# idea - sharing energy between tesla cars



## Nazar (Nov 20, 2017)

seeing as the nissan leaf is capable of giving energy back to a house, what is stopping tesla cars sharing energy? if a car has run out of power why cant another tesla pull up and transfer power to it? (would need a special cable, but i have jumper leads for ICE cars) This would save the cost of a flatbed truck, help with range anxiety especially in Australia where we dont have much supercharger infrastructure , the driver could call up a friend or send out an SOS to all nearby tesla drivers (and pay a fee for help to a responder).. I really like tesla and want to see it succeed and spread quickly, i watch anything i can about tesla, but alas there is no Tesla yet in Western Australia 

also i want to be clear that i am not asking about tesla cars sharing house energy (i am sure tesla is working on it)...
I have no idea if this is possible, but it seems like a good idea to me - can anyone give me some ideas if it is a good/bad/not possible. thanks


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

Like siphoning gasoline from another car?


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## Nazar (Nov 20, 2017)

BluestarE3 said:


> Like siphoning gasoline from another car?


ok, not sure if you are missing the point or giving an anology.

the idea would be when a tesla is stranded on the side of the road, if you have the cable - you could specify how much energy to give eg. 20% (enough to get them to the next charging station).

here in country Western Australia, people are very helpful, and i think most Tesla people would be - for me it is as much about saving the planet/health as well as being fantastic cars


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

Nazar said:


> ok, not sure if you are missing the point or giving an anology.


Analogy. Similar in concept to siphoning gas from a "rescue" vehicle and adding it to the tank of a car that has run dry.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Nazar said:


> what is stopping tesla cars sharing energy?


Engineering resources. They simply have more important things to concentrate on. There's a real risk of them going out of business if they can't produce the Model 3 inexpensively and start to actually make money.

So, we're not going to see:

car-to-car power
car-to-home power
TOAD mode (which is what I'd really like to see)
Number 1 and 3 in particular are mostly about software changes (number 2 probably requires new hardware), but they don't have the resources to spare for something that mostly won't be used, and won't increase sales.


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## Nazar (Nov 20, 2017)

@BluestarE3 thanks for the clarification  just the way it sounded i thought "maybe he means stealing energy" - unless the car giving energy specifies to give, it wouldn't happen  thanks again for making it clear...



garsh said:


> There's a real risk of them going out of business if they can't produce the Model 3 inexpensively and start to actually make money.


i totally agree, they need to concentrate on the things that matter - just thought this was something they could put on the back burners if it was a good idea 

do you really think tesla is at a risk of going out of business? i just thought it was just the media propaganda again, once the truck event was shown i thought "he really knows what he is doing, i don't think he is too worried about going under". one thing i am concerned about is if they go under within 5 years - i really think tesla needs to be around for 5 years to make a true transition to renewables.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Nazar said:


> seeing as the nissan leaf is capable of giving energy back to a house, what is stopping tesla cars sharing energy? if a car has run out of power why cant another tesla pull up and transfer power to it? (would need a special cable, but i have jumper leads for ICE cars) This would save the cost of a flatbed truck, help with range anxiety especially in Australia where we dont have much supercharger infrastructure , the driver could call up a friend or send out an SOS to all nearby tesla drivers (and pay a fee for help to a responder).. I really like tesla and want to see it succeed and spread quickly, i watch anything i can about tesla, but alas there is no Tesla yet in Western Australia
> 
> also i want to be clear that i am not asking about tesla cars sharing house energy (i am sure tesla is working on it)...
> I have no idea if this is possible, but it seems like a good idea to me - can anyone give me some ideas if it is a good/bad/not possible. thanks


Love your idea. I doubt Tesla will go for it, but I can see them adding this capability to their Ranger trucks to "jump" folks with a dead battery.
I had a similar idea for cell phones, where my friends often had phones dying and mine is always at 90%...using a cable or wireless back to back to give them some juice.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Nazar said:


> do you really think tesla is at a risk of going out of business?


Yes. They're currently in a very precarious position. They've borrowed a *lot* of money in order to quickly put together a production line for Model 3. They are burning through cash at a very high rate because of this. We've been told (or at least, I've been led to believe) that the Model 3 will be the car that actually turns Tesla into a profitable company. Production delays for the 3 make that goal harder to achieve, while they continue to burn through cash.

At some point, Tesla either has to 1) make a profit, 2) borrow more money, or 3) go bankrupt. If #1 doesn't happen, I think it's more likely that #2 will happen than #3, but it's not out of the question. It looks like Elon has a lot of wealthy connections who believe in his mission and would help keep the company afloat. But at some point, you've got to imagine that everybody's patience would run out, and #3 becomes a more likely outcome.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

garsh said:


> Yes. They're currently in a very precarious position. They've borrowed a *lot* of money in order to quickly put together a production line for Model 3. They are burning through cash at a very high rate because of this. We've been told (or at least, I've been led to believe) that the Model 3 will be the car that actually turns Tesla into a profitable company. Production delays for the 3 make that goal harder to achieve, while they continue to burn through cash.
> 
> At some point, Tesla either has to 1) make a profit, 2) borrow more money, or 3) go bankrupt. If #1 doesn't happen, I think it's more likely that #2 will happen than #3, but it's not out of the question. It looks like Elon has a lot of wealthy connections who believe in his mission and would help keep the company afloat. But at some point, you've got to imagine that everybody's patience would run out, and #3 becomes a more likely outcome.


I did hear they've tried to slow (or limit) the spend while the production levels remain low. Not sure how much if at all this has helped, but clearly they need Model 3 mass production to start ASAP!

Also, massive deposits and prepayments for Roadster probably didn't hurt


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

SoFlaModel3 said:


> Also, massive deposits and prepayments for Roadster probably didn't hurt


Yeah, that's a sizable chunk of change.


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2017)

Running out of charge is extremely unlikely. Less than once per year. And probability that there
is a "helping hand" closer than a tow truck is extremely unlikely. That "helping hand" will ask
at least as much as tow truck.
There is absolutely no reason to invest into anything more than 2-3€ per vehicle for that operation.
And just the cable every Tesla owner should carry costs at least 200€. That's for passive cable.
One that has just male-male plugs. Cable has a weight. Which is pretty much
dead weight in every Tesla. Also onboard charger can not convert DC to AC. It is not possible
to send DC without controller in the cable (active cable). That will cost a LOT.

There is no way to make that happen. There is no reason to make it happen.
Idea is not realistic and not reasonable*. End of the line.

*it costs more and is less useful (takes hours) and is more polluting (dead weight) than regular tow 
that is relatively reliably available to everybody.

Idea is comparable with "how about everybody adding a spare to their Tesla". No. The end.
Once a year. Dead weight. Takes often more time than tow. Still requires fix.
Paranoid people should get the spare and have it at home. Or run on runflat tires.


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