Zoomi Life

I know that I’ve touted the Tesla a lot and tend to use it as a benchmark for other electrics, but there’s a reason for that: it rocks. Why? Because it goes fast, does so for a long time, and looks cool. My biggest beef with it is its price tag, but that’s neither here nor there.

Tesla has announced that the Roadster will be seeing some upgrades and improvements in the 2009 and 2010 models, mainly having to do with the transmission and drive train. “Transmission?” You ask. Ya, betcha didn’t know the Tesla has a two-speed transmission that they’ve locked into second gear for performance and maintenance reasons. Guess what? Turns out that was slowing this car down.

Wait…the car that does 0-60 in 3.9 seconds is getting faster?

Yep, although that acceleration speed will stay the same. What changes is the quarter mile numbers, which go up about 30% (making it now 12.9 seconds).

So what’d they change?

Little things. They’ve improved the drive train with another one-gear transmission, but this one helping the motor deliver higher torque values. The motor itself also sees improvement as does the inverter and other items. Here’s the new spec sheet for the changed items:

• An improved inverter (PEM) to deliver higher motor current
• An improved motor to handle higher current and torque
• A new single-speed gearbox
• A new motor to gearbox coupler and an improved motor cable
• Upgraded vehicle firmware
• Weight of gearbox reduced by 8kg while improving strength

All these changes mean that the Roadster’s now labeled the “1.5” (same car, new innards). You can read more detailed information on the upgrades on Tesla’s website.

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