Tesla could outfit Model S and X with more efficient motors

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Tesla is reportedly planning a powertrain upgrade for its Model S sedan and Model X SUV based on technology developed for the Model 3. The new motors, which would give the EVs more range and boost power output, could arrive soon and help reinvigorate sales.

Sources familiar with the matter tell Electrek that new motors destined for the vehicles, codenamed Raven, are permanent magnet reluctance motors similar to what the company developed for the Model 3. Current motors are of the AC induction variety.

The publication’s sources claim the Model 3 motor can register an efficiency higher than 97 percent compared to just 93 percent for the Model S and Model X motors. The efficiency gap is said to be even greater in stop-and-go traffic.

The newer design could add up to a few dozen additional miles of range to each vehicle line, we’re told, and bump performance figures slightly. It could also accompany additional hardware upgrades to boost the charge rate, presumably resulting in faster recharges.

Sources didn’t have an exact date for when the change might occur but said it could happen relatively soon. Given the recent dip in deliveries during the first quarter, now could be the perfect time for Tesla to enhance the desirability of its Model S and Model X.

Tesla is also rumored to be working on an interior design refresh due out in the second half of 2019.

Lead image courtesy Sheila Fitzgerald via Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/79549-tesla-could-outfit-model-s-x-more-efficient.html

 

[netman]

Tesla can easily increase the range of its vehicles with a power management algorithm that could be a combination of software and hardware. Besides the motor efficiency that can be jacked up to 99 plus percent, the driving acceleration can be programmed to be an option for the drives. Saving that starting torque required to move the vehicle from zero speed to driving speed would save battery especially in city driving...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

How bought you outfit the Model S and X with better seats with heating, cooling and possibly massage?

The Tesla Interiors are LESS luxurious than the Chevy Impala's.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

How bought you outfit the Model S and X with better seats with heating, cooling and possibly massage?

The Tesla Interiors are LESS luxurious than the Chevy Impala's.

This seems to claim otherwise: https://youtu.be/i2O6GMpNWGo?t=14m16s

That’s after staying in/on the car for 2 days straight...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

This seems to claim otherwise:

That’s after staying in/on the car for 2 days straight...

I couldn't possibly care less what anyone on Youtube is saying.

I've owned better cars and I'm not impressed.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Increasing efficiency of a vehicle has a nice side-effect of increasing fill-up speeds because the energy storage size and fill-up time stays the same while increasing the range delivered by that same time or size.

 

[p51d007]

LOL, watch them start to cut back on the weight of the vehicle, just like they have with traditional fuel powered vehicles. Now, bump into someone and it's a multi-thousand dollar repair to replace all the PLASTIC.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

At what point do they introduce 2 speed transmissions to these electric vehicles? Given they make peak torque over a wide several thousand ROM band, and efficiency is best at 1-2K RPM, yet current electric cars sit far higher at highway speed. Surely that would result in a dramatic increase in range.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

LOL, watch them start to cut back on the weight of the vehicle, just like they have with traditional fuel powered vehicles. Now, bump into someone and it's a multi-thousand dollar repair to replace all the PLASTIC.

I doubt they will. Electric vehicles make full torque all the time, unlike a gas vehicle where additional fuel is needed to make more power, so reducing weight does little to increase range, as long as the electric motors are not having to strain under the weight.

Aerodynamics, OTOH, are far more important to long range. That's why most electric cars look so goofy, they are designed to be super slippery at higher speed.

 

[Evernessince]

At what point do they introduce 2 speed transmissions to these electric vehicles? Given they make peak torque over a wide several thousand ROM band, and efficiency is best at 1-2K RPM, yet current electric cars sit far higher at highway speed. Surely that would result in a dramatic increase in range.

The efficiency loss for adding a transmission to an electric car would be greater then any savings. If it were as easy as keeping existing transmission designs and modifying them for electric, Ford, GM, ect would have been the first to do so. It doesn't though and a majority of electric cards are direct drive.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

At what point do they introduce 2 speed transmissions to these electric vehicles? Given they make peak torque over a wide several thousand ROM band, and efficiency is best at 1-2K RPM, yet current electric cars sit far higher at highway speed. Surely that would result in a dramatic increase in range.

A transmission is designed to control the power from a rotating device (the engine).

The electric vehicles really don't need a transmission like ICE cars do because they have dual motors (Tesla's lineup) and control of the speed is easily handled with mass-less software.

Electric race cars need more than one gear more than a consumer car would.

 

[mbrowne5061]

So they switched to a permanent magnet design, which probably means expensive rare earth metals, to get an extra few dozen miles?