Norway

[Lloyd]

Showroom and Service Center to open in Oslo

Tesla Expands Its European Footprint - PR Newswire - The Sacramento Bee

[Johan]

... And I'm going there today afternoon to see the Model S Beta on display! Will be excited also to talk to the rep and try to get somewhat closer to some pricing info.

[Johan]

... And now I'm back. IMPRESSED with the Model S! That's all I can say after seeing it live, touching it, feeling it, sitting in it

One piece of info that was a big surprise to me: At the showing, one of the reps seemed really knowledgable, and he was asked by another customer wheter the car will support Chademo charging. He replied yes. So I had to ask him specifically about this in depth and he held to his claim that he knew that the European version of Model S will support Chademo. He thought that this would be via an adapter/cable, but he would also not rule out this possibility of a second charge port (seems extremely unlikely to me).

[Bearman]

Was there today. The Model S looked really good and felt nice, everyone with me was impressed, also we all got rides in a very orange roadster sport... that was awesome!
Want to thank everyone at Tesla in Oslo for taking such good care of us!

[andrewas]

... And now I'm back. IMPRESSED with the Model S! That's all I can say after seeing it live, touching it, feeling it, sitting in it

One piece of info that was a big surprise to me: At the showing, one of the reps seemed really knowledgable, and he was asked by another customer wheter the car will support Chademo charging. He replied yes. So I had to ask him specifically about this in depth and he held to his claim that he knew that the European version of Model S will support Chademo. He thought that this would be via an adapter/cable, but he would also not rule out this possibility of a second charge port (seems extremely unlikely to me).

I might be the one who got the answer you overheard. I was not too convinced. The guy (an English salesman type) did not seem to be technically competent - more a salesman kind of guy who would tell you anything to keep you smiling.

I think second charge port will not happen. It will have to be about delivering power through the one charge port. I understand that it will accept anything from 100 to 400 volts and that it has some form of advanced circuits that will analyze the incoming current to deduct how many Amperes the car can allow itself to draw. This was also of the salesmans information - when I confronted electro engineers with this they shook their heads and said that this seems like bullshit - that there is no way to know how many amps you can draw without actually checking the fuse and then entering that value in the car - or by using some kind of plug that would use some extra pins to communicate fact about the power source.

A ChaDeMo charger has "communication pins" - using an adapter of some sort would also mean that you would have to send the right signals back to the ChaDeMo charger to make it give you the power.

If anyone has more facts - please correct me.

[andrewas]

Another piece of fake info from the same salesman - that the Model S would have a spare wheel - fastened under the rear of the car.

[Yggdrasill]

I might be the one who got the answer you overheard. I was not too convinced. The guy (an English salesman type) did not seem to be technically competent - more a salesman kind of guy who would tell you anything to keep you smiling.

I think second charge port will not happen. It will have to be about delivering power through the one charge port. I understand that it will accept anything from 100 to 400 volts and that it has some form of advanced circuits that will analyze the incoming current to deduct how many Amperes the car can allow itself to draw. This was also of the salesmans information - when I confronted electro engineers with this they shook their heads and said that this seems like bullshit - that there is no way to know how many amps you can draw without actually checking the fuse and then entering that value in the car - or by using some kind of plug that would use some extra pins to communicate fact about the power source.

It is possible to deduct how many amps you can draw, but it isn't perfect.

Basically, you try to draw maybe 100 W, and monitor the voltage. As you draw 100 W, the input voltage will drop by some amount, as the internal resistance of the source will lead to transmission losses. (The wiring and connections will heat up.) If the power source is specced to supply a high current, the voltage drop will be less than if it is specced to supply a low current. Knowing this, if the voltage drop is insignificant, you can draw more current. And as you monitor the voltage, you can step up the power until the voltage drop is in line with what is expected (minus safety margin), and you end up drawing close to the maximum of what the circuit is specced for.

Of course, this approach isn't perfect. If for instance all the cabling is according to what you would have on a 16A line, yet the fuse is only 10 A, the power management system would falsely assume the fuse is 16A and trip it. Of course, the only needed improvement in this situation would be to replace the fuse with a 16 A fuse, and the power management system would work. (Or you could use an extention cable to derate the circuit...)

(I have a bachelor's degree in space technology.)

[Yggdrasill]

Another piece of fake info from the same salesman - that the Model S would have a spare wheel - fastened under the rear of the car.

That does sound like BS.

[Yggdrasill]

Anyway, I was at the store yesterday. I must say I was impressed with the car. It looks a lot better in person than in pictures. And the touchscreen was vastly better than I hoped for. Very responsive, crystal clear, and the layout on the menus was very good.

[Johan]

With regards to Chademo adapter I think this must be a possibility since quick charging is DC and the charger is not in, but outside, of the car and DC current flows directly thorugh the wire - chargeport and to the battery, that kind of charing is in a way much simpler. And the car has Tesla's own DC charging solution (90 kW). Now Chademo is something like 43kW so it would take more time but still quick. The only thing is the adapter must be able to communicate with the Chademo charger and basically tell it "send DC current" and when the battery is full "stop sending DC current". Can't imagine that would be so hard? Must be the same way Tesla's own quick charger works, only different communication protocol and wiring.

And it wasn't the englishman, but the norwegian guy who said it.