Tesla adds Titanium Underbody Shield to Model S

[PaulusdB]

That ship has sailed. We're all Guinea pigs, here.

 

[Canuck]

That ship has sailed. We're all Guinea pigs, here.

True, but when they herd us, you're first... I'll be lagging behind... ;0)

 

[stephenpace]

That ship has sailed. We're all Guinea pigs, here.

Ha, yes, me especially. My car probably isn't the best for them to learn on since there are so many different parts on a Sig already.

 

[Chris Naps]

Mod's please take note that there is another thread similar, if not equal to this thread.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...Titanium-Underbody-Shield?p=616653#post616653

 

[Al Sherman]

Elon's the man. It's as if he's standing at the plate with a bat, and pitchers are throwing 100 mph fastballs at him from everywhere. He just calmly knocks them out of the park. Very impressive.

 

[NoMoGas]

I'm sure this is a result of the NHTSA investigation and is the remedy they were forced to implement. This isn't cheap. Its the most expensive solution I could have imagined short of changing the battery chemistry.

So your theory is NHTSA investigated, concluded their investigation in record time, found fault with the design, leaked the results to Tesla who then engineered, designed and manufactured these 3 separate items, tested them on 152 vehicles over time so they could beat the NHTSA investigation report that FOUND NO DEFECT TREND and CLOSED the investigation?

ORRRRRR... Tesla began designing this the moment the 1st and certainly the 2nd fire happened because a) They actually do care about safety, b) They care about public perception, and c) They care about the company's sustainability.

This is right in line with what Tesla does. Exceptional design with almost an OCD level of commitment to build the safest car ever.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Titanium is cathodic to aluminum. Hopefully they will provide insulation between this new plate and the aluminum armor or we will certainly see corrosion of the aluminum.

Yeah, I hope they figured in preventing possible galvanic corrosion into the design with dissimilar metals.

Does anyone know exactly how the new plate is attached to the vehicle? I assume there would be a spacer of some kind, but it would be nice to know the specifics.

 

[Canuck]

I wonder if this new plate will affect the battery swap?

 

[EarlyAdopter]

View attachment 45990
This is my car I just picked up 2 days ago. I don't know, but I don't see anything. Maybe the black panel under the front part of the car is new?

That silver-gray metal piece just in front of the battery looks new. That black panel is a plastic aerodynamic shield that has always been there.

 

[Kipernicus]

Maybe the titanium shield is hidden behind the black plastic?

 

[hockeythug]

That silver-gray metal piece just in front of the battery looks new. That black panel is a plastic aerodynamic shield that has always been there.

I'm guessing that is this:

For the rare piece of debris that remains intact, we added a third shield, which is a shallow angle, solid aluminum extrusion that further absorbs impact energy, provides another layer of deflection and finally causes the Model S to ramp up and over the object if it is essentially incompressible and immovable.

The other two shields must be under the plastic aeroshield.

 

[JRP3]

That silver-gray metal piece just in front of the battery looks new.

There was some sort of bar there previously:

 

[scaesare]

Simply quoting what is in the original Twitter feed in the first post.

"...they would still have been safely protected by the steel and ceramic firewall between the battery pack and the passenger compartment."

Ah, had missed that in the quote, and hadn't known that about the car. Very cool.

Thanks.

 

[ecarfan]

Here is a photo of the leading edge of the battery of the S85 my mother just took delivery on this week (taken from just behind the passenger side front wheel) showing what I believe is the new "Aluminum Deflector Plate" that Elon discussed in his blog post:

And here is a photo of approximately the same area on my Dec. 2013 delivered S85. Obviously there is no deflector plate:

What I am not yet clear on is where the new "Titanium Underbody Shield" is located. Is it forward of the new deflector plate, or built into the bottom of the battery case? (Though the bottom of the battery case looks the same in both photos)

 

[jerry33]

> corrosion rapidly forms on the aluminum [Mobster]

So once this corrosion has set up shop, providing a significant electrical resistance, we can then apply opposing voltage (from a small power supply) to counter this current flow. A comparator IC could maintain a ~zero voltage differential at all times between the Ti plate and the aluminum frame of the MS. QED, no?

Or, using marine practice, a sacrificial metal could be attached. Al might be too far down the scale to find a sac metal, tho.
--

Or, the reason it reduces the range so little is that the electric current between the dissimilar metals charges the battery

 

[GeekGirls]

Many thanks to those who posted photos of the shielding. I was concerned about losing clearance height, which would be a huge problem since I can barely make it over our driveway lip as it is. From the looks of things it's a complete non-issue. It looks like a smart, elegant retrofit. I guess I should have expected no less from Tesla.

 

[Kraken]

Here is a photo of the leading edge of the battery of the S85 my mother just took delivery on this week (taken from just behind the passenger side front wheel) showing what I believe is the new "Aluminum Deflector Plate" that Elon discussed in his blog post:

View attachment 46002

And here is a photo of approximately the same area on my Dec. 2013 delivered S85. Obviously there is no deflector plate:

View attachment 46003

What I am not yet clear on is where the new "Titanium Underbody Shield" is located. Is it forward of the new deflector plate, or built into the bottom of the battery case? (Though the bottom of the battery case looks the same in both photos)

You have the perfect opportunity to find out the weight difference between the two cars. Would you mind taking them to a scale (not that I advertise taking a model s to a landfill, but most landfills have a scale)?

i recommend taking everything out of the car and having similar charges. Are there any spec differences that might come into play (child seats, pano roof, suspension, dual charger)?

alternatively, I'll volunteer to do the same with anyone who has a child seat less p85+ with dual chargers, pano roof, and air suspension who just picked their car up this month and lives in the bay area or sacramento.

 

[ecarfan]

The two cars I posted photos of are 417 miles apart.

 

[JRP3]

What I am not yet clear on is where the new "Titanium Underbody Shield" is located. Is it forward of the new deflector plate, or built into the bottom of the battery case? (Though the bottom of the battery case looks the same in both photos)

I'd guess it either replaces what used to be the black plastic panel in front of the new cross bar or it's just above it.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

The videos that Elon posted are pretty impressive. The tow hitch piece, concrete block, and alternator are crushed into pieces before they even get close to the battery pack.

This does inspire a lot of confidence