At Tesla's recent e-town hall meeting, company Chairman Elon Musk said the erstwhile automaker "might" build some Roadsters with a temporary transmission, until such time as they can find one that lasts longer than a week [paraphrasing]. Tesla's new head honcho Ze'ev Drori has just turned that possibility into a certainty– in as much as one can be certain about any promises made by the Silicon Valley start-up. The EV-in-Chief made the new tranny for new announcement on Tesla's eye-searing blog (white on black text is against the Geneva Convention guys). "To help speed delivery of cars, we will begin production in 2008 with an interim transmission design. These transmissions will meet high standards for reliability and durability, but the car will not meet the original performance spec for acceleration, reaching 60 mph in 5.7 seconds instead of the promised 4 seconds. When the final transmission is ready, we will retrofit all cars, at Tesla’s expense, to meet the promised performance specifications." Speaking of promises, Tesla has a new new production date: Spring 2008. That said, "the ramp rate of the production volume will depend on how quickly our suppliers can ramp production of parts and how quickly Lotus can increase the rate of the production line. Because of this dependency we don’t yet know when each car will be built or how many cars will be completed in calendar year 2008." How reassuring is that?
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I don’t understand why Tesla needs a transmission at all? One of the big advantages of an electric motor is that is develops high torque right from a dead start, very unlike a combustion engine. The Volt concept, for example, has no transmission between the motor and the drive wheels.
“Tesla’s eye-searing blog (white on black text is against the Geneva Convention guys).”
fortunately, firefox allows you to quickly disable any ill-advised style. try it!
Yes, but a tranny can give it enough mechanical advantage to improve 0-60 performance and top speed; as long as the frictional losses/weight are minimized.
When was the first “planned” date for production delivery?
So is this an issue of too much torque from the electric motors for the current tranny to handle? I am a little confused.
From the Tesla Website:
“Why does the Tesla Roadster have a two-speed transmission?
The Tesla Roadster has a two-speed transmission to maximize acceleration, while also allowing a reasonably high top speed. First gear gets you from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds, while second gear takes you to 125 mph.
The gearing of the Tesla Roadster works together with the shifter and the Power Electronics Module (PEM) to provide familiar driving behavior. First gear has strong “regenerative braking” that recharges the battery during deceleration and feels like engine braking in low gear on other sports cars. Second gear has less regenerative braking, and feels like third or fourth gear on other sports cars. The Tesla Roadster needs only two gears because the motor delivers high torque over a much wider range of rpm than any gasoline engine. No reverse gear is needed; the motor runs backwards for reversing.
If you do not feel like shifting, you can drive entirely in second gear: acceleration even in second gear is remarkably fast.”
If you do not feel like shifting, you can drive entirely in second gear: acceleration even in second gear is remarkably fast.
Sooooo… if they didn’t promise 0-60 in four seconds they could get rid of the transmission and ship? Now, there’s a reason to keep your big mouth shut while you’re working on something…
OTOH, would a tranless car sell for $98,000?
Big difference between 4 and 5.7 seconds. Even if they finally build one, who has the patience and faith that they will ever get the trans swapped?
“First gear gets you from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds, while second gear takes you to 125 mph.”
Ah, so they added complexity, weight, reliability problems and cost in order to give the car capabilities which are completely irrelevant in any kind of reasonable and responsible driving. How very green :(.
uhhmn, 2 speed Powerglides are used in dragsters and funny cars. They are putting out about 3k HP. I dont see why it couldnt handle an electric motor.
I don’t think the Tesla (using electric motors) needs/uses the huge torque converter common to Powerglides, whose slippage helps to “temper” the power applied to the tranny’s gearset.
The Tesla could run on hamster hair and rainbows and George Clooney would buy one. Image is everything.
Do all the Tesla higher-ups have names that sound like characters from an Isaac Asimov story?
I’ve seen full electric drag cars (yes they are out there) always have the same problems. Breaking drivelines and halfshafts. Powerful electric motors (like in Tesla) produce an incredible amount of torque, immediately and violently.