Pardon my ignorance, but who is Carl Medlock, does his opinion carry any weight, and is there any validity to the assertion that post-500 PEMs are of lower quality?
Carl was one of the original service technicians in the early days of Tesla, who likely performed repairs on many, many Roadsters - even before starting his own shop in Seattle after support dwindled. That video above lead me to send my 2.5 Sport to him, which returned in better condition than I could've expected. It's safe to say his work speaks for itself, and I am now a believer.
There are many references to the specifics of the differences between 1.5 PEMs and 2.X PEMs here on the forum by those smarter than I, but to outline a few -
The 1.5 PEM featured military grade quick connections and most importantly, an internal PEM fan - which keeps temperatures lower during charging and coincidentally sucks up less debris & dirt from the road, leading to a longer PEM life. When the 2.X went into production, many cost-saving measures were taken, which reduced reliability. The PEM fan especially, which was relocated down lower to the road, improved cooling during performance drives, but reduced reliability in charging and stop & go traffic, due to the car needing to be in motion to generate more airflow for the fans.
According to the only Roadster-certified tech in my area, he's seen
four times as many PEM / PEM fan replacements on 2.X Roadsters in his lifetime than 1.5's, which is a staggering amount.
