TESLA Electric Truck?

[sd455dan]

That's very cool.

The fully self driving EV's will open a floodgate of possibilities.

Just added a vid from some MIT engineers thoughts on wireless vehicle charging and even standardization

The Science Fiction Future continues to happen. Just like Star Trek Next Gen with touch screen computers.
just give it a bit of time.

with these autonomous model 3 and other Taxis being planned, this will be a game changer for sure.

as an aside earlier, I mentioned a family member was looking into buying a 2nd gen Volt, well it has been purchased and I may get to test drive it today- I will admit i am excited to drive an electrified vehicle.:thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

The new charging stations that just went in at the mall took months...

Lots of underground work... a new transformer from the high voltage transmission lines next to the State Highway... guess they foresee the need for vast amounts of power.

One of the Docs was low on charge with her Tesla last year and needed to go beyond her range... I had set up a 120 volt extension cord and she was able to get enough charge to do what she needed.

She was requested charging stations or 240V outlets in the Doctor parking lot... so far it has not happened and she accepted a fellowship and is no longer with us...

 

[two_bit_score]

That's not hard to believe. I'm running into people that believe all electric cars use gas to charge the battery.

I'm going to start telling them EV's are powered like their cell phone. If you don't want to walk then you have to plug them in to an outlet from time to time like they do their cell phone from time to time if they want to talk on it.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm incorrect on this :laughing: but wasn't the original concept for Tesla vehicles to have replaceable batteries where you could stop into a 'service station' where they would exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one in a matter of minutes?

That was what piqued my interest in Tesla way back in 2008 when I heard it from an individual when we were discussing the possibility of NG as a motor fuel.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm incorrect on this :laughing: but wasn't the original concept for Tesla vehicles to have replaceable batteries where you could stop into a 'service station' where they would exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one in a matter of minutes?

That was what piqued my interest in Tesla way back in 2008 when I heard it from an individual when we were discussing the possibility of NG as a motor fuel.

There were some that tried that concept but it was a disaster when tested.

I think the major drop in battery prices and more and more charging stations killed that idea. For one I want to hang on to my owned LI battery instead of one from a stranger. As ranges move to the 300-600 miles per charge even charging on the road will be a thing of the past for most of us.

 

[sd455dan]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm incorrect on this :laughing: but wasn't the original concept for Tesla vehicles to have replaceable batteries where you could stop into a 'service station' where they would exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one in a matter of minutes?

That was what piqued my interest in Tesla way back in 2008 when I heard it from an individual when we were discussing the possibility of NG as a motor fuel.

I believe Tesla now believes the battery and charging tech will soon increase to a point that this is a step backwards.

NIO in China builds vehicles that work that way and are saying a swap can take place in 6 minutes

NIO ES8 Battery Swapping - YouTube

This would be very problematic in cold snowy places like Canada and Northern US.
Road salt, corrosion, frozen connectors. Seems like a litany of problems that will crop up especially after a few years of use and swapping.

Maybe someone who knows the Tesla history will chime in on whether that was the plan originally

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I believe Tesla now believes the battery and charging tech will soon increase to a point that this is a step backwards.

NIO in China builds vehicles that work that way and are saying a swap can take place in 6 minutes

NIO ES8 Battery Swapping - YouTube

This would be very problematic in cold snowy places like Canada and Northern US.
Road salt, corrosion, frozen connectors. Seems like a litany of problems that will crop up especially after a few years of use and swapping.

Maybe someone who knows the Tesla history will chime in on whether that was the plan originally

While that is impressive I think technology is moving past this concept. Change in battery technology will go on for years to come.

The Battery Revolution. Ultra Fast Charging - YouTube

Tesla's Quest for Better Batteries - YouTube

There seems to be a strong desire by Tesla to get away from Panasonic battery dependency. If Tesla pulls off the Maxwell technology that it now owns the other makers may be stuck with dated battery technology.

One factor about Tesla that I think escapes the general public is they are patenting their EV building technology. At some point Telsa patents may be worth more the cars they sell to their cash flows down the road.

Telsa is not a new car company but a new breed of high tech companies. Musk's long range space living plans will use much of the technology he is creating and testing today in his cars and trucks.

Seldom are things as though they may seem.

 

[Grumpycat]

Surely you won't have 400 volt at 350 amps at home. There must be avenue for charging with a generator. If it takes 30 minutes and gets you 20 miles farther down the road, that may be enough to save the day. If I couldn't do something like that, I probably wouldn't be interested.

The question asked about a Supercharger extension cord. Supercharger is Tesla's trademark for high speed DC chargers. The predominate version of Superchargers source 150 kW to the newest Teslas, or "only" 120 kW to mine. My car will charge at a Supercharger at a rate about 3x the 200A service run to my home.

The Tesla Mobile Connector which comes coiled in a pouch in the trunk can use several plug adapters Tesla offers. Most choose NEMA 14-50. Six years ago mine came with 14-50 (240V 50A, runs 40A) and (I believe) 5-15 (common 120V 15A, runs 12A). Extension cords for either of those are relatively easy. The 14-50 is commonly used for large RVs.

The Mobile Connector bundled with new Model 3s maxes at 240V 32A. Tesla Wall Connector (hard wired) can do 240V 80A but not all Teslas can make use of all that on AC.

 

[California]

The Mobile Connector bundled with new Model 3s maxes at 240V 32A. Tesla Wall Connector (hard wired) can do 240V 80A but not all Teslas can make use of all that on AC.

What are the various combinations of Model 3 variants and suitable high power home chargers?

 

[groundcover]

Looks like an ultra capacitor charging station can’t be far behind. Load up the amps at 20KW and slam dump it into the car when it’s plugged in.

 

[John_Mc]

Looks like an ultra capacitor charging station can’t be far behind. Load up the amps at 20KW and slam dump it into the car when it’s plugged in.

Current batteries and vehicle wiring can't take "slam dumping it". Tesla is at the forefront of pushing the limits for charging speeds. My wife's Chevy bolt can handle 32 amps @ 240V when charging from AC. This amounts to a 7.68 KW peak charging rate. When charging from a DC fast charger, it can handle a 50 KW rate. (With either of these methods, the charge rate slows down when the battery passes 80% full.)

That 50KW max charge rate is dwarfed by most Teslas. It hasn't been an issue for us, since we're almost always charging overnight at home. When we're not using the heater or AC, we can get about 240 miles from a charge. We get significantly less in the winter, between the poor traction, studded tires, rolling through slush, and running the heater. It makes a great commuter car. A 150 mile day without charging is a no brainer (at least when we are not running the heater heavily). We don't even think about it, just plug in when we get home. We usually set the car to only charge to 80 or 90% of full, unless we know we have a big day of driving in store. (Lithium batteries "like" being stored not completely full or completely drained - the same is true for cordless lithium tools. The Chevy dealer said it's not a big deal as far as expected battery life goes, but we figured if we don't need that last bit of capacity, why fill it all the way?)