This is a question that has been asked by many an amateur comedian to a TESLA owner. You know the one - they think they are HILARIOUS when they asks how you change the batteries?
Well, I'm going to reveal the secret - they are in the frunk!
What??! Yours didn't come with the spare batteries? Well, you should complain to Mr Musk immediately, post haste! See? I have proof:
To start the process, I had to decide what to use for the base. Piping? Tubing? Wood? What is the easiest to get? What is the easiest to work with?? Piping was out of the question, unless I could get an offcut - do we know any plumbers?? No. Do I want to buy a 3 metre length in order to get the correct diameter that would create a bunch of waste? Definitely no. Same with the tubing. Wood would have been heavy when finished, so this had to be excluded, too.......
I had to think about this for a bit..... Then, I saw it! An old pool noodle!! Lightweight, easy to cut, readily available - PERFECT!! But the proportion was all wrong. It was far too skinny for the purpose that we needed, but after a quick google search, I found that they make pool noodles in a JUMBO size!! And I could get them from our local Big W!! Winning!!
So, off we go, pick up a couple of noodles (I think they were $10 each?) and back home for Step 2. How big do they need to be?? I only had one shot to cut them up, so this had to be perfect. Originally, we were planning on only making two "batteries" but once they were cut, it was clear that three created a better visual illusion and filled the space better.
Math had to happen and so I started by cutting the noodle in half - they could be trimmed a bit more later. The best part of this is that these can be cut with a serrated knife and neatened with a file. Super easy.
Problem number one arises - the noodle is quite flexible, so how do I stop the noodle from bending? The noodle has a hole in the core, so a quick trip to Bunnings to buy a length of dowel in the correct diameter fixed this pretty easily.
Next decision to make - how do I cover the blue noodle to make it white? The eneloop batteries come in all different colours, but the classic colour is white with an electric blue logo. I experimented with white spray paint, but this was not working very well, as the pool noodle is some kind of extruded foam with a shiny finish and the paint simply did not stick. I had some white house paint which was better, since I could put it on a lot thicker, but it was clear that I would still need some kind of cover if it was to look uniform and flat.
I looked through my fabric stash for inspiration. Ah ha! I had some black stretch knit fabric, which was going to allow enough stretch to even out the textured surface of the noodle, but not become transparent. So, off to Spotlight I go, pool noodle in hand, in search of some appropriate white fabric. I tested a bunch of different stretch fabrics, from lycra to double knits, and found a two way stretch that didn't become transparent when stretched with enough thickness that smoothed out the imperfections of the noodle. I guess-timated the amount I needed, and home I went.
Next question - how do I attach the fabric to the noodle? I decided that I could just stitch a tube and feed the noodle into it. I just measured the circumference of the noodle and cut my fabric to this same measurement, so the seam allowance created enough reduction in size to make it tight. So far, so good!
Problem number two arises. The fabric slipped around a bit - well, actually a lot - so I needed to secure it somehow. Glue was not going to be the best option for the same reasons above. The noodle is soft, so maybe I could use sewing pins? I found some silver headed pins and ran a row up the seam of the tube, stretching slightly as I went. Perfect!
This also worked as a solution for what to do with the ends. The fabric was trimmed and many, many more pins were used to secure the raw ends into nice, neat little pleats. The plan would be to cover this later.....
Now for the logo part. My original plan involved using heat transfer vinyl pressed onto the fabric, but the tube was now already attached over the noodle, so this was no longer an option due to the risk of it melting the noodle underneath. I had to change tack and decided to use adhesive vinyl instead.
Time to put my Scan-n-Cut to good use. Thank goodness for the interwebs, as the logo had already been uploaded in a format that was cutting machine compatible, and best of all, it was FREE! This excluded the text under the logo, but this was easy enough to design in the SnC software.
Size testing time!!
This is starting to look pretty good. Time to order the vinyl and get cutting!!
After weeding the vinyl and tranferring it to tape, I used some masking tape to mark the level and centre point, so I can then transfer the vinyl onto the fabric, making sure it was straight.
Once this was done, it looked like it was missing something. Even though the proportion of the logo to the white space at the ends was reflective of the real life battery, it just looked like it was incomplete. This is when I created the + and - to add to the ends. This is based on the actual positive and negative design on the battery, but on the real battery, these are on the reverse side to the logo. I think this fills in the blank space well, and helps to explain why one of the batteries is reversed when "inserted" into the frunk - its exactly how it would be in real life.
Now for the ends..... How do we cover the mess created by the pinning of the excess fabric at the end? I used a scrap of craft foam to create a cover. Again, the SnC came in handy to cut the perfect circles, which were painted with silver paint. A selection of jar lids were then auditioned for the "button" end, but the larger lid looked visually better, even though this is not technically accurate to the scale of the actual battery. A much smaller lid would have been more in keeping with the scale, but it just looked strange. These were painted with a primer, then also painted with the silver paint, then glued in place.
And that is it! Or is it????
After testing them in the frunk, it was clear that the adhesive vinyl was not going to be as long lasting as I had hoped, as it started to lift off pretty soon after being added. I think this was partly due to the movement of the fabric and the nature of adhesive vinyl ie. this is not designed to go onto fabric permanently.
I searched around the house for a solution and found some clear plastic table covering, which would be perfect to cover the fabric and the vinyl. It would also add the glossy finish that the real battery has, while also adding a waterproof layer in case of rain. Once the plastic was cut to size, this was also attached using the silver headed pins across the back side.
And NOW they are done! Well, no, not just yet......
I needed a way to hold the "batteries" in place when in the frunk, since they would roll around without any supports. My original idea was to make a frame with half circles cutout for the cylinders to sit in - like a wine rack. This would work, but be bulky and difficult to design and store. Thinking cap on again.......
I had another idea - what about using the leftover pool noodle parts? What if this was cut into halves and quarters and used as blocks to stop the "batteries" from rolling around? Lets stew on this for a bit....
Remember the black stretch fabric I mentioned earlier? I pulled this out again and decided that I would cut the remaining noodle piece in half lengthwise and then one into quarters lengthwise. I could then cover it with the black fabric and it would be virtually invisible against the black frunk liner, with enough friction to hold in place. This would also allow it to be easily setup and put away. I used the same method as the "battery" itself, sewing the tube and using pins to cover the ends. It worked perfectly! The two half rounds sit between the batteries, and the quarters wedge in front and back. (You can just see the quarter piece sticking out at the bottom of the picture...)
I also decided to make a storage bag, so when the car goes on display, it can be setup and packed away quickly and easily. It keeps all the pieces together and makes it easy to stow away when not in use.
To be fair, this was not a challenge of my own making, but a request from the other half. He was super happy with the final result and has used them a couple of times already.
So, where DO you keep your TESLA batteries? In the frunk, of course!
FINAL OBSERVATIONS - Pool noodles are super versatile.
