Tesla at the LA Auto Show 2007

[Randy Chase]

Had a good chat with the Tesla guy at the booth. I think the car looks great in person. Keep in mind this one was a test car that has been trashed a bit.

I grabbed a few pics, high res ones are in the gallery, just click on a thumbnail. It will bring up a scaled down gallery pic. Click on the galley pic again for a larger hi-res version.

Here is a pic of the rear hub. Note the different hub, the one obvious part being that it is a 5 bolt hub, so forget about sharing rims. Brakes looked the same.



I found how they did a few things interesting. Here in this pic, see the carbon fiber of the roll hoop cover, but also the front fascia. Also note the rear shelf, which is now just under the rear window and the speakers are moved up. I believe this is done because the battery banks live right behind the seats.

[Randy Chase]

Here is a look at the dash. I have no idea what that red button is that has rotational arrows on it. Interesting way to mount a switch though. I think their way of doing the center console is quite nice.





The doors look very good too.


The guy said they are going to be using different (wider) seats, but this test car still had the Lotus seats in it. They made the center console skinnier so they could fit in wider seats.

[Randy Chase]

Just a shot of the front wheel, brake caliper, mud guard, and the odd body shape behind the wheel.

[Randy Chase]

Rear grill


Flat diffuser on the bottom


Here is the battery bank from the trunk view. Opening the trunk was interesting. Almost like half the rear clam hinged up.



What an Elise trunk looks like, if the opening was not so small!



Power port, on the driver's side.

[MotorCade]

That red button looks like a push-pull switch for killing electrical power.

[Randy Chase]

But it had rotational arrows, like a knob you would turn. I assume this (and a lot of the electronics hanging down and scattered about) were for development stuff.

[Gizmo3000]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

But it had rotational arrows, like a knob you would turn. I assume this (and a lot of the electronics hanging down and scattered about) were for development stuff.

But that big knob sure looks important!
maybe they plan to put the start button in the middle?

[kestrel74]

Originally Posted by MotorCade

That red button looks like a push-pull switch for killing electrical power.

Passenger EJECT button !

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by Gizmo3000

But that big knob sure looks important!

[The Office]That's what she said[/The Office]

maybe they plan to put the start button in the middle?

I didn't take a pic of it, but there are a bunch of buttons still on the left side of the steering wheel.

[Randy Chase]

It could be.. torque control for decreasing torque at the start, at least until it is handled by software.

[ZAMMY1]

don't know what it controls, but it's a common industrial E-stop switch.
when you hit it, it stays in and holds the circuit til you twist the knob, which then pops back out.

[e jet]

It looks like a variable regen controller. The Tesla's powertrain is a licensed development of the AC Propulsion tzero's powertrain (http://www.acpropulsion.com/tzero/), and the tzero has variable regen - for good reason. So if I'm right, either Tesla has decided to put it back in permanently, or they're just fine-tuning the amount of regen during track testing. For ultimate car performance, you give the driver control over the amount of regen. For corporate liability reasons, you don't (too much regen when you don't expect it will cause a "departure from controlled flight"). I hope they leave it in.

[e jet]

It looks like a variable regen controller. The Tesla's powertrain is a licensed development of the AC Propulsion tzero's powertrain (http://www.acpropulsion.com/tzero/), and the tzero has variable regen - for good reason. So if I'm right, either Tesla has decided to put it back in permanently, or they're just fine-tuning the amount of regen during track testing. For ultimate car performance, you give the driver control over the amount of regen. For corporate liability reasons, you don't (too much regen when you don't expect it will cause a "departure from controlled flight"). I hope they leave it in.

[tonybelding]

Originally Posted by e jet

It looks like a variable regen controller. The Tesla's powertrain is a licensed development of the AC Propulsion tzero's powertrain (http://www.acpropulsion.com/tzero/), and the tzero has variable regen - for good reason. So if I'm right, either Tesla has decided to put it back in permanently, or they're just fine-tuning the amount of regen during track testing.

Tesla are still experimenting with different regen profiles, but I believe that is all done in the computer -- not with a simple knob. The knob, I'm almost sure, is an emergency shut-off button. If there's a glitch and the car starts to run away with you, you can hit the big red button and shut everything down. A lot of prototypes have something like it.

Tesla have said the 2008 Roadster is unlikely to have user-adjustable regen, although it's a feature they'd like to offer at some time in the future.

[luxige]

Originally Posted by Gizmo3000

...maybe they plan to put the start button in the middle?

Start button?

[tonybelding]

Originally Posted by luxige

Start button?

No start button. You turn the switch key to start it.

(What would a start button actually *do* on an electric car, anyhow?)

[John Stimson]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

But it had rotational arrows, like a knob you would turn.

That's an emergency shutdown switch. Those are used for large industrial equipment where you might need to stop the machine immediately. If the machine grabs hold of someone's tie, or starts shooting flames or sparks, you whack the big red button with your hand and all power to the machine is shut off. It stays off until someone intentionally resets it by twisting the button (as indicated by the arrows) to let it spring back out. I see these every day. It surprises me that no one recognized it.

[charliex]

Is it an emergency shutdown switch though (well is that its use in this instance) ?

The reason i wonder if it is a cutoff switch is that the ones i'm familiar with actually remove the supply, this one can only tell something else to remove the supply.

i was up at tesla last year and we talked about the power settings, it is something that can be simply controlled with a twist , but i'm not sure thats what it is.

John's probably right, that its a remote shut down.

[John Stimson]

I suppose they could be using it for just about anything with an on/off state, but the most obvious use would be emergency off.

[doma]

I've just recently noticed that the front caliphers on the Tesla are the same as on the elise but instead of 'Lotus' forged into them instead it's 'ap racing'. So, I guess ap racing makes the front 1 pots on the Elise?

cool pics. thanks.