Last Thursday I participated in a panel at the Future in Review (FiRE) conference in San Diego, Calif. Very cool – I got to meet one of my heroes: iRobot founder Helen Greiner. (My own Master’s thesis at the University of Illinois was in robotics.) Helen took a ride in the Tesla Roadster and came away with a big smile. Read more…
|
Recent Posts in
“Leadership” Archives September 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 March 2008 February 2008 December 2007 September 2007 August 2007 May 2007 April 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 Subscribe to this Blog
PagesBlog Comment Guidelines Martin in the Spotlight Categories Batteries Company Energy Efficiency Environment First Post Motor On the road Performance Public Policy Solar Power Vehicle Engineering Links Become a Fan on Facebook Follow us on Twitter |
Archive for the 'Batteries' Category
High CARB Diet
Published on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 in Company, Performance, On the road, Batteries, Public Policy.
Introducing Tesla Energy Group
Published on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 in Company, Batteries.
Well, the rumors have been flying and the press releases are coming, so it’s about time for me to talk about Tesla Energy Group. Tesla Energy Group is a group within Tesla Motors, Inc. created to allow us to design and sell Energy Storage Systems (ESSes) to other companies. (By ESSes, I mean large lithium ion battery packs made from small, commodity cells.) Read more…
Range Reality
Published on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 in Performance, Batteries, Vehicle Engineering.
As you may have read in previous blogs, we recently built our first couple of Validation Prototypes (VPs). These cars represent a significant step forward toward production as they implement numerous corrections to issues discovered during safety and durability testing of the Evaluation Prototypes (EPs), are built from hard-tooled components for all body panels, include production headlights, taillights, and interior components (including much more comfortable seats), and many other subtle changes. Read more…
Auto Show Happenings
Published on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 in Company, Performance, On the road, Batteries, Vehicle Engineering, Motor.
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been away from the blog for a while. I’ve been a bit busy lately, but I knew you would enjoy reading other perspectives from the Tesla Motors staff. Tesla Motors is definitely a cast of characters – passionate about our mission, strong opinions, interesting backgrounds. I have never before worked with such an amazing team. I hope you enjoyed meeting a few of them – you will meet more in later blogs. As you know, we showed the Tesla Roadster in Yokohama’s booth at the L.A. Auto Show. We did not bring the car to the Detroit Auto Show, though several of us attended. Alternative fueled vehicles were definitely the hot topic at both the L.A. Auto Show and the Detroit Auto Show. Every major manufacturer was bragging about their newest direction for alternative fueled vehicles, and the governors of both California and Michigan already knew all about Tesla Motors when I met them. Read more…
A Bit About Batteries
Published on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 in Batteries.
By now most people know that the Tesla Roadster is powered by Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries. But here are a few things about our batteries you might not have heard. Our battery system – or Energy Storage System, as we like to call it – is comprised of 6,831 individual Li-ion cells. It’s roughly the size of a storage trunk and weighs about 900 pounds. Nestled securely in the back of the Tesla Roadster, the battery system is the secret behind our four second 0-60 mph acceleration and phenomenal driving range. To achieve this kind of performance, we were meticulous about our battery technology selection. Batteries are not perfect – no doubt about it. Though market forces continue to drive improvements in batteries, the Li-ion battery system in the Tesla Roadster represents the very best of today’s commercially available battery technology. These Li-ion batteries are a whole lot better than Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) cells and lead acid cells found in EVs of yore, but they too have their limitations. One of the most difficult challenges in battery design is increasing energy density while also maximizing battery life span. Li-ion chemistries have achieved better combinations of these parameters than anything that has come before. Yet there is still a tradeoff between energy and life, even within the family of Li-ion. Read more…
Hybrids, Plug-in or Otherwise
Published on Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 in Performance, Energy Efficiency, Batteries, Vehicle Engineering.
Many of you have asked me about hybrid technologies, forcing me to gather my thoughts on the subject. Let me start off by drawing a clean distinction between today’s hybrids (like the Prius), and “Plug-in Hybrids” as proposed by James Woolsey and others. Read more…
Balance
Published on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 in Company, Performance, Energy Efficiency, Batteries, Solar Power.
Many of you have asked me about several alternative technologies and why they are not used in the Tesla Roadster. These technologies range from other existing battery technologies (e.g. lithium iron phosphate) to technologies that are on the horizon (e.g. ultracapacitors) to impossible technologies that ultimately boil down to perpetual motion. I will try to address as many of these questions as I can this week. Read more… |
