Poll: What is the 'something special' for Roadster owners from Tesla in 2014?

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

For my purposes, and I suspect a lot of other Roadster owners, a very good thing that could be done would be to encourage or sponsor the addition of 70 or 80 amp. charging stations at decent non-metro-city hotels and restaurants. This would also help Model S owners. Some sort of arrangement with a Hampton Inn, or Holiday Inn Express, or similar chain, in which the charging stations are ideally located in valet or bellhop controlled areas (to keep from being ICE'd), and are reserve-able in advance by any Tesla driver.

Absoluteky, but that would be a general benefit. Specific cool needs a specific benefit.

 

[bart513]

As one who recently purchased a new/refurbished battery:
1) There was no change in the cost of the battery
2) I was specifically told that they were not working on a new/better battery for the Roadster at this time :crying:

 

[pharma5]

Sent a tweet to BoredElonMusk to get his take on this. He might have some good ideas!

Ha - that's great!

I'm sure this is how it's playing out at Tesla:

Elon: hey JB, a couple of months ago I was bored on twitter and promised the Roadster owners something cool. Can you whip something up?

JB: <facepalm> Sure thing Elon, I'll get right on that..

<checks TMC forum to see if we've come up with anything easy and cheap>

ROFLMAO. If that were true, this poll may be helpful :wink:... as of this typing, the largest subset of the self-selected TMC members that answered, 27 of 71 (38%) are think it's some type of battery pack upgrade. This response has been surging the last few days to pull ahead of option 3 (bug fix, charging adapter, HPWC at superchargers).

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2) I was specifically told that they were not working on a new/better battery for the Roadster at this time :crying:

I remember that - still possible it's something else entirely for this year.

What else could it be? Maybe an offer for straight-up trade-in for Model S P85+?!? (Sounds expensive, but would be one way to reduce the number of Roadsters and legacy commitments on the road.... no development required, just another couple of weeks of production on the current flagship product...)

 

[adiggs]

...

What else could it be? Maybe an offer for straight-up trade-in for Model S P85+?!? (Sounds expensive, but would be one way to reduce the number of Roadsters and legacy commitments on the road.... no development required, just another couple of weeks of production on the current flagship product...)

I wonder how many Roadster owners would take up Tesla on a generous offer like that (trade in your Roadster for a Model S!)? It's taken me less than 10s of thinking about it to realize that Tesla could make me that offer today and I wouldn't take it. I got mine used, and have only had it for 10ish months. Maybe I'll feel differently in a few years, but today, it not even much of a thought.

From others comments in this thread, of the various ideas tossed about, I have also come to realize that some sort of 70A charging option for Roadsters at the SC stations - it wouldn't be AS exciting, but that WOULD qualify as cool, useful, and interesting to me. Like others, I wouldn't make much use of those chargers, but I would make some use of them, and that would create the desired effect - of expanding the effective range of where I'll go in the Roadster.

 

[TEG]

Perhaps when he said "do something cool", he meant that literally... My vote would be improved PEM and/or motor cooling...

“I can’t say what that is, but I can say that it will be pretty cool"

 

[ELMIV]

ROFLMAO. If that were true, this poll may be helpful :wink:... as of this typing, the largest subset of the self-selected TMC members that answered, 27 of 71 (38%) are think it's some type of battery pack upgrade. This response has been surging the last few days to pull ahead of option 3 (bug fix, charging adapter, HPWC at superchargers).

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I am on horse number 3.
Come on 3!

 

[Pantera Dude]

Perhaps when he said "do something cool", he meant that literally... My vote would be improved PEM and/or motor cooling...

What would the improved cooling accomplish? Additional laps on the race track? Longer life of the PEM and motor? Any performance increase?

 

[TEG]

What would the improved cooling accomplish? Additional laps on the race track? Longer life of the PEM and motor? Any performance increase?

I would think additional track laps at full performance and when driving really hard on hot days.

 

[djp]

I would think additional track laps at full performance and when driving really hard on hot days.

I was excited about the liquid cooled PEM and motor when the rumors first came out, but less so now after seeing that the Model S is actually more limited on the track than the Roadster, despite having liquid cooling. It's not easy to cool the rotor, and we'd probably need a significant HVAC upgrade in addition to the new plumbing.

Elon's tweet was in the context of recognizing early adopters for their support. I'm now thinking the "something cool" might be a factory party to thank the early owners, or small regional events. It might not be an upgrade for the cars at all.

 

[bonnie]

When Tesla decides to throw a party, a real party ... well, there's nothing like it. I was thinking it might also be something like a party with a large plaque with the names of the original owners who got them to where they are today. Be part of history. Something like that.

But I'd really like that upgraded battery, if anyone is reading this thread. And I'll even help pay for it. Just letting you know, whoever you might be.

 

[pharma5]

Elon's tweet was in the context of recognizing early adopters for their support. I'm now thinking the "something cool" might be a factory party to thank the early owners, or small regional events. It might not be an upgrade for the cars at all.

The TESLive statement was broader and more explicit, per first post on this thread - it's something cool for Roadster owners. See 14:07, in response to direct question on the topic:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n-xsEjq7pk.
(The wine was only starting to flow, and the resource caveats were: getting through Euro intro of Model S, rollout of Superchargers, and Model X design & eng).

By all means, though, throw a party for the earliest early adopters!:biggrin:

 

[smorgasbord]

Now's not the time to lock in the next-gen battery pack for Roadster. We should skip the Model S/X generation and go with the Model E batteries. Almost all of us can hold out that long I believe.

What is "something cool?" Well, it's not "awesome!" and it's not "meh." So, it won't be 0-60 in under 3 seconds (which would be awesome!) and it's not a Model S to Roadster charging adapter, nor Roadster HPC's at Supercharger sites (which would be "meh, why did it take them so long?").

As others have pointed out, if you're going to do something that you could sell to maybe 500-1000 owners at best and didn't want to lose a ton of money in the process, what would you do?

 

[pharma5]

We should skip the Model S/X generation and go with the Model E batteries. Almost all of us can hold out that long I believe.

Most early votes in the other poll agree with you - interested in a few years, or when something goes wrong, or prepaid pack replacement is "due" (2015ish?).

As others have pointed out, if you're going to do something that you could sell to maybe 500-1000 owners at best and didn't want to lose a ton of money in the process, what would you do?

Maybe it's not even a "sell"...more like a gift?

 

[Alan]

Perhaps after a few years of collecting data they feel confident they can push the limits of power / torque that can be delivered without damage? How about a software upgrade that takes the standard car to the sports level of performance and drops the 0 to 60 of the sports down to say 3.4 seconds.

If that was possible it would be cool and cost little to implement. If given free as a thank you it would qualify as awesome and generate some good PR

 

[pharma5]

Perhaps after a few years of collecting data they feel confident they can push the limits of power / torque that can be delivered without damage? How about a software upgrade that takes the standard car to the sports level of performance and drops the 0 to 60 of the sports down to say 3.4 seconds.

If that was possible it would be cool and cost little to implement. If given free as a thank you it would qualify as awesome and generate some good PR

Don't know if it can be done, but that's a pretty cool thought to get a better car by "flipping a switch". :smile:

What else might fit into that category?

 

[sethr]

Don't know if it can be done, but that's a pretty cool thought to get a better car by "flipping a switch". :smile:

What else might fit into that category?

Here's a possibility; add functions like the charging level control of the Model S to the Roadster's VDS. I'd be keeping my charging level at 50% or less, since I have yet to take a trip over 50 miles total.

 

[Fluke]

Here's a possibility; add functions like the charging level control of the Model S to the Roadster's VDS. I'd be keeping my charging level at 50% or less, since I have yet to take a trip over 50 miles total.

Although more limited than the options on the Model S, the roadster does have a storage mode that allows keeping the charge level at 50% already.

 

[djp]

Although more limited than the options on the Model S, the roadster does have a storage mode that allows keeping the charge level at 50% already.

Storage mode is 25%. I find it's not hard to keep the SOC between 35% - 50% by charging once a week. A slider would be nice though.

 

[Doug_G]

Storage mode is 25%. I find it's not hard to keep the SOC between 35% - 50% by charging once a week. A slider would be nice though.

That's one issue I have with the Roadster's storage mode. I'd rather it keep the car closer to 50%. I think that 20% is kinda low. I'd like to have more of a buffer against an extended power outage, etc.

 

[thefortunes]

That's one issue I have with the Roadster's storage mode. I'd rather it keep the car closer to 50%. I think that 20% is kinda low. I'd like to have more of a buffer against an extended power outage, etc.

I don't use it (I just do a standard charge every night since I drive 110-120 miles every day), but the latest version of the OVMS firmware allows you to automatically charge to any percentage if you enable ACC.