Technology for a BEV Whitestar - Page 3

Hunter · 04-16-2008, 08:04 PM

Yeah, I agree, 3 models seems like the hot ticket if they can do it. And 70 miles would be perfectly wonderful for me...my current EV only does 30 (on a good day). I'd still have to keep my ICE beater around, but then what's new? I'd almost never drive it. I'll bet they go for 100 mile range minimum anyway...wasn't it GM whose studies said there was a big psychological change somewhere between 60-100 miles of range?

Then the question becomes how many kWhr it's going to take to move a sedan around for 70-100 miles. And of course such short range may force a chemistry change to something with higher cycle life. Of course this will be the case for the REEV as well. I guess it'll be interesting to see whether they use the same chemistry for both variants.

stopcrazypp · 04-16-2008, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunter

Yeah, I agree, 3 models seems like the hot ticket if they can do it. And 70 miles would be perfectly wonderful for me...my current EV only does 30 (on a good day). I'd still have to keep my ICE beater around, but then what's new? I'd almost never drive it. I'll bet they go for 100 mile range minimum anyway...wasn't it GM whose studies said there was a big psychological change somewhere between 60-100 miles of range?

Then the question becomes how many kWhr it's going to take to move a sedan around for 70-100 miles. And of course such short range may force a chemistry change to something with higher cycle life. Of course this will be the case for the REEV as well. I guess it'll be interesting to see whether they use the same chemistry for both variants.

For anything too far under 200 miles, a chemistry change is pretty much required because that's the "sweet spot" for commodity cells where 200miles/cycle * 500cycle = 100,000 miles, which most would agree is the minimum guarantee on an automotive battery. But it shouldn't be too hard to change the chemistry, it will just play into the cost equation more b/c you normally get less kWh/$ and energy density than you would using commodity cells. I also agree that Tesla will keep any BEV at 100 miles or above, b/c a main philosophy is that Tesla is supposed to make BEVs that are at or above the level of normal cars. Something like 40 miles is more fit for REEVs, and in a BEV it's around the levels of NEVs, which I think Tesla made clear they are not in the business of selling.

Iz · 04-17-2008, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopcrazypp

I also agree that Tesla will keep any BEV at 100 miles or above, b/c a main philosophy is that Tesla is supposed to make BEVs that are at or above the level of normal cars. Something like 40 miles is more fit for REEVs, and in a BEV it's around the levels of NEVs, which I think Tesla made clear they are not in the business of selling.

Absolutely! Producing a 40-mile range BEV WhiteStar will not earn Telsa much points or sales for that matter. Anything < 150 miles for a BEV in the $50k price range may get resounding cynicism. There are some who will purchase a BEV WhiteStar with < 100 miles; however that annual 10,000-customer market that Tesla will be targeting is going to show signs of fragmenting. Many will hold out for better batteries.

Cobos · 04-17-2008, 04:08 PM

Considering that the NEW Think has a 180km range (90km in winter) and I haven't heard anyone saying anything negative about the range yet I dare say a 100 mile range Whitestar could sell nicely in Europe as the low end model. Which might be a significant difference between the European and US markets, the range "requirements". I'll agree that a 40mile range is down in NEV territory and thus is too little for such an expensive car the Whitestar wants to be.

Cobos

david_42 · 05-19-2008, 11:29 AM

160-200 km would put the White Star into the 'charge once a week' range for many urban drivers. This would require about 200-250 kgs of batteries. The bigger problem would be getting power out to the street. This might be handled with powered parking meters and using a small onboard charger.

malcolm · 05-19-2008, 11:53 AM

As well as lower range requirement there is a greater general acceptance of smaller, lighter cars in Europe than in the States. Will be interesting to see if Tesla's IPO attracts investment from this side of the Pond.

malcolm · 05-20-2008, 03:23 PM

Amazing Carbon Fibre production speed gains according to one commentator on this Autobloggreen article:-

Carbon fiber costs may soon be slashed - AutoblogGreen

As sheet steel prices increase:-

19-05-2008 - News - Auto Industry

doug · 05-28-2008, 01:45 PM

JB makes some comments about whitestar:

Quote:

Our sedan project will use a single speed gearbox. In fact it is going to be VERY similar to this new gearbox re-using most of the internal components and designs. That is how we can accelerate the sedan project by leveraging this work.

No mention whether or not the motor will be liquid cooled as was mentioned before. He did make clear that the Roadster motor air cooling is unchanged for the most part.

Chris H. · 05-29-2008, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doug

JB makes some comments about whitestar:

No mention whether or not the motor will be liquid cooled as was mentioned before. He did make clear that the roaster motor air cooling is unchanged for the most part.

Roaster? I think you must be hungry Doug...

doug · 06-25-2008, 06:19 PM

Elon:

Quote:

So, wrote the spec for the sedan which is code-named WhiteStar and we're going a pure EV approach by the way. I don't think most people are completely aware of that. Martin was really pushing a hybrid approach, but we're not going to do a hybrid approach. We're going to go pure electric.

I think, the whole hybrid thing is a red herring.

AutoblogGreen Q&A: Elon Musk Part1
AutoblogGreen Q&A: Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk Pt. 3 - Lessons and WhiteStar hints - AutoblogGreen