T-Roadster, bound to be interesting track car. - Page 2

shido6 · 01-23-2007, 08:20 PM

How easy can you swap out the batteries?

Pictures?

What does the AC outlet charger look like?

Pictures?

dsacks6 · 02-26-2007, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malachite

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSpeed

I plan to organize some track events for roadster owners sometime in the future. This will probably happen in
California mostly.

With all due respect, how are you envisioning this will work? Having been to countless "track days" my experience is that your typical sports car gets 5-7 mpg while on track. Given the Tesla has a 250 mile range (or about the equivalent of a tank of gas), it would seem that you'd run out of juice around lunch, or maybe early afternoon if you are slow ;D.

That is, assuming you started with a full charge, which is to assume you spent the night before in a local hotel where you somehow had means to plug it in and fully charge it. And then you'd have the problem of needing to get home that night. I would think the only reasonable option would be to trailer the TR to/from the track, and be satisfied with 1/2 - 3/4 day of track time.

Out of curiosity, has Tesla said anything about track suitability? Like will the battery blow up if you try to draw very high currents out of it for 20-30 minutes straight, as one would during a track session? Not that this is a unique problem to electric cars - many gas powered cars (though usually only modified ones) suffer from "heat soak" at the track.

- John <-- just joined the forum. no Telsa roadster but I do have a Lotus Elise, which is tons of fun at the track! Hope to have an electric sports car someday...

Tracking the tesla roadster may be possible if one installs the 3 hr chargers at the track. I am looking into this as I speak and will get back to you on this. Yes trailering the car is another option. My idea is drive say 100 miles to a track, get it hooked up right away, get on the track, in between track sessions hook it up again, hook it up at lunch time an then at the end of the track day hang around for a little while you make sure it has at least enough to get you home. This might work....let me know what you think..
GS

tonybelding · 02-27-2007, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSpeed

Tracking the tesla roadster may be possible if one installs the 3 hr chargers at the track. I am looking into this as I speak and will get back to you on this.

I believe that with the portable charger you can get a charge from a RV hookup. I'm not sure how long it would take, but if you can find a 50-amp hookup it might be as fast as the dedicated Tesla charging station.

06-07-2007, 10:25 PM

I've been thinking about this a lot too.* In fact, that's what lead me to the club a fewminutes ago, wondering if anyone had started it yet.* Glad to see someone had!* I was also going to start looking into TMC track events in CA, but someone beat me to that too!* I can always help out...

Anyhow, every driver will want to start out with a full charge, whether that's by staying in a hotel and plugging in overnight, or by trailering it to the track, though this defeats the purpose of the ecar!* See TM's CTO JB Straubel's efforts in this regard: http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher2.htm

Since most track events include at least 1.5 hours of down time in between sessions, plugging in to any outlet will help.* Over time, the track staff may be persuaded (especially with outside sponsorship!) to install at least 240V outlets.* I think that with a full charge and "boosting" for 1.5 hours between sessions a full day can be had.* Time will tell!

Of course, keeping a bunch of e-vehicles charged at the same time could take a dedicated sub-station beside the track!

-Bill

tonybelding · 06-08-2007, 04:28 AM

I have been told that even with a 50-amp RV hookup, you are still looking at about six hours for a full charge. :(

dsacks6 · 06-08-2007, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electric4Me

I've been thinking about this a lot too.* In fact, that's what lead me to the club a fewminutes ago, wondering if anyone had started it yet.* Glad to see someone had!* I was also going to start looking into TMC track events in CA, but someone beat me to that too!* I can always help out...

Anyhow, every driver will want to start out with a full charge, whether that's by staying in a hotel and plugging in overnight, or by trailering it to the track, though this defeats the purpose of the ecar!* See TM's CTO JB Straubel's efforts in this regard: http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher2.htm

Since most track events include at least 1.5 hours of down time in between sessions, plugging in to any outlet will help.* Over time, the track staff may be persuaded (especially with outside sponsorship!) to install at least 240V outlets.* I think that with a full charge and "boosting" for 1.5 hours between sessions a full day can be had.* Time will tell!

Of course, keeping a bunch of e-vehicles charged at the same time could take a dedicated sub-station beside the track!

-Bill

I would be glad for you to help. At the moment I have not been looking into this for I am out of the country but when the teslas roadsters start coming in to the customers, we'll talk about it more.

Kardax · 06-08-2007, 01:09 PM

There are signs that Tesla is looking to standardize on 16KW public chargers, which is enough to give around a 45% charge in a 1.5 hour downtime between track sessions, if you can get them installed there :)

So, really, the only open question is if 24KWH is enough to last a full track session. In a theoretical worst-case scenario, that's about 8 minutes at continuous full engine power. I think that seems pretty unlikely, but perhaps a track veteran here can explain how much time is spent at full power...

-Ryan

TEG · 06-08-2007, 05:35 PM

Do keep in mind that the Roadster can do 200 mile+ range in part because of high efficiency tires.

If you put sticky racing tires on it I would bet the range suffers.

dsacks6 · 06-09-2007, 01:04 PM

Does the roadster not come with yokohama highperformance summer tires?

TEG · 06-09-2007, 03:55 PM

http://www.yokohama.co.nz/news.php?id=31#story12

Tesla picks Advan Neovas for its electric Roadster

Dec 06, 2006

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 4, 2006) –

The lower rolling-resistance qualities of its Advan Neova performance tire line has earned Yokohama Tire Corp. (YTC) original equipment supplier status to Tesla Motors Inc.’s electric Roadster sports car.

“Using Yokohama´s Advan tires on the Tesla Roadster was an easy decision,” said Martin Eberhard, CEO and co-founder of Tesla Motors. “We did a lot of homework and found Advans are the only tires on the market that combine high-performance capability with low rolling resistance, making them a perfect pro-environment complement for our electric sports car.”

Probably a good compromise, but not necessarily the ultimate handling tire.