Andrew Amir has an article up on the New York Times about using a small fleet of Tesla cars to reduce air pollution near the Port of Baltimore. This idea is being implemented by companies in New York and South Carolina, and to use these vehicles to clean up air pollution, they’re using Tesla EVs powered by the same powertrain architecture that is used throughout the Tesla Model S. The idea is to generate enough power to run the cars for 4 to 6 hours (2 to 3 hours more than the standard Model S range) and then turn it on for air pollution reduction. Amir explains how the current battery pack on the standard models is designed to generate more power than is needed.
He points out that many of the powertrain components of the Model S and Model X battery pack are currently found within the batteries and internal cooling fans. When it comes to the internal battery pack, that’s not an issue. But when the range is longer, that can be an issue.
In short, when the battery packs become longer, they will create more heating and cooling of the battery pack. This could allow for more power to be generated from the cars. That’s how a smaller fleet of vehicles will be developed for environmental action (more on that in a moment).
However, I want to take a quick moment to note that there is some science coming out of the research and development work being done at Tesla right now. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Elon Musk article detailing how this is all going to work:
“The powertrain concept is not an entirely new, unique idea; the first generation EV with integrated hydrogen fuel cell pack was built by Toyota and a similar car came on the market in 2002. This type of powertrain is called a V-5 EV. V-5EV’s use a modular hydrogen powertrain, and in the mid-2000s, many companies began building such vehicles.”
In other words, if Elon Musk thinks this sort of a hybrid technology can replace the gas-powered car, then that’s a huge step for any EV technology. If this is true, then we’ll know next year when the first production version of Tesla’s Model S is expected to become available.
The Model S is currently sold in 3,600 locations in the US to begin with. If we take the same vehicle to be a “grid-powered” car that is also a carbon-neutral alternative to carbon-heavy (carbonated)