Plaid Cybertruck Is A Thing Says Musk!

[VolklKatana]

Even at 16 inches the CT will have a lower center of gravity than 8 inch Ice truck and at 8 inch clearance it will be better at cornering than ice 4 inch. Why do you think it would only be good at straight line? Vehicles can lower their center of gravity by 2 ways. Lower the entire vehicle or lower the weight distribution in the vehicle.

im not saying it wont be better than traditional ice vehicles, because it will be. Im just saying, if you wanted the best cornering electric vehicle out there, youd buy a roadster. Comparing roadster cornering to CT cornering is apples so oranges. Comparing the CT to ICE trucks is a fairer comparison, and with the CT's evenly distributed weight, it should corner better than all ice trucks. The main difference that is noticeable though will still be in the straighline acceleration though. I just dont see a lot of people running pickups around the track.

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[Dids]

im not saying it wont be better than traditional ice vehicles, because it will be. Im just saying, if you wanted the best cornering electric vehicle out there, youd buy a roadster. Comparing roadster cornering to CT cornering is apples so oranges. Comparing the CT to ICE trucks is a fairer comparison, and with the CT's evenly distributed weight, it should corner better than all ice trucks. The main difference that is noticeable though will still be in the straighline acceleration though. I just dont see a lot of people running pickups around the track.

Oh I see where you are going... yes I agree that plaid wouldn't be very useful if it's just faster acceleration motors, bigger batteries. CT is already fast beyond useful for everyday work. But I suspect plaid is a way to alter switched motor timing dynamically. This becomes useful as you can advance time motor fire to increase torque at launch and relax it to increase motor top rpm at speed. Yes this is great for racing but it's good for vehicles that carry loads too.

 

[Jacob]

Wow, good conversation you guys! I have a question though, why wouldn't they use switched motor timing on ALL of Teslas vehicles? Is it prohibitively expensive? I mean is it as simple as a software algorithm or are there more complex components involved (like variable valve timing in an ICE)?
On a side note, wouldn't it be cool if the plaid Cybertruck had subtle hints to it's bad assedness like ground effects and wicked wheels? (Think GMC Syclone vs stock S15). Functional but just hints to how wicked the truck truly is.

 

[VolklKatana]

Wow, good conversation you guys! I have a question though, why wouldn't they use switched motor timing on ALL of Teslas vehicles? Is it prohibitively expensive? I mean is it as simple as a software algorithm or are there more complex components involved (like variable valve timing in an ICE)?
On a side note, wouldn't it be cool if the plaid Cybertruck had subtle hints to it's bad assedness like ground effects and wicked wheels? (Think GMC Syclone vs stock S15). Functional but just hints to how wicked the truck truly is.

My guess it is just an algorithm calculated on the fly. And based on this, Im sure it can do that without breaking a sweat
Would be cool to see hints, but to be honest, seeing ANY Cybertruck on the road at any time, regardless of trim will be badass!

 

[PATEL]

I was thinking, if the Plaid Cybertruck turns out to be quad motor, good luck to Rivian. The R1T pickup's quad motors is its most important advantage over the Cybertruck.

 

[drcarric2650]

If the wheels will allow it, I would love for the air suspension to allow for 4 more inches of lowering, seems like it would improve range and handling performance.

 

[Dids]

Wow, good conversation you guys! I have a question though, why wouldn't they use switched motor timing on ALL of Teslas vehicles? Is it prohibitively expensive? I mean is it as simple as a software algorithm or are there more complex components involved (like variable valve timing in an ICE)?
On a side note, wouldn't it be cool if the plaid Cybertruck had subtle hints to it's bad assedness like ground effects and wicked wheels? (Think GMC Syclone vs stock S15). Functional but just hints to how wicked the truck truly is.

No I dont think it is expensive, just more difficult.. isnt plaid being invented right now? Since switched reluctance motors already need timing monitoring to prevent magnetic torsion problem, I think plaid is really just a software upgrade for Teslas that have PMSRM. The new motor thing comes from the model S which used different motor.

 

[Tesla4KShares]

?if plaid cyber is 4 motors, increases range to 600, has some other extra cool features and only adds $10k or so to tri price.... then I’m in for the upgrade. That’s my first thoughts.... ?‍

Same here.

 

[Tesla4KShares]

If there'll a Plaid CT in the future, I wish they will allow current Pre-Order buyers to upgrade to the Plaid version while keeping the current position in the queue... I hope.

 

[CyberG]

Don’t forget what Elon said at the unveil. He said the CT will corner like it’s on a rail. I’m sure the suspension he had in the unveil models were from a Model X. We won’t see the finished product until we see the finished product

 

[Jacob]

I'm starting to wonder if the "plaid" option will be more about battery cell tech than the motors/drivetrain. Perhaps Tesla has discovered a way to increase the maximum discharge rate of the cells without damaging them. Then they would have software that would unlock to allow this with these special batteries.
Maybe it's a trade off. You can have the standard batteries, or for an upgrade you can have the plaid batteries (albeit with maybe less life cycles) or you can get the "million mile" batteries for robotaxis. Maybe this will all be revealed in Teslas battery day event.

 

[Dids]

I'm starting to wonder if the "plaid" option will be more about battery cell tech than the motors/drivetrain. Perhaps Tesla has discovered a way to increase the maximum discharge rate of the cells without damaging them. Then they would have software that would unlock to allow this with these special batteries.
Maybe it's a trade off. You can have the standard batteries, or for an upgrade you can have the plaid batteries (albeit with maybe less life cycles) or you can get the "million mile" batteries for robotaxis. Maybe this will all be revealed in Teslas battery day event.

We know that it's a different motor from model S ac induction motor and that its 3 of them.

 

[ajdelange]

Wow, good conversation you guys! I have a question though, why wouldn't they use switched motor timing on ALL of Teslas vehicles? Is it prohibitively expensive? I mean is it as simple as a software algorithm or are there more complex components involved (like variable valve timing in an ICE)?

It is extremely complicated but it is all done in software. Each motor's rotor position is known and what the vehicle is doing (speed, acceleration, direction, obstacles...). Comparing this to what the driver has commanded (steering, brake, accelerator) the computers are able to compute the torque needed at each motor and send torque (and flux) commands to the motors (and individual friction brakes too if needed) every 67 milliseconds or so. There are loops within loops within loops. Once the flux and torque commands have been generated they are converted to signals to turn various transistors on and off connecting the battery to the motor windings for the appropriate durations and in the appropriate sequence. This switching is at submillisecond intervals.

This ability to "vector torque" may mean things like oversteer and understeer are a thing of the past.

In the later models Teslas the suspension gets included in all this. Thus handling may be much better than one would normally associate with a "truck". The laws of physics will still be the laws of physics but software may be able to damp out undesirable effects to an appreciable extent.

 

[TyPope]

I'm starting to wonder if the "plaid" option will be more about battery cell tech than the motors/drivetrain. Perhaps Tesla has discovered a way to increase the maximum discharge rate of the cells without damaging them. Then they would have software that would unlock to allow this with these special batteries.
Maybe it's a trade off. You can have the standard batteries, or for an upgrade you can have the plaid batteries (albeit with maybe less life cycles) or you can get the "million mile" batteries for robotaxis. Maybe this will all be revealed in Teslas battery day event.

I was just thinking the same thing... same motors and number of motors makes each model weight the main determining factor for speed, battery usage, etc. However, if the battery could discharge and charge faster, you'd decrease charge time, of course but you would ALSO increase the amount of regen that is possible. IIRC, regen is limited by the speed you can charge the batteries. What if, I don't know, Tesla invested in a company that made capacitors that could take that rapid regen and turn around and slow that down while charging the batteries? You could recoup almost 100% of braking as regened electricity instead of having to revert to mechanical brakes when regen output exceeds battery charge capability... Hmm....

 

[Dids]

I was just thinking the same thing... same motors and number of motors makes each model weight the main determining factor for speed, battery usage, etc. However, if the battery could discharge and charge faster, you'd decrease charge time, of course but you would ALSO increase the amount of regen that is possible. IIRC, regen is limited by the speed you can charge the batteries. What if, I don't know, Tesla invested in a company that made capacitors that could take that rapid regen and turn around and slow that down while charging the batteries? You could recoup almost 100% of braking as regened electricity instead of having to revert to mechanical brakes when regen output exceeds battery charge capability... Hmm....

Is the battery charge rate so slow that mechanical are used or is it that the generators dont have enough stopping power that mechanical is needed? Wouldn't a faster charge rate mean that generators turned even more freely so mechanical would be even more needed?