Archive for the 'British' Category

50 State Legal Published on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 in Safety, Crash test, British.

It has been quite a while since I have put finger tip to key board and joined the Tesla blogosphere. This might have something to do with my being a little bit busy as we have been maturing the Roadster from an amazing prototype to a full-blown production car. Read more…

Tesla Roadster Progress - From EP to VP Published on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 in Vehicle Engineering, British.

We’ve just achieved a significant milestone on our road to Tesla Roadster production. Our first Validation Prototype was assembled at the Hethel facility in the U.K. and was recently airlifted to our San Carlos, Calif., workshop to commence system testing. Read more…

Cut From A Different Cloth Published on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 in Performance, First Post, Vehicle Engineering, British.

From the earliest days of our work developing the Tesla Roadster’s body, we realized we had several major challenges on our hands. We had to achieve a low level of aerodynamic drag to increase efficiency, and we had to keep our mass down in order to maintain a high power-to-weight ratio and achieve maximum acceleration. Equally important was our imperative to create a body style for the Tesla Roadster that made people desperately want the car - irrespective of its efficiency or level of performance. Read more…

Good Vibrations Published on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 in Performance, On the road, Safety, British.

Imagine yourself strapped into a Tesla Roadster speeding down a rough cobblestone path intended to cause so much agitation that the ride stops being fun and starts becoming more like work. It’s just a typical day at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA), an engineering and testing facility where we are punishing two of our Tesla Roadster Engineering Prototypes (and several of our engineers as well!).

Never a Dull Moment Published on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 in Uncategorized, Performance, First Post, Company, British, Motor, Power Electronics.

At its heart, Tesla Motors is an engineering company. We get invited to a variety of events because of our technical expertise as well as a general interest in what we are doing and how we are doing it. I often get asked what it is like to work at Tesla Motors and to describe some typical problems we solve. Here is my take on those questions, based on my own experience and a swift survey of some of the other engineers. Read more…

Safety first - ouch! Published on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 in Uncategorized, First Post, Safety, Crash test, Vehicle Engineering, British.

This blog continues to attract some fascinating questions and perceptions regarding the philosophies of energy consumption, alternative fuels, well-to-wheel efficiency and other significant issues that affect us all. Then there’s the technology of the car itself with its lithium ion battery pack, onboard charging system, power electronics to handle the immense energy available and that little motor that blasts you towards the horizon at warp speed……Linking all these systems and their safety monitors involves more computing power than the combined total on board all the cars I’ve ever owned. You could probably add your total in too!

So, apart from the new high tech stuff, what else do we do at Tesla Motors to ensure that our customers can enjoy this unique offering? Read more…