Archive for the 'First Post' Category

Weighty Matters Involving Electrons Published on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 in First Post, Energy Efficiency, Power Electronics, Battery.

Have you ever wondered how much the electrons that power our car weigh?

The Most Coddled Automotive Battery Ever? Published on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 in First Post, Safety, Vehicle Engineering, Battery.

We get some great questions and comments from the readers of our blogs, and this post takes its title from Brent, who on May 30 wrote:

“ The Roadster’s battery is arguably the most coddled automotive battery in history. It has its own climate control system, several monitoring computers, and perhaps some other mojo ‘they’ are not telling us. ” Read more…

Slip-Sliding Away Published on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 in Performance, First Post, On the road, Safety, Vehicle Engineering.

To ensure that the Tesla Roadster is as safe as possible in extreme conditions, we have just finished putting one of our Engineering Prototypes through an extensive test schedule at the Continental Proving Ground in Arvidsjaur, Sweden. The proving ground is in a beautiful location on and around a frozen lake about 60 miles from the Arctic Circle. Read more…

Site Selection Published on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 in First Post, Company, On the road.

Last week Tesla Motors announced the selection of a site in west Albuquerque where we will build a 150,000 square foot assembly facility for our planned four door sports sedan, code-named WhiteStar. Response to the news has been tremendous, and we’ve received numerous requests for more information about the decision. Ron Lloyd, who headed up manufacturing site analysis, explains the background behind our choice. 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…

Induction Versus DC Brushless Motors Published on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 in Performance, First Post, Vehicle Engineering, Motor.

Wally Rippel is a long-time proponent of electric vehicles. Prior to joining Tesla Motors, he was an engineer at AeroVironment, where he helped develop the EV1 for General Motors and was featured in the documentary movie, Who Killed the Electric Car? Wally has also worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on electric vehicle battery research, among other projects. In 1968, as a Caltech undergraduate student, he built an electric car (a converted 1958 Volkswagen microbus) and won the Great Transcontinental Electric Car Race against MIT.

One Size Does Not Fit All
In that odious world of gas powered vehicles, engines are not all alike. There are flat-heads, Hemis, straight, opposed, and V configurations. And on and on. One would have thought that, years ago, someone would have figured out which was best. That would have ended all the choices and thereafter only the one best engine type would be in production. Not so. There is no one best engine type, rather there are different types of engines to suit personal requirements, such as price and performance. This is also true for electric vehicle drives. Read more…

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…