Tesla Roadster 3.0 Revealed

Elon Musk and Tesla Motors have revealed the details about the new Tesla Roadster 3.0.

Elon Musk and Tesla Motors have given Tesla fans a special Christmas present. The details of the new Tesla Roadster 3.0 have been revealed.

The Tesla Roadster 3.0 package applies all the innovation that went into Model S to Tesla Roadster. Tesla Motors is excited to apply the new technology to their first vehicle. The prototype Roadster 3.0 package consists of three main improvement areas.

1. Batteries

The original Roadster battery was the very first lithium ion battery put into production in any vehicle. It was state of the art in 2008, but cell technology has improved substantially since then. Tesla has identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell Tesla has created a battery pack that delivers roughly 70kWh in the same package as the original battery.

2. Aerodynamics

The original Roadster had a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.36. Using modern computational methods Tesla expects to make a 15% improvement, dropping the total Cd down to 0.31 with a retrofit aero kit.

3. Rolling Resistance

The original Roadster tires have a rolling resistance coefficient (Crr) of 11.0 kg/ton. New tires that Tesla will use on the Tesla Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. Tesla is also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car.

Combining all of these improvements Tesla can achieve a predicted 40-50% improvement on range between the original Roadster and Roadster 3.0. There is a set of speeds and driving conditions where the Roadster 3.0 will reach more than 400 miles. Tesla Motors will be demonstrating this in the real world during a non-stop drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the early weeks of 2015.

Appointments for upgrading Roadsters will be taken this spring once the new battery pack finishes safety validation. Tesla is confident that this will not be the last update to the Roadster. An open question is if Tesla will sell noew Roadster 3.0 cars or if only existing Tesla Roadsters can benefit from the cool update.