In the latest installment of his Model S Plaid teardown series on YouTube, “Teardown Titan” Sandy Munro gives us a detailed look at the high-performance all-electric sedan’s rear cradle, rear suspension, and electric drive module (EDM).
Munro and his team remove the rear cradle and drive module which, unlike the front cradle and suspension we saw in the last video, comes out as one big module, before walking us through each of the components, some of Tesla’s design choices, and differences as compared to the older, pre-refresh Model S.
Munro notes that Tesla has implemented a five-bar linkage for the rear cradle, a hallmark of high-end, high-performance cars. Overall, the teardown experts found the engineering and design remarkably cohesive and effective.
“To make this stuff happen, you’ve gotta have a different kind of a culture. And they’ve obviously figured it out over there,” said Munro, impressed with the apparent harmony between engineering choices that were clearly made by different teams working at Tesla.
Munro and his team also alluded to the possibility of the Model S Plaid’s rear module having backwards compatibility with older Model S units, which would potentially allow for the newer rear module to be transplanted into a damaged pre-refresh Model S.
The automotive experts also noted that the housing for the rear cradle in the car’s frame is also made up of more die-cast than older models, which is always good for strength and structural integrity.
Now that Munro and Co. have extracted both the front and rear cradles from the Model S Plaid, they will be taking a deeper look into the car’s body and frame in upcoming videos.
Munro’s teardown of the Model S Plaid has also shown us what the electric vehicle packs under the hood, and even gave us a detailed look at the Plaid’s 12V lithium-ion battery that fits in the palm of your hand.
