Roadster as a collector's item battery care?

[tander]

Hi all, I was just thinking about how fun it would be to get a roadster for the summer, which got me thinking about how they are probably great collector's items considering that they are the first few thousand cars of a company that will eventually make millions. But has anyone thought about long term battery care? Obviously it seems like you might want to replace them after a while, but if you didn't, would the batteries become hazardous in 20-30 years or maybe just dead, maybe a trickle charger? I know that the batteries have held up very well so far but I have no idea what to expect from them when you look a long way out, I'm sure eventually there will be some great battery replacements/upgrades but it seems like it would be cool to retain the original battery.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Three big ones: Don't store at high temperatures, high SOC, and don't let it brick (a distinct possibility if it's under storage for a long time).

No one knows what will happen in 20-30 years, but "end of life" is usually 70-80% capacity. The degradation happens quite gradually until that point, but I think the assumption is that when you reach beyond that point, the battery have a rapid drop at some point (I have no evidence of this, as the battery testing I have seen all stop at the "end of life" mark).

Another thing to note is that the battery degrades even if you don't use it, so it actually makes more sense to drive it rather than only being in storage. The degradation from use (cycle life) and storage (calendar life) is not additive, so you can actually use the car for x amount of cycles during the year with no difference in degradation compared to storing it unused.

 

[strider]

Also the Roadster has a "Storage" mode that minimizes charging and keeps the battery at mid-SOC.

 

[WarpedOne]

would be cool to retain the original battery

It would be cool but little else
It is actually quite fortunate that tesla used/uses 18650 cells. Even if they turn their back on roadster owners, one can go and buy run-of-the-mill 18650 LiIon cells and rebuild their own pack.
There are already people toying with this idea.

 

[ibcs]

Hi all, I was just thinking about how fun it would be to get a roadster for the summer, which got me thinking about how they are probably great collector's items considering that they are the first few thousand cars of a company that will eventually make millions. But has anyone thought about long term battery care? Obviously it seems like you might want to replace them after a while, but if you didn't, would the batteries become hazardous in 20-30 years or maybe just dead, maybe a trickle charger? I know that the batteries have held up very well so far but I have no idea what to expect from them when you look a long way out, I'm sure eventually there will be some great battery replacements/upgrades but it seems like it would be cool to retain the original battery.

If you buy a roadster you will drive it. Thought I'd store mine for the winter, but instead got Pirelli snow tires and drive it all the time. Snow doesn't slow down a roadster unless it's too deep. You will love it.

 

[thefortunes]

If you buy a roadster you will drive it. Thought I'd store mine for the winter, but instead got Pirelli snow tires and drive it all the time. Snow doesn't slow down a roadster unless it's too deep. You will love it.

+1. Drove my normal 110 mile round-trip commute yesterday in 4"-5" of new snow (some unplowed streets included). Not a problem.

Ice chunks from semi trucks, on the other hand, are definitely to be avoided.

 

[tander]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, and yes, I was definitely planning on driving it, but also figured that eventually the battery would degrade enough that it will need replacement or retirement.

 

[djp]

We're not going to know how the Roadster batteries hold up after 20 years until the early Roadsters are over 20 years old. The long term battery studies look promising though, especially if SOC is kept under 75%.

Why do Li-ion Batteries die? And how to improve the situation?

 

[ViperDoc]

Snowy driving

+1. Drove my normal 110 mile round-trip commute yesterday in 4"-5" of new snow (some unplowed streets included). Not a problem.

Ice chunks from semi trucks, on the other hand, are definitely to be avoided.

Glad to hear I am not the only one insisting that my Roadster is an all-season car in a snowy state (VT in my case). Everyone things I am crazy driving in the bad weather, but at least I don't have to work about the body rusting from the salt!

DJ

 

[tander]

One other thought/question I had regarding the collecting idea, is the Roadster battery a drop in/out (or rather screw on/off) sort of thing like the Model S or is it more complicated than that?

 

[Doug_G]

Also the Roadster has a "Storage" mode that minimizes charging and keeps the battery at mid-SOC.

Actually, more like 15% SOC. I'd prefer if it were 50% just in case of an extended power outage.

 

[strider]

One other thought/question I had regarding the collecting idea, is the Roadster battery a drop in/out (or rather screw on/off) sort of thing like the Model S or is it more complicated than that?

It is incredibly involved to R&R the Roadster battery. Lots of manual labor to get it in and out.

 

[dhrivnak]

It is incredibly involved to R&R the Roadster battery. Lots of manual labor to get it in and out.

Depends on your definition of "involved". The challenge is the battery weighs 975 lbs. so you really need a lift to get it out of the Roadster and forklift to move it. But the labor is not that much to drop it is more that very few shops can handle a 975 lb battery that needs to be dropped through the bottom of the car.