Tesla Model S: The Laptop batteries pack

Tesla's Model S is slated for production in 2012. This slab is the battery pack for the upcoming Tesla Model S. Tesla's first production car, the Roadster, had a boxy shaped battery pack designed to fit right behind the seats of a Lotus Elise, the chassis that Tesla uses for the Roadster. Tesla has not specified how much the Model S' battery pack weighs, but it looked bigger than that in the Roadster, which comes in at close to 1,000 pounds. (Credit: Tesla) Chief Engineer Peter Rawlinson explained to us that the battery pack also serves to help the Model S' torsional rigidity and safety. Although the battery pack is a large slab that makes up a key component of the car's structure as well as powertrain, Tesla is designing it to be swappable in one minute. Tesla boasted during our tour that its battery packs have the highest energy density amongst all electric vehicle competitors, and the company is constantly working to improve that density. Even though competitors have designed batteries in different form factors, the Tesla battery pack, relying on what are essentially laptop batteries, still gives its cars greater range because of this higher density. A liquid cooling system helps maximize the life of the battery packs, which Tesla sets out 7 years/100,000 miles, although its warranty for the Roadster is only 3 years/36,000 miles.