Written by Laurel Fullerton
As an engineer on the Power Electronics Module (PEM) team, my experience with the Roadster primarily consists of what’s going on under the hood (so to speak). While I have a fairly solid grasp on how the PEM performs its duties of charging the battery and driving the motor, I had no idea how thrilled customers are with the final product.
My day started off at the Los Angeles store where I met a number of Roadster owners. I was impressed with how well they already knew each other and the camaraderie they shared. It didn’t matter how long the customer owned a Roadster – there were early adopters as well as someone who owned her car for less than a week – their common experiences with such a unique vehicle bound them all together. As they parted ways, they made plans to meet up again at an upcoming rally.
Some of the customers I met joined us on the first leg of our grand adventure. I even rode with a customer between Los Angels and Palm Springs in a lovely white Roadster 2.0 Sport with blue racing stripes. It was really fun to listen to his experiences with the car and share my knowledge of how the hardware and firmware in the PEM make it all happen.
While I love engineering and design work, it’s great to take a step out of my usual role at Tesla and apply what I know in an entirely new way, broadening my horizons. This trip gives me a chance to present the work of all the engineers at Tesla Motors to everyone we meet along the way. It’s refreshing to step out of the lab for a bit and see how all of our hard work comes together in a final product that people love.
Tomorrow, we leave Palm Springs, driving east towards Phoenix. We’ll arrive at Xavier Prep, my high school, to talk about careers in engineering.