posting stuff as I remember it. My brain hurts from the amount of data I consumed!
1) Because the inverter and motor are liquid-cooled, they can sustain long-term high-current abuse without getting near thermal limits. That means sporty mountain climbs with a fully-loaded car in extreme heat without power being cut back.
2) Two coolant loops (inverter + motor, battery) which can be joined so heat from inverter/motor can be used to heat battery and the like.
I also mentioned that it would be great to be able to pre-heat the battery when it's not connected to A/C because the loss of regen when it's really cold is irritating. They're clearly planning on letting you pre-heat the cabin (the iPhone app lets you control HVAC and you can see interior & exterior temps). He said the platform is built in such a way that this would be possible and he'd pass the idea along (this is someone who's been with Tesla since it was 30 employees -- obviously a senior guy with some clout -- so I didn't feel like my comments were going into the ether)
Related to loss of regen, he actually mentioned how ABS can kick in during regen and you feel like you're launching forward instead of slowing down. So they're aware of that issue for sure. No word on what's being done about it (outside of what he's been working on recently).
I did speak to an employee responsible for noise/vibration. She and I briefly spoke about how a car without a motor needs everything else that normally might make some noise to be silent.
Talked to a couple folks about the touch screen design and capabilities... I dug a little into the back-end of it ... so e.g. the radio UI is clearly Tesla, but it's a standard radio module it's controlling. APIs will be exposed to control components like those so e.g. developers can make better-than-Tesla apps for this stuff. He was nodding in full agreement. The entire platform is connected to cellular data and available to be manipulated via the iPhone app. In fact, the iPhone app was showing us a live map of where the two betas were. The touch screen system has google maps which can behave just like it would on your cellphone. It'll also have on-board maps for full GPS capabilities.
The systems are going through a LOT more testing than anything in the Roadster did. Extreme heat and cold (and what that does to all aspects of the car -- HVAC, LCD screens, drivetrain, door and handle operations, etc), water ingress, bumps, etc.
Crash-testing is going VERY well apparently. He couldn't answer exactly how well or when the five-star data would be released (not allowed to divulge) but we spoke about the CAD-to-real-world translation and he said that was working very well and very much to their advantage.
Excellent to meet folks from all the different engineering aspects. No other opportunity like this to be able to talk to the folks actually working on the car. I'll keep posting stuff as I remember it. My brain hurts from the amount of data I consumed!
We've read the car adjusts height with speed or driver selection (this is probably optional). It also adjusts the suspension based on the weight distribution in the car (cargo and passengers).
We read the car turns on when you buckle in (with key in pocket) .. though someone else said it turns on when you sit in the seat. Either way, cool!
We read the car turns on when you buckle in (with key in pocket) .. though someone else said it turns on when you sit in the seat. Either way, cool!
Similar threads
- Article
