Meet the new Tesla Roadster!

Discussion in 'Roadster' started by Domenick, Nov 17, 2017.

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  1. 1) I don't think this is the wheel that would come on the final car, but if it is a yoke type similar to those found in, say, a Formula 1 car, then, "The steering wheels are not designed to make more than three quarters of a turn of lock in total, so there is no need for a continuous rim"
    2) This car doesn't need windshield wipers, since it can either dodge the raindrops, or, if they've collected while parked, use inertia to its advantage and accelerate out from beneath them. :)
     
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  3. 101101

    101101 Well-Known Member

    No, that steering wheel is a racing wheel should be good even for U turns it just reflect really tight steering ratio. But will need air bag.
     
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  4. Pushmi-Pullyu

    Pushmi-Pullyu Well-Known Member

    Compare to the original Roadster:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. Pushmi-Pullyu

    Pushmi-Pullyu Well-Known Member

    So, why is the Horsepower for the 2020 Roadster specified as "N/A"? Is it because the HP ratings of all three motors added together is more than the battery pack can provide?

    The difference in torque ratings between the old and new Roadsters is rather boggling. The new has 25x the torque of the Roadster 2.5 Sport!
    :eek: :eek: :eek:

    I hope Tesla doesn't stick with the "2020 Roadster" designation. How about "Roadster Mark II"? Or "Roadster Redux"? Or "Roadster Infinite"? Or "Roadster Ultima"? Or, you know... pretty much anything to differentiate this model from the old ones!
     
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  7. GreenMachine

    GreenMachine New Member

    I was actually surprised at how far along the car was that they showed on stage. I mean the fact that it was a working, driving prototype and they were giving people ride-alongs during full "throttle" acceleration runs. This wasn't just a 1:1 scale model sitting on a round table. That said, begs the question why it's three years away. Is that a development issue or a production issue? Perhaps all the hardware beneath the skin of what we saw was really just current-day Model S hardware.
     
  8. 101101

    101101 Well-Known Member

    Kind of hoping that lead time is to get at a level of quality never seen before. Porsche has quality but Porsche and Ferrari are legacy. This is Tesla's chance to dethrone them and make them look like the legacy buggie makers they are.

    Looking at some of the numbers coming from kman auto on the mega charger in context seems quit clear that the tech to put the equivalent of 450 miles of top luxury sedan Merecedes or BMW in under 5 min is present.

    The connector and presumption don't look like a robot arm is needed to lift it. But if were heavy for a car chargr maybe connecting 2 cables of 4 pin config could work?
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2017
  9. I, too, have many questions. Did the prototype actually have a 200 kWh pack? How much does it weigh? (for starters)

    I'm thinking the date is 2020, because that's when they believe the battery chemistry will have been commercialized to make a pack that back without weighing a literal ton.
     
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  10. I don't think Tesla gives out horsepower or even kW numbers anymore. It's kind of frustrating :(
     
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  12. 101101

    101101 Well-Known Member

    They gave the number that mattered 10000nm. And showed footage of the car un action. This is a technique keep interest up and provide flexibility for rapid improvement.
     
  13. Right. They gave out that number, but generally speaking, they stopped giving output figures for the other models on their website, or in press releases.
     
  14. Jack

    Jack Administrator

    I honestly like the look of the original roadster more.
     
  15. That's fair. I'm not blown away by the exterior design, and I do like the original Roadster. Still, it is better, say, than the new Aston Martin Vantage that was just revealed. (See comparison thread here)
     
  16. Jack

    Jack Administrator

    The first thought I had when I saw it was how similar it is to the Tesla, but I actually like the Aston more (barely). I think I like it because of the interesting adaptation of the classic Aston front grill shape.
     
  17. Pushmi-Pullyu

    Pushmi-Pullyu Well-Known Member

    Yeah, and Tesla isn't giving out the kWh ratings for the Model 3 battery packs. Frustrating indeed!

    It's rather hard for us STEM geeks to do analyses of the cars' efficiencies, range/capacity ratio, etc. etc. when Tesla won't give us the specs! :(
     
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  18. Right?! It makes it look as though they're trying to hide something.
     
  19. Pushmi-Pullyu

    Pushmi-Pullyu Well-Known Member

    Maybe.

    But I note that there have been a lot of "tempest in a teapot" arguments recently about what the "real" kWh rating of Tesla's various cars is, including arguments over the issue of full kWh capacity vs. usable capacity. In fact, I've seen one comment copied and pasted recently that accuses Tesla of "lying" by using Panasonic's nameplate capacity for the cells in the car, rather than whatever fraction of that the person commenting feels is more appropriate. (I say "feels" here rather than "thinking", because it's clear they are not thinking!)

    I can certainly see why Tesla might get exasperated by such obsessive nit-picking, and perhaps that's why they are not publicly disclosing the kWh capacity of its newer cars, such as the Model 3 and the Tesla Semi Truck.

    I don't see that as any different than what other PEV makers are doing. GM steadfastly refuses to disclose the amount of "reserve capacity" in Volt battery packs; in fact, they even refuse to acknowledge that any reserve capacity exists!

    And really, the things that are important about a PEV include the range, the energy efficiency, and the ability to fast charge, not so much the full capacity or even the usable capacity of the battery pack expressed in kWh. The actual kWh capacity is useful for us "armchair engineers" who like to play around with the numbers, but those figures are not actually important in terms of how useful or practical a car is going to be, nor how well it's going to sell.

    So I can understand why, for the Model 3, Tesla has talked about only the car's range and how fast it can be fast-charged, in terms of miles rather than in terms of kWh. The average car buyer isn't a STEM geek like me.
     
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  20. I definitely agree that kWh numbers aren't really important if we're given accurate ranges, etc. The way the EV market has developed, though, has made these numbers widely understood. If someone says, such-and-such vehicle has an 85-kWh pack, I have a good idea what that means, whether it's in a small car of a pickup truck.

    Manufacturers are welcome to use whichever numbers federal regulations require and which of those they think are useful for marketing purposes. It's just a little frustrating for those of us who've been pondering kWh for the past decade or so.
     
  21. Roy_H

    Roy_H Active Member

    The big comparison with legacy high end GT cars has always been how well it will do on the race track as apposed to straight line drag racing. I trust this car is designed to go the typical 50 mile race at full bore on a single charge with no over-heating problems. If not they have missed their mark. Is 200kWhr enough?
     
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  22. I agree. At this point, a Tesla sportscar needs to be track-worthy. Pretty sure 200 kWh should be able to handle 50 miles at race pace, though I haven't done any math.
     

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