Hard usage & reliability

A properly designed AC motor that has protection against over temperature operation will not really be affected by hard use. I would say the primary failure point would be any transmission/transaxle unit.

The electric motor in your washing machine or dryer is not so dissimilar.
They can last a lifetime.

I would say that the biggest enemy is heat. Hopefully the control electronics will protect the eMotor, but I would say the worst case situation would be something like you tried to use the roadster to push a heavy vehicle up a hill.

Or you floored the accelerator pedal and held down the brake pedal at the same time. If the motor controller is trying to make the motor spin, but some huge force is preventing it from spinning then I think the motor makes heat instead of motion which can melt the insulation on the windings causing motor failure.

I think it would be possible for Tesla to design in safeguards that ignore your request for more power when the controller knows it is going to damage the motor.

Driving 130mph up hill (say highway 5 "grapevine") in 115 degree weather would probably be unfriendly to that air cooled motor... (The highway patrol wouldn't approve either!)

donauker said:

A properly designed AC motor that has protection against over temperature operation will not really be affected by hard use. I would say the primary failure point would be any transmission/transaxle unit.

Click to expand...

Oh, I see Don had a similar response as I was composing mine. I am glad we are thinking along the same lines!

Theoretically they should be able to make everything very durable but it is known that the batteries wear out eventually.

Along with the batteries, the tires will wear out (as they do on all cars) and perhaps fairly quickly given the performance characteristics of the roadster.

I worry about the durability of the body. Carbon fiber is a bit of a new / not-totally proven technology here.

There are also a lot of CPUs and control system that need to be durable. Small components like capacitors and fans can go bad due to temperature, humidity, dust and such.

Some people shy away from a 1st year model even from a big car company that has a proven track record. This is Tesla's first model as their first effort. And they are a small company with very limited experience in this industry. They are making a valiant effort, but they have to figure out how to do a lot of things right to produce a product with "industry standard" durability, fit-and-finish and such.