This Week in Tesla: Bidirectional Charging to Teslas & The First Convertible Model 3

Tesla Brings Bidirectional Charging to Teslas -

Electric vehicles are good in almost every way imaginable… but they can put a lot of strain on the power grid. Fortunately, it turns out that EVs can actually help the power grid. A recent study shows that fleets of EVs could actually help save owners money by only charging their cars during off-hours. Many electric companies bill customers a different fee per kW depending on when they use their electricity. Peak hours of electricity use is typically in the early evening, when people are getting home from work, cooking, and using their HVAC systems. Teslas currently give owners the ability to plug the car in, and have the car be plugged in, but not charging except for certain hours. This can help EV owners save even more money on powering their cars. Additionally, the study found that if EVs could actually send power back to the grid, it would be even more beneficial. If there is a hurricane, or another event that causes a blackout, utility companies could potentially pay homeowners for feeding electricity from their car to the grid. This would also be more beneficial for the individual owner if they have a Tesla Powerwall because this means that they can power their own house during a power outage.

The First Convertible Model 3 -

Although Tesla once made the roadster, and will soon make another one, there is not currently a convertible Tesla model available for purchase. Luckily, a company called Newport Convertible Engineering has made the dreams of EV convertible fans come true. The conversion isn’t very cheap though- it is $30,000 on top of the price of the original car. The converted cars do go through rigorous road and water testing to ensure that it can function as a normal car, without sacrificing the car being waterproof or having ridiculous amounts of wind noise while travelling at higher speeds. Thankfully for safety, Newport Convertible Engineering claims that there is no structural rigidity sacrificed in the conversion. Although the car might not be the prettiest, nor what Franz von Holzhausen and Elon Musk envisioned, it is fun to see something new in the otherwise relatively plain design of the Model 3.

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