"The Model X will only be offered as all-wheel-drive" - Elon Musk

[MikeL]

And yet, in the text above that, it says "Model X is offered with optional Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive." (emphasis mine)

You'd think that for a high tech company, they could get website refreshes correct ... (grumble, grumble)

I figure that when, without warning, Elon drops the little 'AWD only' bomb in London, some overworked Tesla IT guy got 'update the website - again' added to the bottom of his long to-do list.

Though they may reflect badly, in a small way, on a cutting edge company, these overlooked website mistakes serve to remind me of how many pans these guys have going on the stove right now and how impressed I am at what they have accomplished, so far. ML

 

[MartinAustin]

Though they may reflect badly, in a small way, on a cutting edge company, these overlooked website mistakes serve to remind me of how many pans these guys have going on the stove right now and how impressed I am at what they have accomplished, so far. ML

You have a very kind outlook. Admirable

Also I came back to this thread when I was reminded of Elon's comments about increasing battery size over time. Domenick already nailed it -

That was the claim during the initial reveal. I personally think it would be wiser to offer an 85 kWh and a 100 kWh version, though it would suck for those who need the lower price of the 60 kWh to get any Tesla SUV at all.

I think that, though the range hit might be small, it would be better to offer longer range than shorter.

I think 100KWh might be revealed late in the Model X marketing cycle (but before it's too late for Signature buyers to get it), and offered as a way to assuage critics who are looking at the increased weight and drag of the larger body work and complaining about decreased range. 60, 85 and 100 batteries would be available.

(the 100KWh would be offered on the Model S as well, whose base price would lower, but if you get the 100KWh battery it would end up costing the same as a current 85KWh battery Model S. it's my guess that they will continue to charge about the same amount for Model S even though battery capacity/range increases)

I think they are only doing AWD because to have sufficient acceleration out of a single RWD motor would require a larger motor/invertor. AWD allows you to use two smaller motors/invertors, that are the same inventory part - so you don't have to keep track of larger and smaller motor/invertors in Model X inventory. I believe that for any given 0-60 (and any given accelerative press of the pedal), two smaller motors drain the battery in a more efficient way than one motor driving two wheels.

IMO, this AWD business on the Model X will make it really hard for them to charge ten thousand bucks just for a higher-power invertor on the P85 Model S - when you get two invertors in the Model X.

 

[scottf200]

I think they are only doing AWD because to have sufficient acceleration out of a single RWD motor would require a larger motor/invertor. AWD allows you to use two smaller motors/invertors, that are the same inventory part - so you don't have to keep track of larger and smaller motor/invertors in Model X inventory. I believe that for any given 0-60 (and any given accelerative press of the pedal), two smaller motors drain the battery in a more efficient way than one motor driving two wheels.

IMO, this AWD business on the Model X will make it really hard for them to charge ten thousand bucks just for a higher-power invertor on the P85 Model S - when you get two invertors in the Model X.

You may want to browse through this thread and comments.
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...-motors-smaller-(less-powerful)-than-the-rear

 

[Herbys]

True. We should put this in the same box as getting rid of the 40 kWh Model S. Earlier, Tesla clearly felt the need to compete on price, but as there is no lack of demand, they can do what they want to get higher profits and really show off what electric cars can do.

Tesla does need to focus on price when it comes to the Gen III, though.

I see it somewhat differently. Many years ago, when I bought a cordless phone (rare at the time) my father asked why would I want a cordless phone. I replied "why would I want a cord"? I've seen this in many other areas (e.g. when I got my first phone with a color screen, and people wondered why I would want color in a phone screen). It all sounds obvious now, but at the time it usually wasn't. And here it is the same: a 2WD car is an imperfect car. Yes, doing 4WD involves tradeoffs, but a car on which only two wheels push and two wheels are dead is intrinsically less perfect than a car where all wheels work. The difference may be big for some uses and small for others, but it is still there. Tesla is set out to build the most perfect cars out there, and the 2WD version may be cheaper, but it is definitely further away from perfection than a 4WD version. My bet is that they decided that the tradeoffs were small enough to make it not worth to offer the less perfect version, like it would have been not offering electric windows or air conditioning.

 

[hileyms]

On another thread someone posted a video of JB Straubel giving talk in September (about 1 month before Elon was in London). JB Straubel | Energy@Stanford SLAC 2013 - YouTube At 17:06 there is a diagram of the 2 drive units of the Model X - Elon did not drop bombshell - he just told us what Tesla had already decided.

 

[JRP3]

We knew they would offer AWD, we didn't know it would only be AWD.