Roadster 3.0

[DaveD]

It would be great to have people weigh their Roadsters before and after their 3.0 Upgrade, in order to determine exactly what Tesla means by the "There is a slight increase in the battery weight" statement on the Battery Upgrade page.

I've located a couple of Public Scales near me that I'm going to visit soon to make sure they can handle a small vehicle like the Roadster (they're designed for and used by truckers to make sure their rig's weight is legal).

 

[ibcs]

It would be great to have people weigh their Roadsters before and after their 3.0 Upgrade, in order to determine exactly what Tesla means by the "There is a slight increase in the battery weight" statement on the Battery Upgrade page.

I've located a couple of Public Scales near me that I'm going to visit soon to make sure they can handle a small vehicle like the Roadster (they're designed for and used by truckers to make sure their rig's weight is legal).

Great idea out of curiosity if nothing else.

 

[supersnoop]

frankly the Roadster was originally obscenely over priced.

Original estimates put the sticker price as roughly half the cost to produce the car. I have a hard time calling that "over priced."

 

[tvuolo]

It would be great to have people weigh their Roadsters before and after their 3.0 Upgrade, in order to determine exactly what Tesla means by the "There is a slight increase in the battery weight" statement on the Battery Upgrade page.

Wouldn't Tesla have to update the specification sticker in the door jamb if the weight changed? Or is that only if they re-certify it?

 

[wiztecy]

Original estimates put the sticker price as roughly half the cost to produce the car. I have a hard time calling that "over priced."

I worked with a guy who purchased all the parts for the Roadster and had an idea of what it cost to build one ( I believe including development cost, but didn't inquire)... basically how much did it cost all together to build the car. He said something around $250-300k per car.

 

[TEG]

Landfills typically have scales to weigh incoming loads. If there is no line, you could ask the attendee if you could drive on a scale there and get the vehicle weighed.
(Hopefully before and after the upgrade, and with the same things in the car... Like without driver to avoid variations in driver's weight.)

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

The landfill near my Roadster only has a scale with 20-pound resolution. So, if the new battery is less than 19 pounds extra then it wouldn't even register. They charge in 20-pound increments, so they don't report anything more accurate than that. I never asked whether they have a reading that's more accurate than the printed receipt showing incoming and outgoing weights.

 

[bolosky]

Landfills typically have scales to weigh incoming loads. If there is no line, you could ask the attendee if you could drive on a scale there and get the vehicle weighed.
(Hopefully before and after the upgrade, and with the same things in the car... Like without driver to avoid variations in driver's weight.)

A number of years ago I was doing an experiment to measure how efficient the regenerative braking is, and it required knowing the mass. I did just what TEG suggested and took the car to a county garbage transfer station where they bill by the difference in weight before and after. They let me get weighed and drive out without paying. (Dave: there's one in Eastgate near the intersection of 405 & 90.)

 

[hcsharp]

Places that sell ag products in bulk like grain, fertilizer, lime, etc have scales. The local grain store used to let me weigh vehicles for free.

 

[Stefan T]

Other tips about scale that metal recycling compnys have them too

 

[DaveD]

Thanks for all the suggestions on places to get my Roadster weighed! I'll report back on the before/after values.

@tvuolo: I don't know the rules about changing the vehicle from its specification sticker values, but since Tesla specifically called out a battery weight increase, it suggests to me that the weight change isn't miniscule. I'm mostly just curious, and not expecting the vehicle's handling to be affected in any significant way.

 

[dpeilow]

So it's not just the weight difference between cells multiplied by 6831?

 

[wiztecy]

@tvuolo: I'm mostly just curious, and not expecting the vehicle's handling to be affected in any significant way.

Every pound matters and degrades your braking, handling, and of course acceleration performance. I'm getting my Roadster aligned again this morning (bumps in the road knocked it off its numbers, love lifetime alignments) and I'm going to 'ballast' the Roadster driver's seat this time. The shop didn't have weights so I had to bring them home from work.... When you drive a car you know in and out by feel and is driven majority by yourself, then add weight in the car, you DO know and feel the difference and it significantly affects handling and braking and acceleration. I tossed in 170lbs in the car yesterday and the car totally handled differently (you feel the extra weight moving around, inertia, mass, etc) and you can feel the brakes working harder. If I don't ballast the car with my weight while on the alignment rack, the passenger rear tire goes more negative in camber compared to the driver's and the front gets wacked too. Meaning, weight changes the way the car's wheels sit on the ground.

If I put down $29k for a battery, I sure as heck would want to know the weight difference between the old an new pack so I could make any adjustments needed with the suspension/alignment.

With weight in mind, if you're an aggressive/performance type of driver in the Roadster and drive the car as a sole commuter make sure you keep an extra safety cushion in front of you between cars when driving and be aware that when someone is in the car, more weight, its not the same car anymore. Many people don't get this nor understand the integral fundamentals of how the suspension / braking components work and changed by every pound of weight.

 

[ggr]

I did a full range mode charge overnight, preparatory to driving up to the OC Brunch at Bru this morning. 341 miles (without top off). I think we've (mostly my wife) have put about 300 miles total on the odometer since the upgrade, only doing standard charges starting at 1am until last night.

 

[AEdennis]

I did a full range mode charge overnight, preparatory to driving up to the OC Brunch at Bru this morning. 341 miles (without top off). I think we've (mostly my wife) have put about 300 miles total on the odometer since the upgrade, only doing standard charges starting at 1am until last night.

Cool. See you at Bru.

 

[gregd]

I did a full range mode charge overnight, preparatory to driving up to the OC Brunch at Bru this morning. 341 miles (without top off). I think we've (mostly my wife) have put about 300 miles total on the odometer since the upgrade, only doing standard charges starting at 1am until last night.

Just curious, but how are you planning to get back?

 

[ecarfan]

@ggr appears to be driving from the San Diego area to central Orange County. With his new 3.0 battery that is a very easy round trip.

 

[AEdennis]

He only used about 100 miles to the meetup

Ours is on left and @ggr is on right.

IMG_20160424_091353 by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

We're missing one more green Roadster!

Here's the VDI while parked.

IMG_20160424_091834 by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

Great to see you again @ggr

 

[gregd]

He only used about 100 miles to the meetup

Ours is on left and @ggr is on right.

IMG_20160424_091353 by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

We're missing one more green Roadster!

Here's the VDI while parked.

IMG_20160424_091834 by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

Great to see you again @ggr

Oh, excellent! I read his post as 341 was the distance to the meet-up. He's got more range after driving 100mi than the rest of us I do on a full charge.

 

[AEdennis]

Oh, excellent! I read his post as 341 was the distance to the meet-up. He's got more range after driving 100mi than the rest of us I do on a full charge.

Yup. Left home with 104 and got home with 40 for our drive down. I get 224 range charge last time I did that (a while ago)