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Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

teslamotors.com

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Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#51

Post by ghc »

001sky wrote: post #35

Kudos for an engineering led solution. I have no idea what "ballistics grade aluminum" is (since nobody uses ALU for ballistics armour##), but Ti has more inherent toughness# and seems a better fit as a skid-plate. # elongation and tensile strength. ## The ballistic standard for armour (RHA) is a 1/4 steel plate. Ballistic Alu is roughly 1/2 inch or double the thickness used here, in most applications.

It's probably a reference to the increasingly common use of aluminum plate armor in military vehicles. Aluminum has some distinct weight advantages that make it ideal for light armor.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#52

Post by crusso »

sz4kerto wrote: post #3

"However, to improve things further, we provided an over-the-air software update a few months ago to increase the default ground clearance of the Model S at highway speeds" I know this is not specific to Tesla, but it's still really cool. :)

I realize that the suspension isn't unique to Tesla, but over-the-air software updates seem to be. It irks me to no end that I'm told that my Infiniti can't be updated to even work properly with my iPhone, much less the fact that they want to charge for gps map updates that are essentially free from Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#53

Post by Varcht »

eiji wrote: post #11

I'm sorry but my first reaction is "What a waste". Titanium is ridiculously expensive for various reasons. The best these engineers could come up with is to put a sheet of metal under the car? You got to be kidding me. I see why they have to use Titanium for it, anything else doesn't work, but it shows how far away this car is from reality and from true mass production.

Titanium alloy sheets are not that expensive. Something like what is shown in the video is probably less than $500. Seems like a pretty good value if it protects the batteries from damage on a $60,000 car.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#54

Post by unphasable »

zacharycohn wrote: post #5

"We believe these changes will also help prevent a fire resulting from an extremely high speed impact that tears the wheels off the car, like the other Model S impact fire, which occurred last year in Mexico. This happened after the vehicle impacted a roundabout at 110 mph, shearing off 15 feet of concrete curbwall and tearing off the left front wheel, then smashing through an eight foot tall buttressed concrete wall…

This is written in a semi-sarcastic/ passive aggressive tone to get across the point of how safe their vehicles already are. Very cheeky of Elon and his team.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#56

Post by 001sky »

Retric wrote: post #49
001sky wrote: post #35

Kudos for an engineering led solution. I have no idea what "ballistics grade aluminum" is (since nobody uses ALU for ballistics armour##), but Ti has more inherent toughness# and seems a better fit as a skid-plate. # elongation and tensile strength. ## The ballistic standard for armour (RHA) is a 1/4 steel plate. Ballistic Alu is roughly 1/2 inch or double the thickness used here, in most applications.

Think tanks not people. Aluminum is far cheaper than what you would put in armor vests but still light and strong. Ceramics are arguably better overall, but combining the two is a net win. Anyway, ballistic grade aluminum actually does refer to something and is probably better for cars which don't have to deal with anti tank rounds. EX: http://www.cliftonsteel.com/aluminum-armor-plate.html

Yeah, I hear you but 1/4 inch is not bulletproof. Its like saying "ballistics grade sand". Which in sufficient thicknesses, is bulletproof =D.

"MIL-DTL-46027 is supplied as a 5083-H131 product. Ballistic reports are supplied for thicknesses over 0.499" per specification. Our stock range is 0.250" thru 3". Typical stock size is 72" wide x 144" long."

Similar qualification for

MIL-DTL-46063 REV H OR LATEST

http://www.cliftonsteel.com/aluminum-armor-plate.html

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#57

Post by unphasable »

symmetricsaurus wrote: post #21

"With a track record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries since our vehicles went into production six years ago, there is no safer car on the road than a Tesla." I don't doubt that the Tesla Model S is a very safe car as tests have shown. With that said, how many deaths and serious injuries would have been expected considering the same number of miles driven with normal cars? Are Teslas actually substantiall…

food for thought: http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-model-...

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#59

Post by whizzkid »

doe88 wrote: post #8

Why would Elon choose to post on Medium and not on the blog of Tesla? It would definitively bring more credence to post it on their official website. Until reading near the end I wasn't sure it was a Tesla employee/official or a third party story (and I use the term story here and not article on purpose because usually on Medium it is more stories than facts ).

Kimbal Musk is CEO of Medium and his brother. I guess that is enough to explain why :)

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#60

Post by Varcht »

Varcht wrote: post #53
eiji wrote: post #11

I'm sorry but my first reaction is "What a waste". Titanium is ridiculously expensive for various reasons. The best these engineers could come up with is to put a sheet of metal under the car? You got to be kidding me. I see why they have to use Titanium for it, anything else doesn't work, but it shows how far away this car is from reality and from true mass production.

Titanium alloy sheets are not that expensive. Something like what is shown in the video is probably less than $500. Seems like a pretty good value if it protects the batteries from damage on a $60,000 car.

Also metal under shields are quite common as vehicle upgrades and not as novel as you might think.
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