Model 3 Teardown - What's under the Frunk?

[aronth5]

Interesting to compare engineering approaches between the front of the Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt.
Appears Chevy relied pretty much on how they build their legacy cars and ported it to the Bolt.

 

[03DSG]

I'd prefer to see the cabin filter on the intake side of the blower to prevent dust and dirt from building up on the centrifugal blower. As dust accumulates, noise will increase and performance will deteriorate.

Agreed. You can still have filter access in the cabin on the intake side. Honda’s do as well as others.

 

[ℬête Noire]

Interesting to compare engineering approaches between the front of the Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt.
Appears Chevy relied pretty much on how they build their legacy cars and ported it to the Bolt.

Pretty sure they used the Aveo frame as the design starting point. Although they definitely reworked it to an extent, it's not truly a "ground up EV" vehicle in the way the Tesla M3 is. Not that that is particularly good or bad for the end result/user's experience, as long as you go far enough and don't let historic baggage lead to bad choices.

Also remember that because the Bolt is FWD you want to keep weight biased to over the front wheels, contrasting to having bias to the back for the RWD Tesla.

 

[JRP3]

You could put a pretty fine mesh screen there to keep the big chunks out.

Like mice and chipmunks!

 

[03DSG]

Replacing the Model 3 Cabin Filter

 

[BigD0g]

Take off the rear bumber and look for a radar....

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

I added a 3rd video:

Here's the playlist: Model 3 - YouTube

As time permits, I'll add more.

There indeed are zero fuses on the 12v side. All circuit protection is performed solid-state, which in practice means a transistor (MOSFET) is used to switch all the loads, and the body controllers monitor the current going though each of these and in the event of an overload, it just switches off the transistor. It's much faster and safer, and allows a more reliable and easy to diagnose car. It is more expensive, but this was needed to make the M3 fault tolerant to achieve full self driving with confidence.

That storage space where front motor should be so hard to access. Tesla is the worst!

 

[ℬête Noire]

That storage space where from motor should be so hard to access. Tesla is the worst!

It's a feature, less likely for Customs Agents to find it.

 

[Peter Egan]

I'm working on some videos showing how the M3 is put together. Here are my 1st two:

This is a timelapse of the 1st one:

More to come...

This view of the equipment under the frunk is brilliant in that it shows there is plenty of scope to package this equipment into one large subassembly and drop it into the car in one go with a few hose and cable connections. Obvidusly, the mechanical stuff - suspension, steering, brake discs and callipers, wheel hub and electric motors should be one subassembly on its own. The battery should be another subassembly. All the other stuff under the frunk and the master computer could be another subassembly. Bigger subassemblies allow the final assembly line size to be cut by 75%. The machine-tat-builds-the-machine functions far better with larger subassemblies and a short final assembly line.

 

[JRP3]

Like mice and chipmunks!

Since I've had issues with both in other vehicles I took another look at the video and noticed there is a screen inside the air intake duct:

I assume there is some sort of grate/screen over the opening when the frunk liner or trim are in place.

 

[hacer]

Interesting point. The 3 is supposed to be Tesla's first permanent magnet car. That means it's phase locked - the inverter phasing always matches the motor speed, with the slip angle between them determining the torque.
...

There is no way that the slip angle is allowed to vary except for when they explicitly want to generate heat. They modulate the amplitude of the current to adjust the torque while keeping the phase constant at the peak torque angle.

 

[Ulmo]

Not sure how I feel about the spin on oil filter for the drive unit. A transaxle shouldn't be generating that much debris that it would need a filter.

I remember reading that Tesla figured out they needed this near the beginning of Model S, or similar. I do remember reading about it somewhere related to Tesla. It's one of those things they found they needed.

 

[Ulmo]

Interesting to compare engineering approaches between the front of the Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt.
Appears Chevy relied pretty much on how they build their legacy cars and ported it to the Bolt.

View attachment 281059

View attachment 281060

That's a mess!

 

[Ulmo]

No cabin filter at all? Hopefully one inside, it's been a while since I've had a filterless car. We get a lot of pollen here in season and it's bad enough what comes in just opening the doors much less sucking it in via circulating "fresh" air.

Anyone confirm that on other Model 3's? Can an additional filter be added successfully and have the system still work right?

 

[insaneoctane]

Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread, but is anyone else disappointed that the cavernous volume reserved for the front motor on the AWD is NOT available as frunk for RWD?

 

[doubleohwhat]

Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread, but is anyone else disappointed that the cavernous volume reserved for the front motor on the AWD is NOT available as frunk for RWD?

I'm not surprised by this due to the S being built the same way.

 

[iwannam3]

Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread, but is anyone else disappointed that the cavernous volume reserved for the front motor on the AWD is NOT available as frunk for RWD?

Looks like an opportunity to a 3rd party supplier to form up a big frunk for the 3 and the obsolete RWD S'es. Would people pay $200 to put more junk in the frunk?

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

$200's a bit much, but I'd like to see someone fab a bracket that would bolt to the two points shown in the video. There might be enough space for a donut and maybe a small toolbox, but it's hard to tell.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread, but is anyone else disappointed that the cavernous volume reserved for the front motor on the AWD is NOT available as frunk for RWD?

That empty space isn’t as huge as that very close up video made it look. Not sure how you would access it, there are a lot of things in the way. I’m not disappointed. You have to remember that the Model 3 is the cheaper car. Compromises had to be made.

 

[ℬête Noire]

$200's a bit much, but I'd like to see someone fab a bracket that would bolt to the two points shown in the video. There might be enough space for a donut and maybe a small toolbox, but it's hard to tell.

Access would be a bear for any “toolbox” larger than one of those 8oz packs of cold cuts. Hard to get to it, tight squeeze to bring stuff through all the lines, equipment, etc bolted in above it...after you get frunk liner out of the way. Bring it out underneath? Ug, like crawl under to retrieve?

I was only 1/2 joking about Custom Agents having a hard time getting to it. The non-joking half is they’d likely spot it as oddity with an undercarriage wand then your day/life goes to sugar....and, I’d totally never sm¥ggleanythingdontputmeonthelistokplease.