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Tuesday, April 22, 2025

This battery pack makes Tesla Roadster 400 lbs lighter, but it surely ain’t low cost


A battery pack producer has launched a brand new resolution for Tesla Roadster with getting older battery packs. It might slash the automotive’s weight by about 400 lbs, but it surely’s not low cost.

In some ways, the Tesla Roadster sparked the electrical automobile revolution.

It was the primary commercially obtainable shopper EV with lithium battery cells – enabling over 200 miles of vary on a single cost.

The automobile had comparable or higher efficiency than many different gas-powered autos in its section.

The Roadster had its drawback. It was a suboptimal resolution because it was nonetheless closely based mostly on the Lotus Elise and never designed from the bottom as much as be electrical, but it surely did its job as a proof-of-concept.

Tesla solely manufactured about 2,000 of them between 2008 and 2011 earlier than transferring on to the Mannequin S and different automobile packages that have been constructed to be electrical from the bottom up.

Regardless of being 13 to 16 years outdated, many Roadsters are nonetheless doing properly. Electrek’s personal Jamie Dow drives his day by day. That’s regardless of Tesla not doing something with the Roadster program since 2017 when it launched the Roadster 3.0 alternative pack.

Battery expertise has improved lots since then, and an organization has determined to make the most of that and provide a brand new battery pack for Tesla Roadster homeowners.

re/cell, a Texas-based provider of remanufactured battery packs for EVs, has unveiled a brand new Roadster battery pack that goals to slash a whole bunch of kilos off of the sports activities automotive.

In contrast to Tesla’s newest autos, that are geared up with skateboard-like platform battery packs, the Roadster has a pack that sits behind the seats within the again and the modules are within the form seen above.

It does trigger issues with balancing the burden of the automobile.

The pack is ready to obtain the Roadster’s peak energy output, but it surely ought to be much more enjoyable to drive by shaving as much as 400 lbs off of the automotive’s authentic 2,877 lb (1,305 kg) weight.

It does include a decrease vitality capability than the unique 53 kWh, however you must have the ability to obtain very related vary (over 220 miles) because of the effectivity acquire from the burden loss.

Listed below are the total specs of re/cell’s new Roadster battery alternative pack:

  • Peak Energy Output: 260 kW / 285 kW
  • Weight Financial savings: as much as 400 lbs / 180 kg
  • Quantity Financial savings: 3.7 cu ft / 100 liters
  • Vitality Capability: 38 kWh / 47 kWh
  • Rated Vary: 220-240 miles / 350-390 km
  • Cell Kind: 18650 / 3500 mAh
  • Cell Configuration: 31p99s / 39p99s

re/cell describes among the enhancements that they have been in a position to make to the pack:

The revolutionary cooling-block design is a single-piece molded core with Palladium-class cooling ribbons for improved cooling and temperature administration. The contact space for warmth switch is 50x bigger than the cooling tubes used within the authentic Roadster sheets and the general floor space for cooling and heating is now greater than double. No extra vacant cooling voids permitting for decent spots or uneven cooling or heating – all the cell is now totally encapsulated and temperature managed!

Nevertheless, this provide shouldn’t be going to be for everybody since Roadster homeowners must be keen to speculate $28,000 of their getting older automobile, which is the value of the pack for those who give your current pack to re/cell.

Curiously, the corporate can be excited about providing different upgrades that may be enabled by house freed up by the brand new pack.

For instance, re/cell believes it could be simpler to make the pack able to DC fast-charging. liquid cooling for the PEM and Motor 

Electrek’s Take

I actually loved driving the Roadster 3.0, and I’d be curious to see how a lot better it could deal with with 14% much less weight.

There are simply no different electrical autos on the market that weigh simply 2,400 lbs. Even a Fiat 500e weighs practically 3,000 lbs.

I can’t look ahead to small electrical sports activities automobiles round 2,500 lbs. They need to be a lot enjoyable and it feels like this, regardless of not being designed from the bottom up for it, may very well be an attention-grabbing preview.

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