Powertrain 1.5 Update!

[doug]

Tesla Motors - touch

Tesla finally finalized its single-speed gearbox, on track for completion in August - Engadget

[stopcrazypp]

Tesla Motors - touch

Tesla finally finalized its single-speed gearbox, on track for completion in August - Engadget

I was just about to make a post about this, guess you beat me to it.

But anyways, it's the news I've been waiting for so long. Judging on the ~30% power improvement and ~45% torque improvement numbers, the power and torque is ~325hp and ~305hp.

It seems a lot to the improvements directly improve durability and efficiency, with the PEM contributing to performance increase. The better thermal performance is not actually a new cooling scheme (weren't there mention of motor cooling fins before, no mention of that here), but actually a result of the better efficiency, so I still wonder if the Roadster is still prone to overheating during extreme driving. But the important news is it looks like the 1.5 drivetrain is coming along great!

[WarpedOne]

so I still wonder if the Roadster is still prone to overheating during extreme driving

Yes, as any other car is. It has thermal monitoring though which will limit performance to prevent "core meltdown".

[doug]

ABG summary:
Tesla CTO provides update on Roadster Drivetrain 1.5 - AutoblogGreen

[stopcrazypp]

Yes, as any other car is. It has thermal monitoring though which will limit performance to prevent "core meltdown".

I guess my question is more on the side of "will it be track worthy?". There was an article on the older one in Autobloggreen on how it wasn't track worthy because it overheated too easily.
I found it and it mentions "The result is that after a only a couple of laps of all-out track running, the motor will start to heat up and performance will be limited". Typically, cars can go much more than only a couple of laps without overheating, so I wonder if the changes in the new one will make it go more than only a couple of laps.

Link:
Would the Tesla Roadster be a suitable track car? - AutoblogGreen

[WarpedOne]

I'd hazard a guess that it could overheat even faster if pushed to the performance limit for prolonged time. Note that this perfomance limit is now higher. Motor is capable of outputing upto 33% more power at given rpm but efficiency gains are about 10 times smaller - only around 5% - so the motor *could* produce upto arround 20% more heat than v1.0 drivetrain but achieving that is whole another issue. To be trackworthy cooling upgrade will nevertheless be mandatory.

[doug]

Wired's coverage:
Tesla v1.5: 'Really Phenomenal' Torque, Better Range | Autopia from Wired.com

Pretty much a rehash.

Edmunds:
Tesla Roadster With Powertrain 1.5 Prepped for Grueling Death Valley Testing

[TEG]

Still waiting for Tesla to publish a 1.5 power/torque graph, but I suspect it may compare something like so: