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Tesla Model Y's battery is 771 kg. The motor in Model Y weights about 45 kg, about three times as much as the motor in the article. By reducing dual motor configuration weight from 90 kg to 28 kg, we reduce total powertrain weight by 7%.


The new motor is also much more than double the power output of the Model Y motor, so the second motor and its wiring could be eliminated completely.


No, because that second motor gives you AWD. Sure that's a feature you could go without...

But torque and power were never the limiting factor for an EV. You would only benefit on a track, and if you're taking a model Y there...


That's a great point I neglected, thanks. I bought a M3 with dual motor option mainly for the AWD.


You’d need to add back in an all wheel drive powertrain. A typical drive shaft is 20 to 50 pounds (9 to 23 kilograms)

The motor is high torque, so I’d expect the drive shaft to be on the heavier end of that.

I’m not including the other power train components, but it’s easy to imagine it all adding to more than the weight of a second engine + wiring.

Also, having one more complicated power train is probably less efficient than two simpler ones, which implies a bigger battery.


And shouldn’t it be possible to make the battery smaller with a more efficient motor?


It is not indicated anywhere that this particular motor is more efficient than older ones in terms of the electric force conversion.

This new motor is more powerful, that's it.

Nothing was said about cooling or voltage requirements. The latter is important because higher voltage is more dangerous to work with or be near.


Ah ok, that makes sense


The battery could be made smaller by whatever amount is needed to carry the marginal motor weight the advertised distance.


Unfortunately incremental weight is not a big power user in BEVs so it likely would make no meaningful difference.




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