In the latest installment of his Tesla Model S Plaid teardown, Sandy Munro deconstructs and walks us through all three of the electric motors that power the luxury sedan.
The highlight of the motor teardown is the fact that most of the components of the Model S Plaid’s electric motors are not only the same as those in Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, but also maintain forward and backward compatibility.
“This is good engineering,” said the “Teardown Titan” as he demonstrated the forward and backward compatibility of the Model S Plaid’s inverter.
“This is forward and backward compatible. This is what I like to see when I see products manufactured, and designed, and put in the hands of the people who are going to basically live with this.”
The inverter also adds yet another failsafe designed to cut power to the motors. Tesla has baked emergency mechanisms for power cutoff into the battery, battery management system, and more, and the failsafe in the inverter acts as an additional line of defense.
Munro went on to laud Tesla’s use of “premium” gaskets for each of the motors, which the automotive expert said he doesn’t see often.
All three of the Model S Plaid’s electric motors feature the same stator as the Model Y. We also get a detailed look at the Model S Plaid’s carbon-sleeved rotor, which will reportedly also be incorporated into Tesla’s rumored ‘Performance V2’ trims for the Model 3/Y.
