Great post Charles. Very interesting. I certainly feel the way to accomplish a lesser replacement cost for the battery package is a series of batteries electrically connected instead on one monolithic device that must be completely replaced. (I am assuming lower replacement cost is the basic intent of the flat battery package.) Agreed, handling due to the lower CG is definite benefit but I have to think cost was the driving factor vs. overall performance. Do you have any specifications on the device itself? I would love to know more. Also, do companies like TESLA patent their innovative components and assemblies and does this battery pack have patent protection?
Tool_maker: You're criticism is on the mark. I'm the reporter, interviewer and camera man on these videos, and I wish I had done better. I'm still learning, but as you probably noticed in the beginning, I was having some trouble getting the camera to focus properly on the car chassis. A little more practice is needed.
Did anyone else find it curious that although the subject of the video was the battery, the overwhelming bulk of the video was the very attractive young woman's face? If this was shot at a car show the battery was there for anyone to see and presumably photograph, but we got only a momentary view of some flat white object that is/was supposed to represent the battery. What was the point of a video? Just curious.
I think we'll get more information some time this summer, Bob. The flat pack is an intriguing idea. The 18650-type batteries provide a lot of design flexibility that the Chevy Volt designers didn't have.
Always very interested in the technical details of 'things' (I guess it is just my 'inner engineer' coming out). I would love to see a lot more on the design of the battery pack for the Tesla S roadster. Lots of questions but not many answers! Of course, all of that detail might be propriatary information but I can hope!
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
On April 21, NASA launched a novel project, putting into orbit three satellites that employ an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone as the control system.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
