If you're one of the lucky few who own a
Tesla Roadster, this will certainly be of interest to you. And, for the rest of us -- well, let's indulge ourselves in a bit of vicarious living for a moment, shall we? Eberhard's just made its rapid charger -- the Roadster Foundry Mobile Connector (or RFMC) -- available to order. The RFMC comes with adapters that will allow charging at 12, 16, 24, 32 or 40 amps, and a fully depleted battery will charge overnight when charging at 40 amps. All you need to do (owning a Roadster is the hardest part, no doubt) to get the newer, faster charger is send the standard MC120 charger the car came with, plus $960 to EV components, wait for the new RFMC to show up, then go back to your normal life -- you know, sitting on a desolate beach in your insane car watching the sun go down.
[Via
Autoblog Green]
posted Aug 6th 2009 3:37PM
when does the tesla s come out?
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cool-door-handles-on-teslas-model-s-2009-7
--- overkill?
http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php
-- deliveries start 2010.
My bad,
Deliveries start 2011. For only $49.900.00. :) Price includes $7,500 US federal tax credit.
If the door handle also did fingerprint recognition it could also be called a security feature.
This car was on Entourage! I mistook it as Lloyd's car.. anyways it's parked in the driveway at Vince's house at the very end of last Sunday's episode... WEIRD.
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2611/llloooyyydd.jpg
(I already tipped Engadget)
It will fully charge overnight? How long does it take to fully charge normally?
weeks
years
This seems like a better 'Rapid Charger"
http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/22/lightnings-120-000-all-electric-sports-car-unveiled-in-london/
The 240V 70amp home charger is ~4hrs. But the MC120 120V/30amp mobile charger that comes standard with the car is 30hrs on an everyday 120v socket, or in other words, dog slow, but the plus side I suppose is it will work in every normal power socket across America. I supposed compared to this 8 hours is rapid charging, esp for a 120v charger. Tesla does offer a MC240 240V/30 amp mobile charger that plugs into a electric stove or RV socket (NEMA 14-50) and that charges in about 8 hours.
http://shop.teslamotors.com/collections/charging
Normally for rapid charging you are talking about a DC charger that charges a battery directly and that usually runs at about 400 Volts. Something like that will only take about a half an hour to an hour to charge up a large battery like the Tesla's (80-120 miles of range in 15-20 minutes).
Here it goes the Tesla enthusiasm. Thank god for fuel cell.
Would that void the warranty?
can this be a recession antidote? i'd do anything for one... anything engadget.
Maybe for the charger, you'd have to provide your own Tesla.
i love this car!
I kept reading that as RTFM
RFMC, really?
You might a reading disorder.
Just like I have* a writing disorder :)
I think that's Calcanis' car in the photo shoot.
I'm also wondering what "overnight" means. Some people I know can't function without at least 8 hours of sleep. Video games and the internet only allow me about 5 hours of sleep a night. 3 hours of charge time is a big deal...
Good thing I got 2 of these cars and 2 chargers I will send one in tonight and when I get the new one back I will send the other out. The wife would kill me if I left her with out a charger. Really sucks to be this rich......
Dam my alarm is going off guess it is time to wake up ....
Will it work with Palm's Touchstone?
Also, since you have to send your old charger away before your new charger arrives, what do you do in the meantime?
Install a hamster wheel with dynamo
Saw a Tesla a couple weeks ago. It's a nice looking car.
Bit of an understatement, yes?
It's better looking then the pictures make it out to be. But it is a bit of a boat for me. If I wanted a roadster, I'd easily choose the Elise or the previous generation Miata when it comes to looks and size.
"If I wanted a roadster, I'd easily choose the Elise or the previous generation Miata when it comes to looks and size."
Ummm.. please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Tesla roadster *basically* a Lotus Elise with modified internals?
-- you know, sitting on a desolate beach in your insane car watching the sun go down.
Dang, and I thought the car was driving itself. Darn you, David Hasselhoff and your car of dreams!
Seems weird that such a basic charging system did not come standard with the car. Surely an overnight charging cable isn't that complicated?
Overnight! So fast.
You could buy a towable generator, and then charge as you go.
That is called the Chevy Volt.
If they ever release it. :)
Send in your old charger and get a new one...? So you can't charge your car while you wait for the new one in the mail? Nice.
If you have that much money, you can go on vacation someplace nice for a week while they fix up your charger.
Maybe they need to send one of these to the Top Gear guys to test out the new Tesla with.
So you are suppose to send your $90,000 cars only charger away and wait for a replacement?
I think I see a flaw with this.