Because the second-generation Tesla Roadster stays on the drafting board, a Texas-based firm has sketched out a brand new life for unique Roadsters, whereas bettering their dealing with.
Re/Cell, which focuses on remanufacturing EV battery packs, just lately unveiled a substitute Roadster battery pack that is 400 kilos lighter than the unique and takes up 3.7 cubic ft much less house—making it about half the amount of the unique pack.
With 47 kwh of complete capability, Re/Cell expects the substitute pack to return 220-240 miles of vary, which is in step with the manufacturing unit pack. However as a substitute of simply matching the manufacturing unit specs, the burden and quantity reductions of the brand new pack are claimed to assist make the Roadster a greater automotive.
Re/Cell substitute battery pack for the Tesla Roadster
“Alternative packs for the Roadster are costly and overburdened, with an pointless concentrate on straight-line efficiency and vary,” Re/Cell president Chad Maglaque mentioned in a press release. “The main focus ought to as a substitute be on dealing with and velocity, to match the racing pedigree of its world-class efficiency chassis.”
The Roadster was based mostly on the Lotus Elise, and Lotus founder Colin Chapman, with the maxim “simplify, then add lightness,” would probably agree with this emphasis on dealing with over straight-line acceleration.
Re/Cell claims its pack additionally helps decrease the Roadster’s middle of gravity and permits extra mass to be moved towards the middle of the chassis—additional bettering dealing with—whereas additionally making room for DC fast-charging {hardware} and liquid cooling methods for the motor and energy electronics module (these options are elective, nevertheless).
2010 Tesla Roadster Sport (photograph by way of Hagerty)
The battery itself will get an upgraded cooling system consisting of a molded core with hooked up ribbons, permitting for a 50-times-greater contact space for warmth switch in comparison with the manufacturing unit cooling system, together with constant temperature management, Re/Cell claims. The corporate caught with the unique 18650 cell format, although in fact the chemistry has advanced considerably.
Re/Cell has priced the pack at $27,895 for the model providing most efficiency, after a $11,500 core credit score for his or her present pack. It makes use of these early Roadster cells for remanufactured battery packs and use with photo voltaic methods or as backup energy. Out of greater than a half one million cells Re/Cell processed this previous 12 months, it disposed of or recycled simply 150, the agency mentioned to Inexperienced Automotive Experiences.Â
The final Tesla Roadster was inbuilt December 2011, simply earlier than the Mannequin S was launched. This was the automotive that launched Tesla, however Elon Musk did not have a lot to do with it, nor did he begin Tesla. He turned CEO in late 2008, after the Roadster had already gone into restricted manufacturing.
Tesla has not been constant over time about offering manufacturing unit assist for unique Roadsters. However because the sports activities automotive was launched, EV battery prices have plunged, creating extra of a gap for aftermarket firms like Re/Cell to offer different options.
