Range extender connector contemplations

[gtgarner]

Why wouldn't the range extender be self-contained like a Powerwall?

I'm not thinking that a Powerwall is liquid cooled or have sensors concerned about liquid flow like all Tesla vehicle battery packs are. The powerwall is designed for a house application.

I'm considering that a range extender on a vehicle would mimic its vehicle's battery pack and its technology.

 

[buckets0fun]

I'm not thinking that a Powerwall is liquid cooled or have sensors concerned about liquid flow like all Tesla vehicle battery packs are. The powerwall is designed for a house application.

I'm considering that a range extender on a vehicle would mimic its vehicle's battery pack and its technology.

Powerwall has all of this. The beautiful tesla ecosystem and hvac improvements going cross platform.

 

[gtgarner]

Powerwall has all of this. The beautiful tesla ecosystem and hvac improvements going cross platform.

Wow, I had no idea it was liquid cooled.

 

[buckets0fun]

Wow, I had no idea it was liquid cooled.

G48 funtimes.

 

[henderrj]

I'm considering that a range extender on a vehicle would mimic its vehicle's battery pack and its technology.

I wonder. I don't think it has to do that at all. In fact all it has to do is slowly give power to the main traction battery. Basically charge it the whole time you're driving along. That way it does not have to supply the full amount of power that is needed for acceleration, towing, whatever. It simply has to expand itself at about the same time that the traction battery gets to 0. Hopefully before that! But, then again, they may make it match on purpose.

In fact it doesn't even have to be the same chemistry as the main traction battery. Or even the same voltage, as they could step it up or down. In fact, they would have to put something between them so that you don't get a great arc in the event they are different voltages (pressure) when the connector makes contact.

I'm pretty sure what they're going to do is simply make it an on-board charging system that charges even when you're driving. It's sure going to be fun to find out for sure!

 

[vcor]

On the engineering side, the extender has quite a few complications. What is the pack voltage and how is it connected? If the extended pack is 800V, do you connect it in parallel? Will that even work with two different currents? Then you also need to split the extender into two 400v packs for charging. An alternative could be any voltage (278v for a random example) and it is boosted to ~800v via electronics to match the main pack voltage. This is costly but technically possible and makes charging easier. While some think no heating/cooling is needed, it is needed and has to be in the coolant loop. The extreme temperatures that are encountered in a vehicle require heating/cooling for longevity, no matter the battery chemistry. Now it could have a separate compressor and heat/cooling loop, but that seems way more complex and costly - but could be needed if the thermal load is beyond the existing loop.

So, IMHO, there is no way this is removable by the user. The HV is too risky to allow it, and the liquid connections have their own problems to ensure no bubbles get into the system. I also can't see users dealing with a 600 lb pack. What if a user drops it? It seems to me, strictly a one-time Tesla installation.

 

[henderrj]

On the engineering side, the extender has quite a few complications. What is the pack voltage and how is it connected? If the extended pack is 800V, do you connect it in parallel? Will that even work with two different currents? Then you also need to split the extender into two 400v packs for charging. An alternative could be any voltage (278v for a random example) and it is boosted to ~800v via electronics to match the main pack voltage. This is costly but technically possible and makes charging easier. While some think no heating/cooling is needed, it is needed and has to be in the coolant loop. The extreme temperatures that are encountered in a vehicle require heating/cooling for longevity, no matter the battery chemistry. Now it could have a separate compressor and heat/cooling loop, but that seems way more complex and costly - but could be needed if the thermal load is beyond the existing loop.

So, IMHO, there is no way this is removable by the user. The HV is too risky to allow it, and the liquid connections have their own problems to ensure no bubbles get into the system. I also can't see users dealing with a 600 lb pack. What if a user drops it? It seems to me, strictly a one-time Tesla installation.

I'm beginning to believe you are correct. Sad though. Setting up a system that could easily move it in and out and use it as a power wall certainly seems to make good sense, but then this is Tesla.

Hopefully they'll have an option to swap it out for the season at service center, sort of like studded tires. Tesla would have to store it until you wanted to use it again.

The really great idea would be a to allow the rental of a pack, as some of the others have stated. Once again, this is tesla, so I'm not holding my breath.

 

[DanDi58]

How ironic that Tesla thought about range extender realizing that CT doesn't have good range.

Well, in their defense, when they announced the 500-mile range back in 2019, they had not started producing the 4680 cells which were going to be so much better than the existing 2170's. That hasn't panned out yet, and may never pan out, so they obviously had to have something to increase range for heavy-duty usage. Frankly, in the absence of the 4680 cells being better than the 2170's, I prefer this solution instead of simply cramming more batteries into the pack to get closer to 500 mile range. I don't tow so I'd rather not hump around a larger battery pack when I don't really need 500 mile (or 470 mile) range. So I think it's a reasonable solution for the time being, until/if they get the 4680's where they want them.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Rivian already has a patent on Tesla's Cybertruck 'range extender'

Tesla delivered the first Cybertrucks yesterday, and with that delivery event came the revelation that in order to get the...

electrek.co

Interesting - it appears Rivian already has a patent on a removable bed range extender. Wonder if Tesla even knew about this?

 

[DanDi58]

Rivian already has a patent on Tesla's Cybertruck 'range extender'

Tesla delivered the first Cybertrucks yesterday, and with that delivery event came the revelation that in order to get the...

electrek.co

Interesting - it appears Rivian already has a patent on a removable bed range extender. Wonder if Tesla even knew about this?

I'm not convinced Tesla's is removable.