Martin Eberhard provides further details Tesla Roadster design changes
Over on the Tesla corporate blog CEO Martin Eberhard has put up a post elaborating on some of the design changes to the Roadster that led to its weight gain in going from first prototypes to validation prototypes and on to production. In developing new cars most companies today do a lot of simulation before building prototypes. That goes a long way toward getting the basics down but there are a still a lot things only get found in real world testing. As I wrote in this article a couple of months ago a lot time, effort and miles go into getting a car ready for production. The fact that we are hearing that Tesla has made design changes as a result of testing, is actually a testament to the work they have done. There was a time in the not so distant past when a certain Hethel, England-based manufacturer along with many other small makers would regularly ship cars to customers that fell apart in normal use due to a lack of testing. Even though this Roadster won't go as far as originally intended, the fact that we know now and can see the reasons why show that Tesla is serious about this business. It also bodes very well for WhiteStar. The lessons learned from this first effort will surely be applied to the sedan earlier in the program and should result in a better car.
[Source: Tesla Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Schmeltz 11:03AM (4/19/2007)
I cringed when I first heard this announcement, but am more at ease after reading Martin's full blog about the range decrease. Although the decrease in range is substantial, I don't believe that this will be crippling to their Company nor destroy their credibility. I applaud Martin's willingness to be open and forthright about the subject at hand. Lets hope there aren't futher suprises of this nature.
One thing I would like to add is that it appears Tesla is seeing first hand how difficult it is to design and build a machine for the masses that meets ALL of the safety requirements of a modern automobile. Sam Abuelsamid had a very good editorial a while ago on this site regarding this very subject, in that it is far more difficult than one thinks to produce a successful and durable car in today's environment. Many posters commentted how his editorial was simple apologetics for the Detroit companies. I think Sam was right on in that article. It is far more difficult than most of us realize to build a car that covers all of the bases, and is just plain good enough to last for years and years. Things like this that Tesla is experiencing should clearly demonstrate to the armchair quarterbacks that building an EV, or any vehicle for that matter is complex and challenging. Keep that in mind next time you want to blast Bob Lutz or any other Automotive figurehead. Their jobs are a lot more difficult than most of us realize.
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