Roadster History Europe/APAC

[eHorses]

Hello Fellow roadster Enthusiasts from EU/APAC!

Does anyone have an accurate and detailed list of differences in specification between NA(North America) roadsters vs. EU/APAC roadster? Bumper height, front and side Lighting, security system, tire TPMS, etc.....

Other TMC members and I are asking to see if EU/APAC ROADSTERS can be brought into US compliance for import prior to 25yrs rule.
Many thanks, -T

 

[TEG]

Most obvious external things are the side repeater lights (on the front fenders) not required or installed on North American roadsters, and some tail light differences, mainly extra reflectors on the rear diffuser and some kind of extra rear fog light on German roadsters. I think the security systems & auto locking may differ by some counties. Also, the audio system / radio / NAV may be different by region. Daytime running lights?

 

[eHorses]

Most obvious external things are the side repeater lights (on the front fenders) not required or installed on North American roadsters, and some tail light differences, mainly extra reflectors on the rear diffuser and some kind of extra rear fog light on German roadsters. I think the security systems & auto locking may differ by some counties. Also, the audio system / radio / NAV may be different by region. Daytime running lights?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Do you know of any safety issues like airbags or tire tpms that US DOT will have issues with?

 

[KJA2001]

To the best of my knowledge (research regarding importing a Roadster to UK) there are no differences between cars for different markets that would impede the import of a non US Roadster to the USA apart from speedometer. EU / rest of the world cars had some extras such as side indicator repeaters and fog lights but I have not found anything roadworthy wise that was US specific. Airbags are the same (it was partly airbags no longer being US compliant that prevented a longer run of Roadsters). Stereo /sat nav systems are not hard to change.

 

[einhalv]

Does anyone have an accurate and detailed list of differences in specification between NA(North America) roadsters vs. EU/APAC roadster? Bumper height, front and side Lighting, security system, tire TPMS, etc.....

I think TPMS became mandatory in most of Europe only from late 2014. Hence you will find roadsters without this feature over here. Mine is an example.

 

[KJA2001]

Ah yes, TPMS might be the only issue.

 

[TEG]

Another way to put it... All of the major components, drivetrain, chassis, etc, are identical. It is just little "accessory" items that can differ.

The mobile connectors and other charging cables can be different between regions.

 

[eHorses]

Minor issues in our eyes but I would think Airbags non-compliance would be a show stopper with the US DOT.
TPMS may be retrofitted with Tesla’s help but I would assume they would not have the time or interest to do the work.
I would love to hear other inputs?

 

[einhalv]

I would expect a fraction of European cars to have TPMS, but I don't know how large fraction.

 

[TEG]

Back in the day there was some fuss when DOT was set to deny Tesla's ability to sell Roadsters based on old style air bags coming form Lotus. I think Tesla may have been able to piggyback on some Lotus exemption to sell them (as a low volume specialty manufacturer) even though the air bags weren't up to current standards. I am not sure if that would be a factor when trying to import a non US spec car to here now.

Tesla Motors, Inc.; Grant of Application for a Temporary Exemption From Advanced Air Bag Requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208

This notice grants the Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) application for a temporary exemption from certain advanced air bag requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection. The exemption applies to the Tesla Roadster vehicle. In accordance with 49 CFR...

www.federalregister.gov

Feds Exempt Tesla Roadster From Airbag Requirement

Tesla Motors won a three-year exemption to a federal airbag requirement after regulators decided that forcing the company to comply could put it out of business. Although the Tesla Roadster will have driver and passenger airbags, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the...

www.wired.com

...Although the Tesla Roadster will have driver and passenger airbags, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the company need not comply with a 2006 rule requiring that passenger airbags vary their deployment speed according to the size of the passenger...

Does the airbag waiver mean the Tesla Roadster isn't safe for kids? - Autoblog

Recently, we told you that Tesla got a waiver for advanced air bags for the Roadster. The Roadster "will be manufactured under Tesla's supervision and direction at a factory owned by Lotus" according to a file with regulations.gov. Lotus (which does not sponsor Tesla and Tesla is not a s

www.autoblog.com

..."Tesla stated that it is unlikely that young children would be passengers in the Roadster, so an exemption from the advanced air bag requirements that are designed to protect children will not create a significant safety issue...

 

[DanielFriederich]

Another difference is the head lights, especially the Xenons. US are much stronger / brighter compared to EU due to regulations for Xenons without automatic cleaning system...
Especially for the "northern" 2.x a so called "snow dam" was added by Tesla to reduce the amount of debris in the air cooling system.

 

[TEG]

Xenons were optional upgrade on later Roadsters, so, many do not have them.
To me the 2 biggest shortcomings with Roadster were weak headlights and weak brakes.
( The brakes have a challenge with so much torque to go quick and so much weight from the battery pack.)
Xenon upgrade was a big improvement. I wish more buyers had chosen them.
Too bad Tesla never upgraded the brakes during Roadster production, but there are various aftermarket kits to improve them now.

 

[d-kai]

Weak headlights and brakes remembered me to my Nissan Z 32, exactly the same 20 years earlier. But changing only the brake pads on the roadster improves performance a lot!
Side reflectors have the same housing, which is no problem to replace them. The wiring and connectors are present in the same way.
There may be another difference to US roadsters: Brake lights do not work when recuperating - I think they do so in US?

 

[m0rph]

1. SFZRE2B14B3000821
2. 2.5
3. Belgium (although sold by Tesla France)
4. Arctic White / Black interior / Matt black carbon hardtop
5. Bruges, Belgium
6. m0rph
7. ESS 2.0 (3.0 on order)
8. alive

Picture from last month, with original wheels. I also have the black wheels for summer.

 

[warden_clyffe]

folks, i need help with EU Roadster # 253, wich is with us since a few days.

it's a base 2.0 roadster, silver with grey intereur, very base, no subwoofer, no tweeter in doors, no logo on seats, base rims.

infos i have are:

- first delivered in Switzerland
- last time sold lately in Italy

it disappeared from the Tesla- radar in 2013 (means long before the network got switched off).

it got a new windscreen & frame (no VIN in bottom), some damage to floor panels underneath and obviously survived a major crash and got fixed and resprayed in original colour, but not from Tesla (or certified body-shop).

who knows this car ? i would like to know it's story and am thankfull for any hint, please pn !

 

[warden_clyffe]

Hello Fellow roadster Enthusiasts from EU/APAC!

Does anyone have an accurate and detailed list of differences in specification between NA(North America) roadsters vs. EU/APAC roadster? Bumper height, front and side Lighting, security system, tire TPMS, etc.....

Other TMC members and I are asking to see if EU/APAC ROADSTERS can be brought into US compliance for import prior to 25yrs rule.
Many thanks, -T

some of this is redundant to previous answers, but here's what i can say:

1. all EU models have extra side-repeaters in the front mudguards
2. all EU models do have orange reflectors instead of the red marking lights on the wheel-arch
(there's a few vehicles with VIN below 110 wich had no reflectors on the front fender but longer front rubberflaps, that design was made
to have the 195- tyres in the front - those cars all came with Yokohama A-048 semis - at some stage they changed it and all later vehicles had
orange reflectors)
3. there were no official 1.5 Roadsters with a EU/APAC VIN, means starting with "SFZRE2B..."
4. all EU Roadsters have a sport- motor (don't know if this is the same with all US 2.0/2.5), PEM is same for sport or base, it's just the SW
5. TPMS, "brakelight-at-rekuperation"(EU-roadster don't feature that), side-markers, daily driving light etc. can all be set through Tesla- SW, for any
2.0/2.5, means just SW (almost all Scandinavian Roadsters had daily headlights switched on in SW).
6. EU and US versions have the same dimension, bumper-height etc., as much as i know there's no difference at all
7. there's a difference in sound-systems, even in EU regions. for Germany the 2.0 "premium" soundsystem was a Blaupunkt Rome singleDIN wit navi-
gation, Switzerland / Italy / France had Alpine. VIN up 291 were all 2.0 but all base featured Alpine, other regions JVC radio.
2.5 base singleDIN was Alpine (but there were only a few), doubleDIN were all Alpine with navigation, later VIN's have a newer model (also Alpine)
8. original Tesla Roadsters even in EU/APAC never ever featured foglights in the front, only in the back (lhd: left, rhd: right), only some few vehicles
converted by Brabus had those silly LED "daylights"
9. no EU-VIN Roadster has the old logo stitched on the seats but some came without any stitching/Tesla letters

maybe there's a difference in the speedo-faceplate - may somebody post a pic of a US- 2.0/2.5 speedo-terminal ?

@ DanielFriedrich: i think initially all Roadsters should feature what you call "snowdam" - at least i hope so...

with all those specs (if i remember more, i'll update...) don't forget, that they mixed up issues every now and then, as i know many 2.0 roadsters having forged rims turning all the same direction (anticlockwise) and only very few wich have all rims turning all to the front, as i spected that on almost all US-Roadsters). some 2.0 with VIN above 250 (non-signature) still do have threaded suspension even that they were not supposed to have that. some "Signature250" do have the wrong label on the door-entry (saying just "Roadster Sport"), some are missing the "Signature250" sticker in front of the back wheel-arch - but never mind, they were all hand-"made on earth by humans"...

 

[TEG]

I think no real difference in EU vs NA speedo/tacho. The only thing is some were made for default KMH and some for MPH even within Europe, depending on first country of delivery.

 

[TEG]

4. all EU Roadsters have a sport- motor (don't know if this is the same with all US 2.0/2.5), PEM is same for sport or base, it's just the SW

Is this totally confirmed?
Do all EU 2.x Roadsters have an "S" (not "B") hand written on the side of the motor?
Does anyone know which motors were "machine wound" vs "hand wound" ?
I assume non-Sport Roadsters don't (normally) come with the "Roadster Sport" PEM badge on the PEM, but you are saying the internals are the same regardless?

I have heard that the PEM will decide if to operate in "Sport Mode" based on the VIN# it receives from the VMS.

 

[Roadster]

...it's just the SW

Is this totally confirmed?

I have heard from two (former) Tesla Roadster tech's that this is in fact true. Guessing the whole hand-wound stator benefit may have been just a marketing tactic?

Paging the ultimate Roadster tech for verification... @CM_007.

 

[warden_clyffe]

Is this totally confirmed?
Do all EU 2.x Roadsters have an "S" (not "B") hand written on the side of the motor?
Does anyone know which motors were "machine wound" vs "hand wound" ?
I assume non-Sport Roadsters don't (normally) come with the "Roadster Sport" PEM badge on the PEM, but you are saying the internals are the same regardless?

I have heard that the PEM will decide if to operate in "Sport Mode" based on the VIN# it receives from the VDS.


well, ihave had more than a 100 EU Roadsters in our workshop and they all had a motor labelled „sport“, no xception.

the PEM doesn‘t receive the VIN from the VDS but from the VMS. it‘s the 8th. f.ex. on a VIN SFZRE2B1xxxx is for „base“, if there‘s a 2 or 3 the vehicle is a sports. PEM is allways 100% identical (besides sticker on the lid).