News tidbits from latest Tesla blog

TEG · 09-13-2007, 08:38 PM

"First gear was not available (on VP10)" (locked out for some reason)
"We have been testing a few configurations of the regen braking profile."
"Driver adjustable regen is a possibility in the future."
"VP10 ... has been updated to include a creep feature.
Creep has been added as a safety feature to ensure that drivers do not leave the car on and in gear when they exit the vehicle."
"driving the car aggressively for awhile can increase the temperature of the electric motor to a point where the car’s firmware modestly limits the power output to keep the temperature from rising farther. "
"The production motor will have improved airflow to aid cooling."

tonybelding · 09-13-2007, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TEG

Tesla Motors - hear
"First gear was not available (on VP10)" (locked out for some reason)

Pure speculation on my part, but they may not have had the new transmission installed in VP9 in time for that test drive. errr. . . VP 10. . . whichever. . .

TEG · 09-13-2007, 09:47 PM

I thought the problems with 1st gear were only with the EPs.

I think Martin said that they switched transmissions because the original supplier couldn't provide enough of them, but perhaps that was the "spin control" version of the story.

MDR · 09-13-2007, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonybelding

Pure speculation on my part, but they may not have had the new transmission installed in VP9 in time for that test drive. errr. . . VP 10. . . whichever. . .

Thats right, from what I was told, VP9 & VP10 for sure and possibly all or some of the other VPs are fitted with the old transmission. This was a surprise to me as somehow I assumed all the VPs had the new model.

WarpedOne · 09-14-2007, 12:08 AM

I guess the peculiarities of high rpm high power eletric engine is quite a chalenge for transmission suppliers. I'm afraid TM hadn't gone through all the problems yet.

DDB · 09-14-2007, 05:25 AM

Any owners hear whether deliveries will in fact be on target for October? It's been quiet from TM of late--hopefully because they're on the production line.

malcolm · 09-16-2007, 07:09 AM

Martin's post on the new transmission in EP5 was posted on the 18th of August, so it is entirely possible that the VPs are without this upgrade. But given that Tesla are already on record stating that the production run for customer cars will start slowly, I'm sure that there is ample time to make these changes.

I also speculated that heat may be the issue, but I've changed my mind. The motor is water cooled and the EPs have been put through endless thermal tests. Given Tesla's engineering focus on ESS cooling, I can't imagine that the motor hasn't been given the same level of anaylsis.

Since the VPs are the press review machines, the motors/transmissions will need to be swapped out; again, not an issue - the San Carlos centre was filmed doing this sort of work ages ago:

MSN video

malcolm · 09-16-2007, 07:23 AM

"The production motor will have improved airflow to aid cooling."

I'm assuming that this means improved air flow to the motor's radiator or the motor or both. Possibly the upgraded transmission has changed the air flow around the motor and/or other key thermal components.

I'm guessing that the profile of various ducts / vents are being tweaked as we speak. Pure speculation on my part, but maybe the underside of the trunk lid will have to be fitted with some sort of cowling thing to focus more air flow around the motor when the trunk is closed?

TEG · 09-16-2007, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malcolm

The motor is water cooled

No - the motor is air cooled.

My guess is that the torque & RPMs are what is hard for the transmission.
In particular the Tesla has no flywheel so the transmission could be exposed to sudden changes in torque without any "buffer".

I think improved cooling for their motor would be better ducting or perhaps a fan that blows air onto the motor.

vfx · 09-16-2007, 12:57 PM

"Creep has been added as a safety feature to ensure that drivers do not leave the car on and in gear when they exit the vehicle."

I don't get it.

You would rather have the car moving when you exit than not? Why is it a bad thing to leave it in gear and leave the car. By habit many will do that to prevent rollaway in a ICE car with a manual transmission.

What happens with an automatic transmission ICE car when you get out with it left in gear?

Seriously, I'm not at all for a car that mis-grammatically says "Your door is a jar", but a door open light and or beep when it's left in gear seems better than the entire car moving!

---------------------------

BTW maybe if the car has a beeping sound when you open the door while is gear, maybe when you need to alert people in the way you are coming then you can crack open the door a bit for a friendly alert tone instead of obnoxiously honking the horn at them.