A battery pack producer has launched a brand new answer for Tesla Roadster with growing old battery packs. It could slash the automotive’s weight by about 400 lbs, but it surely’s not low-cost.
In some ways, the Tesla Roadster sparked the electrical car revolution.
It was the primary commercially out there client EV with lithium battery cells – enabling over 200 miles of vary on a single cost.
The car had comparable or higher efficiency than many different gas-powered autos in its phase.
The Roadster had its drawback. It was a suboptimal answer because it was nonetheless closely primarily based on the Lotus Elise and never designed from the bottom as much as be electrical, but it surely did its job as a proof-of-concept.
Tesla solely manufactured about 2,000 of them between 2008 and 2011 earlier than shifting on to the Mannequin S and different car packages that had been constructed to be electrical from the bottom up.
Regardless of being 13 to 16 years previous, many Roadsters are nonetheless doing properly. Electrek’s personal Jamie Dow drives his every day. That’s regardless of Tesla not doing something with the Roadster program since 2017 when it launched the Roadster 3.0 substitute pack.
Battery expertise has improved quite a bit since then, and an organization has determined to benefit from that and supply a brand new battery pack for Tesla Roadster house owners.
re/cell, a Texas-based provider of remanufactured battery packs for EVs, has unveiled a brand new Roadster battery pack that goals to slash a whole lot of kilos off of the sports activities automotive.
In contrast to Tesla’s newest autos, that are outfitted with skateboard-like platform battery packs, the Roadster has a pack that sits behind the seats within the again and the modules are within the form seen above.
It does trigger issues with balancing the load of the car.
The pack is ready to obtain the Roadster’s peak energy output, but it surely ought to be much more enjoyable to drive by shaving as much as 400 lbs off of the automotive’s authentic 2,877 lb (1,305 kg) weight.
It does include a decrease vitality capability than the unique 53 kWh, however it is best to be capable to obtain very related vary (over 220 miles) because of the effectivity acquire from the load loss.
Listed below are the complete specs of re/cell’s new Roadster battery substitute pack:
- Peak Energy Output: 260 kW / 285 kW
- Weight Financial savings: as much as 400 lbs / 180 kg
- Quantity Financial savings: 3.7 cu ft / 100 liters
- Vitality Capability: 38 kWh / 47 kWh
- Rated Vary: 220-240 miles / 350-390 km
- Cell Sort: 18650 / 3500 mAh
- Cell Configuration: 31p99s / 39p99s
re/cell describes a number of the enhancements that they had been in a position to make to the pack:
The revolutionary cooling-block design is a single-piece molded core with Palladium-class cooling ribbons for improved cooling and temperature administration. The contact space for warmth switch is 50x bigger than the cooling tubes used within the authentic Roadster sheets and the general floor space for cooling and heating is now greater than double. No extra vacant cooling voids permitting for warm spots or uneven cooling or heating – all the cell is now totally encapsulated and temperature managed!
Nonetheless, this supply just isn’t going to be for everybody since Roadster house owners must be prepared to take a position $28,000 of their growing old car, which is the worth of the pack if you happen to give your current pack to re/cell.
Curiously, the corporate can be fascinated with providing different upgrades that may be enabled by house freed up by the brand new pack.
For instance, re/cell believes it might be simpler to make the pack able to DC fast-charging. liquid cooling for the PEM and MotorÂ
Electrek’s Take
I actually loved driving the Roadster 3.0, and I’d be curious to see how significantly better it might deal with with 14% much less weight.
There are simply no different electrical autos on the market that weigh simply 2,400 lbs. Even a Fiat 500e weighs almost 3,000 lbs.
I can’t look ahead to small electrical sports activities vehicles round 2,500 lbs. They need to be a lot enjoyable and it appears like this, regardless of not being designed from the bottom up for it, may very well be an attention-grabbing preview.
And there’s not higher approach to energy your electrical sports activities automotive than with photo voltaic. If you wish to be sure that you’re discovering a trusted, dependable photo voltaic installer close to you that gives aggressive pricing, take a look at EnergySage. EnergySage is a free service that makes it straightforward so that you can go photo voltaic – whether or not you’re a house owner or renter. They’ve a whole lot of pre-vetted photo voltaic installers competing for your small business, together with some who set up Tesla merchandise like Powerwalls. They make sure you get high-quality options and save 20 to 30% in comparison with going it alone. Plus, it’s free to make use of and you received’t get gross sales calls till you choose an installer and also you share your telephone quantity with them.
Your personalised photo voltaic quotes are straightforward to match on-line and also you’ll get entry to unbiased Vitality Advisors that will help you each step of the way in which. Get began right here.
FTC: We use revenue incomes auto affiliate hyperlinks. Extra.
