Tesla's Battery Pack is Approved for Use in Consumer Vehicles by U.N.
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 08.10.07
Tesla Motors — the company whose stunning electric car we just can't seem to get enough of — has taken another step towards its goal of commencing deliveries of the 2008 Tesla Roadster to customers by this fall (but don't set your sights on getting one right away). Its Energy Storage System (ESS) successfully met all of the UN Testing Protocol's safety requirements — which included altitude simulation, thermal cycling, vibration, shock and external short circuit. The vehicle's power pack consists of 11 battery modules, a 12-V DC-DC power supply and a main control and logic board.
The ESS power pack, which consists of thousands of lithium-ion cells, has multiple layers of protection and a level of redundancy that limit the potential for short circuit currents. This is because each cell has an internal positive temperature coefficient (PTC) current limiting device. Each cell is also equipped with a current interrupt device (CID) that can break and electrically disconnect it in case of an excessive internal pressure incident prompted by over-heating (the car uses a 50-50 mix of water and glycol for cooling purposes). Because each cell has two fuses (one for the anode and one for the cathode), it can also separate itself electrically from the pack if either fuse blows.
As if those precautions weren't enough, the vehicle's microprocessors, circuitry and sensors — including smoke, humidity and moisture sensors — continuously monitor the pack's different voltages, temperatures and currents, and the pack's design has an array of passive and active safety features. If a particular threshold were to be exceeded, however, the battery pack's high voltage can immediately be disconnected from the car by a series of high voltage contactors.
For more information — especially about the more detailed tech/safety specifications — check out Tesla Motor's press release and accompany white papers. Here's hoping they start upping those production numbers soon.
Via ::Green Car Congress: Tesla Battery Pack for Roadster Meets UN Safety Requirements (blog)
See also: ::Location of First Tesla Store Revealed
Image courtesy of fogcat5 via flickr
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Uh-Oh: Your picture explains it all. Just another brat that has to take up 3 parking spots so as the rest of the real world won't even come near it. Never mind park in the same area.
I hope your kidding JC.. If you notice, there's orange cones around it.. I'm sure this was parked that way for a reason, like a demo. Since this isn't a production car, it's not like this picture was taken of some guy just driving to the supermarket.
Maybe Jason Bourne/David Webb/Matt Damon could drive a Tesla in the 'next' movie . . . they could call it The Bourne ReCharge.
I want one, I don't care where it's parked, I usually use the bike anyway.
Good Luck !
vsk
Maybe Jason Bourne/David Webb/Matt Damon could drive a Tesla in the 'next' movie . . . they could call it The Bourne ReCharge.
Yeah, that would be exciting! He could drive it really fast for a couple of hours, check into a hotel, and wait overnight for it to charge! Action-packed!
How long have we been talking about Tesla?
Jesus Christ...
Verizon is about the only place you can get the authentic RIM product and matching door. Most other sites are out of stock and even when they are in stock they have the black battery door which looks like crap. http://www.batteryfast.com/toshiba/
:)