When you think of Tesla you probably are confronted with two dualing images or thoughts. First, its CEO Elon Musk who is unapologetic and quite provocative. Second, the Model S. The thing sold like hot cakes and I am confident if you leave in either Los Angeles, Miami, New York or San Francisco you see them just about as often as, say, a Porsche Panamera.
The low volume car that started it all for Tesla, the Roadster, didn't benefit from the same amount of love. Sure, it was found in the driveways and garages of many Hollywood A-listers, but it didn't spread like wildfire as the Model S did.
Likely one major contributing factor is it being a two-seat roadster and the reality is the market is not that big for a two seater, not to mention a niche two seater.
That hasn't stopped Tesla from deciding to spruce it up a bit though. According to a press release issued today, the electric vehicle manufacturer is going to be applying lessons learned from the Model S to the company's two seater. This means the Roadster 3.0 has been born.
The company has boldly said it expects a 40 to 50 percent improvement in mileage from the original to the latest iteration and will be testing it out on a cross-California drive — San Francisco to Los Angeles — in early 2015.
We'll keep an eye out and see how it pans out.
For MORE information, scope out the company-issued release below!
Tesla's press release follows:
Roadster 3.0
The Roadster 3.0 package applies what we've learned in Model S to Roadster. No new Model S battery pack or major range upgrade is expected in the near term.
Battery technology has continued a steady improvement in recent years, as has our experience in optimizing total vehicle efficiency through Model S development. We have long been excited to apply our learning back to our first vehicle, and are thrilled to do just that with the prototype Roadster 3.0 package. It 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. We have identified a new cell that has 31% more energy than the original Roadster cell. Using this new cell we have 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 we expect 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 we will use on the Roadster 3.0 have a Crr of roughly 8.9 kg/ton, about a 20% improvement. We are also making improvements in the wheel bearings and residual brake drag that further reduce overall rolling resistance of the car.
Summary
Combining all of these improvements we 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 we can confidently drive the Roadster 3.0 over 400 miles. We 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.
We are confident that this will not be the last update the Roadster will receive in the many years to come.
Happy Holidays.