Rumor: There will be no single motor Cybertruck! RWD model will be dual motor.

[VolklKatana]

As you like but if you order the truck that is listed as "single motor" expecting to crawl under there on delivery day and find a second one you are going to be disappointed. If you shell out $7K for FSD and expect to get full self driving you are going to be disappointed. People with more reasonable expectations are not going to be disappointed.

I ordered a tri motor (3 or 4 motor) with FSD, not expecting it to drive me to drive me to work day one, but expecting that the technology to make it possible is there. Add in 500+miles of range and 2.9 0-60(as advertised), there is no way I could possibly be disappointed.

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[ajdelange]

Actually, that is going to be completely true and I meant to mention it but forgot. If you are like most of us you will be so thrilled with the experience of driving an electric vehicle that you will wind up as an apologist for Elon. You really won't care that the autopilot doesn't really work. Even an old cynic like me who has very limited expectations for the autopilot based on experience with the current Tesla technology and some knowledge of AI have ordered it for my CT and am about to order it for a new X. Thus if it does ever actually do what Tesla has promised I will get a pleasant surprise. I should also point out that the autopilot does do some of what it promises to do all the time and all of what it promises to do some of the time. It can reduce fatigue on a long trip appreciably as long as the traffic is thin enough that you aren't sitting bolt upright with a death grip on the wheel for fear what it might do in heavier traffic.

As for the motors: clearly there are some advantages to 4 independent motors with respect to torque vectoring. Thus Rivian's design. You can be sure Tesla has been studying this. At the moment they have decided that 3 motors is the optimum design within their trade space, that is what they intend to do and that is what they will sell in the TriMotor version. Should they, between now and production, decide to go to 4 motors you will hear about it right away. The extra motor would be something to brag about, not something to conceal.

 

[TeslaTony]

Just thinking Elon....and wanting to be the best.. Do you think that if they are going to do a dual motor (base model), then dual rear and single ?front? (next model), so my Tri motor order should be a quad motor! 0-60 in....WOW!!!! Can’t wait, ??

 

[ajdelange]

My guess is that they will do the TriMotor first as it will be the most complex. I'm guessing that it will have two motors in the rear and one in the front. I do wonder what the mix of IM and PMSRM will be. I doubt we will find two different types on front or rear. Perhaps they will all be PMSRM as I believe is the case with the Semi. Then, logically, they will go to the AWD dual motor and finally the single motor rear wheel only drive.

 

[KWTESLA]

Old Tesla fans will tell you that witch looks like a motor is actually a inverter and power control unit that is round like the motor . This might be where the confusion is coming from ? Tesla kills in power efficiency because they keep wires short and locations close.

 

[ajdelange]

Astute observation! The title bar at the top of this page shows a motor assembly. One of those cylinders contains the motor and the other the inverter - not a second motor.

You can put the inverter anywhere you want, of course, but you must run two wires to it from the battery and three wires from it to the motor. Copper is expensive and so, from that point of view, you want the inverter as close to the motor as possible. There are going to be I-squared R losses in the copper between the battery and stator wherever you put the inverter but the current from the inverter to the stator is high frequency (40 to 80 ? kHz) and that means additional losses from skin effect and wire inductance. Not to mention the radiation of noise up to a couple of MHz. Thus the smart thing to do is put the motor and generator in the same can. The efficiency gain by doing this might be small but as it confers other benefits as well it is clearly the way to go.

[Edit]Forgot to mention that the motor, inverter and gear box all generate heat and are on a common coolant loop. Having these components close to one another simplifies the plumbing for that.

Where Tesla really kills in efficiency is in the motor design. The PMSRM has no squirrel cage I^2R losses because it has no squirrel cage. It has no rotor hysteresis losses because the direction of the rotor flux does not reverse. I think I have seen 97% efficiency claimed for this motor as opposed to 93% for Tesla's older IM (don't take those numbers as gospel).

 

[Dids]

This thread is so much speculation about something that goes against what tesla is accepting orders for. 4 motors torque vectoring is not that useful for most driving. If torque vectoring is needed it would be most useful on the steering wheels which would mean 1 motor in the back on all the models. 2 and 3 have a motor upfront with 3 getting torque vectoring instead of differential. Tank turn is nice for tight spots but really turn radius is just as important. Tank turn wouldnt work on hard surfaces at low speed smoothly. It is a artifact gimmick from Rivian and I bet no one ever uses it outside of playing. 4 wheel steering is better than tank turn and Chevy discontinued it because in the end it just isnt that useful and rear wheel durability and strength is traded for the steering. I dont need gimmicks, i want useful things like ladder rack, pass through, long range battery, quick charging, laser windshield wipers, bullet proof glass, power tonneau, ramp gate and a kitchen counter for a dashboard.

 

[ajdelange]

The current Teslas have pretty good torque vectoring with 2 motors.

 

[dano0726]

+1 with Dids, but want to add a solar tonneau cover to take advantage of this Texas sunshine...

 

[Nomogas1]

I am anxious to hear more updates about the CT. After all, this just a rumor. Tesla and Elon will not disappoint potential customers for sure.

 

[Jackrabbit87]

I am anxious to hear more updates about the CT. After all, this just a rumor. Tesla and Elon will not disappoint potential customers for sure.

What's that saying ... If you don't set your expectations high, you'll never be disappointed.

 

[Quicksilver]

I ordered the two wheel drive version but I'm going to upgrade to the 4wd. Depending on what the Credit Union says I may go full bore and get the three motor and self-driving mode.

 

[CompMaster]

Anyone else go to Tesla.com recently and cant find the CT link in the top? but if you type it in the page is still there? I tried it out to see if any news about the motors there, no update.

 

[Cyber_Dav]

Anyone else go to Tesla.com recently and cant find the CT link in the top? but if you type it in the page is still there? I tried it out to see if any news about the motors there, no update.

Discussed lots. Use menu icon (3 horizontal lines) in top right corner. Still there.

 

[CompMaster]

Discussed lots. Use menu icon (3 horizontal lines) in top right corner. Still there.

Dang i thought i was on something, lol thank you for the guidance!!