Tesla finds a solution to transmission troubles

The team at Tesla Motors has been hard at work attempting to prove that they can deliver a performance-minded electric vehicle to the world, but along the way they've hit a few bumps in the road. On top of recent organizational changes, one of the major hold ups on delivering the Roadster has been transmission issues. Their initial thought is to build the first production run with temporary single-speed boxes that will not live up to the proposed performance numbers, then modify the delivered cars once a solution arrives. Now it looks like the road ahead is getting smoother. It turns out that early adopters might not have too long to wait before they get their hands on the real Roadster. Tesla is reporting that through research and development of the WhiteStar sedan they happened to run across a solution for the drop top. They are dubbing it DriveTrain 1.5 and it should be submitted to testing next week.

DriveTrain 1.5 doesn't appear to be an easy fix, as it involves replacing the Roadster's entire powertrain. The electric motor is to be changed from an air-cooled motor to a more powerful liquid cooled unit and the power electronics will also be altered to supply the necessary increased current flow to the new motor. This adjustment will allow for the use of a single-speed transmission with a reduced gear design. The transmission is being developed and produced with the assistance of engineering firm Ricardo, which produces, among other things, the Bugatti Veyron's dual clutch gearbox.

[Source: Tesla via Autoblog Green]