Tesla's chief engineer says Model S work is "on track," important Alpha tests going on now - AutoblogGreen.com
... What is Alpha testing anyway? Rawlinson said that it's a stage in the vehicle's development where things are about 80 percent finished. This doesn't mean that everything in the car is 80 percent of what it'll be in the end. Instead, some aspects might be totally locked down now, some might half-way there. The Model S' suspension, for example, is nearly production intent, as are elements of the subframe. The Alpha phase also includes a range of tests, things like brake and winter testing. "It's very important we have this window of opportunity, this winter, to get cold weather brake testing [for the Model S]," Rawlinson said. This includes making sure the antilock, stability control and electronics systems work together correctly. The first Alpha build prototype ran in December 2010 and is being used for the winter testing. "We are currently in full swing producing our Alpha prototype fleet," Rawlinson said. He declined to give a number about how big the fleet will eventually be, but we did find out that there are about a half dozen Alpha builds in existence right now. The other vehicles will be used to improve ride and handling development, powertrain integration, and some will be crash-tested in-house. "This is not for homologation purposes. It's for our own learning and also to provide data for our airbag development program," he said. "That's a huge activity, getting crash pulse information for airbags, to determine when an airbag fires." After that comes the Beta fleet, and then there will be vehicles made on the production line that will be crash tested for homologation purposes.
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