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What We Don't Know Aout the Tesla Roadster

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vfx

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2006
14,790
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CA CA
As the car gets close to Production there are still some gaps in our Roadster knowledge. Here is a place to put the unanswered Tesla Roadster questions. Even the small ones. Many questions will have unofficial answers that have been in the blogosphere (like the car's Cd) but please limit answers to OFFICIAL Tesla Motors Stats with links to the published data.

What is the turning radius of the Roadster?

What is the drag coefficient of the Roadster? (there have been numbers bantered about but have any of them come from an OFFICIAL source?)

What kind of run flat fix a flat tire arrangement does the Roadster have?

What kind of cup holder does the Roadster have?

What brand/model # is the stereo/GPS system is in the Roadster?
 
What kind of run flat fix a flat tire arrangement does the Roadster have?

There was some extended discussion of this subject on the owner's forum. We finally got an official answer from Zak, who wrote:

The Tesla Roadster will not have run-flat tires and will not carry a spare. This is to optimmize weight, performance, and efficiency. There will be a can of compressed air with a sealant of some kind in the can. With this sealant there is a chance that the Tire Pressure Monitoring System is no longer functional in that particular tire.

The can of aerosol is for emergency situations and is only a temporary repair. A tire shop should evaluate the tire immediately to determine if it needs to be replaced. The owners manual, which will be available online once cars are on the road, will provide greater detail on this topic.



What kind of cup holder does the Roadster have?

There appears to be a single cup holder located under the central arch, right underneath the shifter. In some of the recent interior photos you can see it. It should swing or slide out to the side for access.

What brand/model # is the stereo/GPS system is in the Roadster?

Officially, Blaupunkt.

From what Sabre said (and I don't know his source, but he seemed pretty sure about it), they will use Blaupunkt Hamburg or Kingston unit, depending on whether you have the Bluetooth option. Extended discussion here: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/tesla_motors_forums/tesla-roadster/491-blaujunk.html
 
"From what Sabre said..."

I'm trying to aviod this kind of answer. Some guy with two Posts here is more blogonmation, not an official source ( no offense Sabre! feel free to chime in ). I don't know the dates are but at one point Martin said the stereo sucked and wanted to fix it. Was this the Blajunk?

Somewhere around here I have a picture I took of the EP cupholder at a showing. The Tesla guy said it was in protoype stage (It kinda looked like a jar opener RNIB Online Shop - Enlarged Image )

Thanks for the tire flat answer. I guess the minor questions re tires would be what brand fix-a-flat will the car come with :) and will the Pressure monitoring system work with the goo in the tire? :)

Good point Brent. We are waiting for EPA fuel economy estimate too.

So Tony, are you saying that you have absolutley no unanswered questions about the car you are dropping 6 figures on?
 

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"From what Sabre said..."

I'm trying to aviod this kind of answer. Some guy with two Posts here is more blogonmation, not an official source ( no offense Sabre! feel free to chime in ). I don't know the dates are but at one point Martin said the stereo sucked and wanted to fix it. Was this the Blajunk?

I saw that comment too, but I thought he was referring to the speakers, not so much the headunit. That's why they now have a 7-speaker tuned premium sound system available as an option.


Thanks for the tire flat answer. I guess the minor questions re tires would be what brand fix-a-flat will the car come with :) and will the Pressure monitoring system work with the goo in the tire? :)

I think Zak covered that last question. The goo may clog up the system and stop it from functioning.


Good point Brent. We are waiting for EPA fuel economy estimate too.

So Tony, are you saying that you have absolutley no unanswered questions about the car you are dropping 6 figures on?

Not much. Of course I want to see the EPA numbers too, but there's no point asking for that. We'll get them when they're available. Aside from that, I've studied this thing up and down, left and right, collected and studied photos, and I'ved asked some questions on the owners forum, and I feel like there's not much left for me to wonder about at this point.
 
"I've studied this thing up and down, left and right, collected and studied photos, and I'ved asked some questions on the owners forum, and I feel like there's not much left for me to wonder about at this point." :) Cool.

I forget. what level of contact have you had with one?


More unknowns:

What's the story with the Airbag? Do they have to make one even though Lotus did not, or will they get a variance?

Is there a glovebox?
 
I posted these questions before on the Tesla blogs but I don't know what happened to them:

Seeing as the batterypack consists of over 6000 individual cells, is there a guarantee that when the car is delivered, all cells are fully functioning, or does Tesla have something like a dead pixels policy for LCD monitors, ie 1-2 not functioning cells is acceptable?

How many cells need to be malfunctioning before the owner is entitled to a battery pack exchange/maintenance?

What is the timeframe for this warranty? For example if in 1 year you have 5-10 cells that aren't working anymore, does the warranty cover that?

These issues may not be so problematic for the limited number of Tesla Roadsters produced, but with the Whitestar, I think these questions need very precise answers from Tesla. Hopefully the cells they use and the elaborate systems in place for keeping the cells in optimum condition will not create a maintenance problem for Tesla. Again thinking of LCD monitors, the tech has gotten so well tuned, dead pixels return policy doesn't seem to be a major concern.
 
These issues may not be so problematic for the limited number of Tesla Roadsters produced, but with the Whitestar, I think these questions need very precise answers from Tesla. Hopefully the cells they use and the elaborate systems in place for keeping the cells in optimum condition will not create a maintenance problem for Tesla. Again thinking of LCD monitors, the tech has gotten so well tuned, dead pixels return policy doesn't seem to be a major concern.

I have always hoped that eventually they will be able to switch from the 6000 individual cells to something more unified such as altairnano or something. I realize they feel it's the best current solution but it just seems so cumbersome, complex, and potentially prone to problems. Not to mention the labor alone in creating that battery pack.
 
It turns out that I did have a question, which I have posted on the Tesla blog. . . but I'll post it here also, since we've this thread going.

With regard to “creep”. . . The shifter does have a neutral position, right? I mean, I would imagine you can slot it into neutral and it shouldn’t creep anywhere. And when you park, you’d naturally put it into neutral and engage the hand brake, right? (This is what I already do in my sports car. I know some people leave their car in gear when they park it, but I don’t like my car springing into action next time I start to crank the engine.)
 
Does use of the brake pedal have any influence on regen?

There is almost certainly a switch on the brake pedal to trigger the brake lights to come on. Tesla could use that as an input to the PEM to change the regen profile during braking. Some other EVs vary the regen not just based on a binary "braking or not", but actual brake pedal position. I don't think Tesla does that, but I don't know for sure.
 
This whole airbag thing is annoying...

Yes, the Roadster has dual airbags, made by Siemens. These are substantially the same as the airbags in the Lotus Elise, and have been proven in the Roadster through a series of FMVSS crash tests and sled tests.

The DOT has created a new airbag requirement for 2008 and later model years -- the so-called "smart airbag" system. This new system includes seat sensors that measure the weight and position of the passenger on the seat, and moderates the airbag firing based on measurements.

As you might imagine, such a system is quite tricky and very expensive to develop. The DOT knows this, and included in the new requirements an opportunity for smaller car companies to request an exemption from this new requirement based on financial hardship. Indeed most of the smaller car companies - including both Telsa and Lotus - have applied for this exemption.

This exemption would NOT exempt Tesla from having airbags - the airbags in the Roadster still must meet the standards that every other car had to meet up until model year 2007.

This recently became an issue when some yahoo (pick your favorite expletive) at Miles Automotive filed a petition with the DOT to deny Tesla's requested exemption. I don't think their petition will change the DOT's position, but it was picked up by some entrepid reporter at autobloggreen.

Why, you might ask, would Miles Automotive do such a thing? I think there is only one reasonable answer, and you have already guessed it...
 
The DOT has created a new airbag requirement for 2008 and later model years -- the so-called "smart airbag" system. This new system includes seat sensors that measure the weight and position of the passenger on the seat, and moderates the airbag firing based on measurements.

This may be a stupid question, but why not just give the Tesla a 2007 model year label? It's a safe argument that most of the R&D was conducted in 2006 if there's a reg that would prohibit doing that.
 
I am fairly sure that you can't make a car in one year and say that the "model year" is a previous year.

Hey lets call our car a 1963 model so we don't have to meet modern safety or emissions standards!

(I think Carol Shelby tried to build 1966 model Cobras using "leftover" old chassis, but had problems trying to call the new ones 1966 models)

This site says:

"(15) “model year”, when referring to a specific calendar year, means—
(A) the annual production period of a manufacturer, as decided by the Administrator, that includes January 1 of that calendar year; or
(B) that calendar year if the manufacturer does not have an annual production period."