Tesla Roadster Sport Model

[Palpatine]

Nice. Thanks for posting that. I'm still unsure if I did the right thing by getting the leather, but passing up the CF adds. As I thought, I love the doorsills, and the rest looks nice although I'm not thinking "must have".

That is what I am thinking. The carbon fiber interior door sills would be great. The rest might make it too busy or it could look good. Don't know yet.

We can always add the CF door sills via that aftermarket company that did the pimping for Dr. Ian Taras on #254. It is only a few hundred $$$ just for those pieces.

 

[Tdave]

That is what I am thinking. The carbon fiber interior door sills would be great. The rest might make it too busy or it could look good. Don't know yet.

Did you look at the photo link I posted?

 

[Palpatine]

Did you look at the photo link I posted?

If you mean this one, then yes.
http://www.teslamotors.com/display_data.php?data_name=carbon_fiber_interior

I think the diagonal lines in the middle of the car will be sort of distracting from the pure classic Sports car look. I am fine with that carbon fiber on the door sills, but seeing it sporadically around the interior just doesn't work for me.

I might feel differently when I see it in person. But for now, I am going to stay conservative with the Executive Leather option. I might do just the door sills aftermarket when I get more info.

It is just a matter of personal preferences. I am sure it will look really good with the factory installed carbon fiber interior. I just don't want to risk it and then end up hating it later. I know I will like the Executive Leather design. This is too much money for me to risk hating it when it arrives.

 

[vfx]

Roadster Sport.

Has anyone seen one?

I heard there was one in Hawthorne.

 

[Tdave]

I don't believe they exist yet, at least not an owner car. First one is due in June. Is there a VP car perhaps?

 

[Palpatine]

Roadster Sport.

Has anyone seen one?

I heard there was one in Hawthorne.

There is a VP that has all of the Sport upgrades. But it is not yet available for test drives. It is for the engineers to do testing.

The glacier blue VP that has been available for test drives in Menlo Park has the suspension upgrades. Zak has been driving it a lot lately.

I was actually informed via email today that my Roadster Sport starts production on June 8th. Mine is one of the first customer Roadster Sports.

So I called Tesla today to get details.
Regular 2010 Roadster production starts on June 1st. However the Executive Leather and interior carbon fiber options don't become available on the production line until June 8th. So my Roadster doesn't start until June 8th.

There are three cheapo Roadster Sports, with none of the new options, that will be produced before mine.
But they are really cheap and ugly looking (compared to mine). :biggrin:

 

[TEG]

Someone recently uploaded more photos of the orange with black sport wheels:

 

[Palpatine]

Are those aftermarket changed to be black Tesla wheels? Or is that really the black wheels produced by Tesla?

The entire set looks good for the Orange Tesla. Great colors. The black wheels really work well with that color.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahmed79/sets/72157618315264826/

 

[TEG]

It does have the sport tires on those wheels.

It has dealer plates, so I am guessing it is a prototype for the sport wheel/tire package.

 

[TEG]

Orange was never my color, but I have to agree that the "Halloween" look works well on the Roadster.

 

[Lancelac]

Orange was never my color either, but that is the spec for my Sport, same interior although it'll have the Exec leather also, so a bit more orange stitching and accents.

 

[doug]

Are those aftermarket changed to be black Tesla wheels? Or is that really the black wheels produced by Tesla?

The entire set looks good for the Orange Tesla. Great colors. The black wheels really work well with that color.

Tesla Roadster - a set on Flickr

This is just VP28 again. When I saw it in LA in only had the sport wheels, nothing else. Again, those wheels came silver and were painted, but the black Tesla wheels are expected to look similar.

 

[Alpine Driver]

I am not sure, but does it look as these black wheels were bidirektional? (dont know if correct word / how to explain). It was mentioned some time that for the "original silver Tesla Roadster wheels" four different sets of wheels are necessary, as the "look in a direction" and this makes them very expensive. If the black premium wheels are now bidriektional, they at least should save some money in production.

 

[f0x]

Images of Tesla Roadster Sport

Here are som photos of a Roadster Sport from London, when Tesla opened the London Tesla Store. Elon was there.
More images at, Bilar

 

[Palpatine]

Moderator's note: Moved from here.


I heard more about the 2010 new upgrades with the software and quick performance mode access.

In the 2008 model year you had to pull the hand brake to access the setting screens and get into performance mode. That is no longer required. You can access performance mode quickly, for example while at a red light, by merely turning the key into another position.

I also was told that the Roadster Sport while in standard mode is equivalent in performance to a standard Roadster in performance mode. Getting a Roadster Sport into it's performance mode is another level beyond that.

Should be interesting to finally get this on the road.

 

[Tdave]

I also was told that the Roadster Sport while in standard mode is equivalent in performance to a standard Roadster in performance mode. Getting a Roadster Sport into it's performance mode is another level beyond that.

This doesn't make sense to me. There are hardware differences between the two models. It's not just a firmware or parameter change.

Plus, I don't want to have to engage performance mode to get the 15% better torque/power. Surely that can't be right.

 

[TEG]

I also was told that the Roadster Sport while in standard mode is equivalent in performance to a standard Roadster in performance mode.

This doesn't make sense to me. There are hardware differences between the two models. It's not just a firmware or parameter change.

My guess: it just so happens that Roadster sport in Standard mode happens to be ~about~ similar performance to non-Sport in Performance mode. That doesn't suggest any duplicate hardware... Just the way it worked out. I am also guessing that you could pre-charge and configure the Sport in performance mode right from the start of your drive, so you wouldn't have to switch modes if you were determined to get full performance for a particular drive.

Again, just guesses, but James' comment made logical sense to me and didn't seem to suggest any confusion over hardware differences.

 

[ra-san]

Read what James wrote again. Sport is better performance in standard mode. It's standard mode is similar to current roadster's (or 2010 non sport?) *performance* mode. The sport's performance mode is even better.

Makes sense that there are still standard and performance modes on the sport, since you still have the same issues to contend with re: heat and battery life, just that the level each mode provides is faster.

[edit: TEG is faster than me. Either he's the sport model, or maybe I'm in range mode ]

 

[Tdave]

Read what James wrote again. Sport is better performance in standard mode. It's standard mode is similar to current roadster's (or 2010 non sport?) *performance* mode. The sport's performance mode is even better.

I still don't get it. My understanding is that Performance Mode doesn't release more power from the battery to the motor. It's always max. The difference is in other areas, but not the power that's allowed to flow. And since the Sport model has 15% more max power and torque, then regardless of the setting Standard vs Performance, the Sport model will always provide more power/torque when you floor the accelerator as compared with the non-Sport model.

If I'm wrong, then my understanding is incorrect, and I'd like to be corrected with the real facts. Anyone know for sure?

 

[TEG]

I still don't get it. My understanding is that Performance Mode doesn't release more power from the battery to the motor. It's always max.

My assumption was that Standard mode did limit the max power output sometimes. In particular it is supposed to be friendlier to the batteries, so I would assume that it doesn't try to draw as much current. Hopefully someone with more factual knowledge can straighten this out.

I suspect the real powertrain engineers might say "it isn't so simple". There are probably complicated things going on with the power electronics that differentiate Standard mode from Performance mode, but at some level it makes sense to me that a Sport model in Standard mode could end up with similar performance to a non-Sport model in Performance mode.

To really oversimplify things, imagine that the non-sport in performance mode makes 250hp max, and the sport in performance mode made 275hp max... If you put the sport in standard mode perhaps it makes only 250hp max? (Just throwing out some rough numbers for the sake of discussion).
Really to do a thorough comparison one would probably want to see full power and torque curves for both models in both modes. It doesn't appear that such info is available. Got your own dyno and examples of both models?