I'm really surprised that we haven't heard more about the Model 3's motor. Elon Musk sent a tweet a few months ago that mentioned the Model 3's motor is "switched reluctance, partial permanent magnet". From what I've been able to gather, this motor is almost an engineering unicorn that is almost all benefit with almost no drawbacks. The were able to overcome (previously) inherent limitations of switched reluctance motors through hyper advanced software control of the motor. Surely Sandy Monroe's company knows all about this motor's construction from their teardown. Perhaps they didn't realize what they were looking at or they are keeping quiet on it?
Agreed. 334 miles EPA range from a ~75kWh battery pack AND 0-60mph around 5 seconds. Some of this is related to aerodynamics too, but the motor deserves a lot more praise than it’s getting.
It certainly is impressive. This is my first EV so I can only compare from articles. But I have a lead foot and, even so, I'm so happy with the range.
Only downside is that permanent magnet motors are more expensive and require rare earth metals. Other than that it does seem like it's the best motor ever though Very impressive.
Elon described the motor as "switched reluctance, partial permanent magnet". A switched reluctance motor doesn't require any magnets and the "partial permanent magnet" is believed to be much less than a traditional motor. So far I haven't seen a tear down, but I'd LOVE to see inside one of these.