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Model 3 Highland Performance/Plaid Speculation [Car announced 04.23.2024]
- Thread starter Daniel L
- Start date
The motors and software are the biggest limiting factor for increasing the acceleration in the Model 3 Performance. They may also change the battery slightly but I guarantee they will change the motors and the launch if they make it substantially quicker.
Sweed269
Member
Currently they have some overhead in the new rear motor. Straight form an engineer at tesla.
Getting the best times requires a near full battery at the right temperature. There is a big fall off in performance with a lower charge or cold battery.
I highly doubt they change the motors or the battery.
Better dampers and lightweight unsprung/rotating mass makes a huge difference in all aspects of performance.
They could easily get the 0-60 under 3 secs.
n2mb_racing
Active Member
It would make sense to port over the carbon sleeves from the plaid motors. They are model 3 motors anyway. But then they'd have to gear down to take advantage of it, and that seems like too large of a change from the base 3. I'd guess they are battery limited.
Although, interestingly, charging the 3 is at a higher C rate than the S. However, the S Plaid discharge C rate is higher than the 3.
"Plaid" can just be a brand. Like when the 3 series gets the M treatment...doesn't mean an M3 and M5 use the same powertrain or have the same power.
Tiger
Active Member
Hmm.. are they going to put it up against the new Taycan? That would be something.
Which is the point. Plaid doesn't mean a speciifc 0-60 or quarter mile, or 3 motors, or carbon sleeved rotors, or anything. So saying:
Is completeley empty. Nothing stops Tesla from selling a Model 3 RWD with a wing on the back as "a plaid".
There is zero way a $60K M3P is going to run a 7:07 at the 'ring, so this is pointless. Even a Model S Plaid needs a $20K track pack to run a 7:25.
Eveyone thinking making the Model 3 too quick such that it eats into Model S sales is off their rocker. Plaid is a 1.99 second / 200 MPH / 9.5 second car, and those numbers matter a lot. They can make the M3P a 2.3 second / 175 MPH / 10.0 second car and it won't cut into Plaid sales at all, and if they price it $10K over the base M3P, they might actually make more money on it than a Plaid. But it won't be that quick anyway.
GreenHokie
Member
Honestly, I haven’t researched the used market enough offer a good opinion. But, my guess is around $25K for trade-in and around $30K for direct/private sale.
Tiger
Active Member
Plaid doesn't cost much more than that. Maybe the new M3P is going to have track pack option as well? The Taycan isn't free either.
Unsprung mass doesn't affect acceleration anymore than any other static mass does.
Yes, they could definitely make the current car slightly quicker. Mine already does 0-60 mph in 2.83 seconds the way they measure it(1 foot rollout). However, everyone expects it to accelerate at high speeds like a 4,000 lb 500+ or even 600+ HP ICE car would. For that they will at least need a new motor if not two new motors. The current motors can't do that in the Model 3.
I honestly think the battery capacity will change slightly simply because they will want the range to stay at 300+ miles. With wider tires I don't think the car would stay above 300 miles of range without a little more capacity(~85 kWh).
How quick do you think it will be? Just curious what your thoughts on this are.
I mean it depends on what they're performance targets are, but using the MSLR as a benchmark, I think they can probably pull off a sub 10s 1/4 mile with a trap at 130 by throwing a permanent magnet motor upfront.
I could see them going for a carbon sleeved rear (and maybe front too) for marketing purposes though
Just changing out the front motor alone wouldn't achieve a sub 10 seconds 1/4 mile. Remember, the max HP that both motors can pull simultaneously depends on the battery's max discharge rate. If you swap out the front motor for a more powerful one then you also would have to up the max discharge rate of the battery.
However, if you kept the same max HP value but changed the motors so that they could sustain max HP higher into the rev range then you wouldn't need to change the battery for anything except cooling and you would increase top end acceleration drastically. The front motor is actually the motor that limits the top end acceleration the most. It falls off a cliff after the peak HP rpm. That motor has to change at the very least in order to improve the top end acceleration significantly.
Sweed269
Member
Lighter wheels effect acceleration. Stock performance ones are too heavy.
Less unsprung mass effects suspension performance and handling feel.
Yes, unsprung mass affects handling for sure. However, far too many people think unsprung mass is what affects acceleration. Rotational mass affects acceleration more than static mass.
