Hacking the range extender

[anionic1]

Id really rather have the utility of the full bed. Its not that big to begin with

The most interesting part is that if I recall correctly Elon was against the swappable battery. I really think. They should make one that bolts onto the bottom of the truck under the battery. It’s about 4” thick. It would be like the hummer battery. Tesla doesn’t seem to get the purpose of a truck. It needs to haul and it needs to pull the distance. They should have made a double thick battery option with less ground clearance. That should get close to 640 miles. It would have blown people out of the park. Honestly, this all is just evidence to me that Elon was too distracted with Twitter. He let the IT guys design a truck.

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[anionic1]

Theirs is zero chance that the Range Extender will be user-serviceable. In fact, I’m gonna plant my flag on the notion that disconnecting the extender will disable the vehicle (“Battery Error, please contact support”)

The power connection it the simple part. I wonder about the coolant part.

 

[JBee]

The most interesting part is that if I recall correctly Elon was against the swappable battery. I really think. They should make one that bolts onto the bottom of the truck under the battery. It’s about 4” thick. It would be like the hummer battery. Tesla doesn’t seem to get the purpose of a truck. It needs to haul and it needs to pull the distance. They should have made a double thick battery option with less ground clearance. That should get close to 640 miles. It would have blown people out of the park. Honestly, this all is just evidence to me that Elon was too distracted with Twitter. He let the IT guys design a truck.

They are battery constrained.

Have you missed the endless threads on this before the event?

The range is not by choice, and the DM is better than expected range, and you can get a extension pack for towing even further down the line.

No point in making up stuff, you'll just confuse the audience.

But seriously show me another car made by the IT department that is this good?

 

[anionic1]

They are battery constrained.

Have you missed the endless threads on this before the event?

The range is not by choice, and the DM is better than expected range, and you can get a extension pack for towing even further down the line.

No point in making up stuff, you'll just confuse the audience.

But seriously show me another car made by the IT department that is this good?

You have no proof they are battery constrained. Or tgst they won’t be able to match the battery supply with the ramp. The truck is coming out next year. The two largest battery producers in the world are building plants to produce the 4680 next year.

 

[JBee]

You have no proof they are battery constrained. Or tgst they won’t be able to match the battery supply with the ramp. The truck is coming out next year. The two largest battery producers in the world are building plants to produce the 4680 next year.

You have no proof the IT department made design choices, or that EM was distracted with purchasing twitter, as these engineering choices could of been made years before it was even on the table.

But if you run some numbers you'll see how the battery ramp is still the constraint over at least the next year.
Not hard to do.

 

[Tinker71]

I agree. Battery density will evolve. Hacking the connection would definitely void the warranty but Tesla could later develop a 50kw with half the size (maybe flat?) or a 100kw pack with same size bumping range to 600mi. I think with just the fact that battery extension with 48v architecture is possible on this vehicle it sets it apart from the rest in terms of longevity. ?

I wonder if they made it cuboid for heat conservation and insulation?

 

[JBee]

I wonder if they made it cuboid for heat conservation and insulation?

Mostly for weight distribution I think. Which according to one of the videos is nearly a perfect 50/50 without a payload in the bed.

But pack cooling is a major connection to consider as well, just less of a hassle to integrate in comparison to the pack setup.

 

[Crissa]

I don't like the physical form factor and placement of the Tesla OEM RE pack. I'd much rather give up the under bed storage, or have a consistent height across the bottom of the bed.

The under bed storage is tiny, tho. The range boost would be smaller.

-Crissa

 

[Tinker71]

Potentially, but a 20-30kW DC/DC converter wouldn't be as cheap as a few high power relays.

If it was me I'd be leveraging those motor controllers more. In saying that it might be cheaper than I think. Motor controllers on the next gen are quite low, they are meant to be under $1000 for the motor and controller unit. They are a few 100kW. With one of this in-between, they could probably make it work, but they'd have to rectify it to DC first, so the actual motor controllers can use AC for frequency RPM control. There would be losses, but maybe not to bad.

But a switch is hard to beat in performance and price.

Needs more thought.

Here us a hack for you. Make a huge 48 VDC battery pack with a 120/240 DC/AC converter. Then use the onboard charger to charge the traction battery while you are driving. This would require a separate charger for the auxilary charger and would be about 80% efficient.

I agree. Battery density will evolve. Hacking the connection would definitely void the warranty but Tesla could later develop a 50kw with half the size (maybe flat?) or a 100kw pack with same size bumping range to 600mi. I think with just the fact that battery extension with 48v architecture is possible on this vehicle it sets it apart from the rest in terms of longevity. ?

Is there a chance in hell Tesla will open source the connection? Sure some things will void the warranty but maybe it has some good fusing.

 

[C T Rick]

I too would sacrifice the underbed storage compartment as it's pretty useless once a pull out pack rat is installed on the bed.

Even a flat pack slide in unit that might be 4-6" thick and you just loose height on the bed. But not the length, depth of storage.

Is there anyway to feed power back into the battery while the vehicle is in motion? Whether it be via an external battery, generator or even solar on the roof, cover. Sure, might only give you a few miles per hr, but it's a cheap hack if it can charge on the road.

Rick

 

[fhteagle]

The under bed storage is tiny, tho. The range boost would be smaller.

In the plastic bucket itself, yeah too small. I'm talking about removing the underbed storage bucket entirely and utilizing all the available space behind the axle, plus a 1 layer thick sheet of structural battery throughout the rest of the bed too. That gives a consistent bed floor height, and if designed right also a structural place for a goose neck connection that might get high enough/ far enough back to keep a 5th wheel from hitting the sail panels.

Sorry if that wasn't clear when I said it the first time. This cold has been making the brain no worky lately.

 

[fhteagle]

Is there a chance in hell Tesla will open source the connection?

True open source? Doubt it highly.

Publish via patent paper? (and pinky swear to not sue you if you don't sure them): possible.

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