All Wheel Drive

For most people AWD is an added luxury and expense they don't really need. AWD should be optional for Gen III vehicles if they're to be priced to a specific low price point. I do think it should be an available option, though. I'd also like to see Tesla try their hand at independent motor drive. The handling you could get out of such a vehicle would be amazing! Can you imagine a gen III Roadster type vehicle with independent wheel drive?

No need for all Teslas to have AWD as standard. It just increases the base price. Not consistent with Tesla's mission.

AWD definitely should be an option on all Teslas. I hope it is not standard on the Model 3 SUV. The lower the base price the bigger the potential market and the more ICE vehicles are retired.

Heart of Gold said:

Since a car with AWD is better than a car with FWD or RWD

Objections?

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Yes I do not believe that this is a correct statement.

RWD and FWD are better than AWD in some circumstances. Weight being an easy one. Also simplicity. I really don't want two drive units in my car. I don't plan on any low grip situations where AWD would be beneficial.

Heart of Gold said:

Since a car with AWD is better than a car with FWD or RWD, all future Tesla models will have AWD.

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I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. RWD is the best. RWD + snow tires is plenty for any car like the Model S in the winter.

jaguar36 said:

I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. RWD is the best. RWD + snow tires is plenty for any car like the Model S in the winter.

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I found in last year's brutal winter that my Model S with Nokian Hakka R2s did amazingly well. My last car was a Cadillac CTS with AWD, and I do notice that when powering through dry corners with the Model S, it feels like it is kind of "plowing" through the corner whereas the Caddy would just power and pull right through. I'm not sure if it was due to a lighter car, the AWD or both, but the Caddy did handle the corners better.

One of the advantages of AWD is it can become a RWD car at any time. Tesla should offer this capability on the Model X.

Also hypothetically, if the FWD or RWD drivetrain failed, the car should still be able to continue on, and go into a sort of "limp mode". That should improve the perceived reliability issues.

Telemachus13 said:

In circumstances where RWD or FWD might perform better than AWD, the car can simply free-wheel one motor, and essentially become RWD or FWD temporarily, so Dual Motor AWD has no performance disadvantages (except possibly from weight when cornering).

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But will it be able to? And will it?

Telemachus13 said:

Cornering in the AWD version with the front motor off would probably not be as good as in the RWD version, but using the front motor even a little should hopefully make up for that.
The weight from AWD reduces efficiency in ICE cars. In the Model X Dual Motor AWD actually increases efficiency (start at 56 seconds).

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Well it will help be more efficient, and can possibly recover enough energy to compensate for the added mas ~50-100kg I would guess. But mass still makes the car worse in other ways.

Telemachus13 said:

I'm sure that Tesla will tell you that Dual Motor AWD is still substantially mechanically simpler than a 2WD ICE powertrain, and that many of the situations where AWD is most useful from a safety standpoint are exactly the type of situations that you didn't plan for (at least that's how I would market it).

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Well more simple than an ICE power train is great. It is still much more complicated than a RWD or FWD vehicle. Espically considering they will be using an 'electronic' differential (front/rear). And are seemingly implying different drive ratios for each drive set. In an emergency situation having a consistently responding vehicle is safe. Having AWD doesn't always do that.

Telemachus13 said:

I respect your opinion, and I will agree that the cost and complexity are good reasons to pass on AWD in an ICE car. That said, if Tesla though those were compelling reasons offer an 2WD electric car, why did they drop the RWD version of the Model X? That is the main reason that I believe that standard AWD has a decent chance of making it to the market in the Model 3 as well.

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I respect your opinion that AWD is always better/preferable to FWD/RWD. But that statement is not fact as you stated. The obvious reason why Model 3 wont be 100% AWD is cost. Which is the other major drawback of AWD, beyond weight. It will be present but as an option, and perhaps required/standard on the Performance version.

And they dropped RWD on the Model X because the SUV market has expectations of AWD and faux-off-road abilities. The sedan market is completely different.

For winter or 'mud season' use my ideal MS would have a TINY front drivetrain that would kick out at ~15 mph similar to HIGH suspension position. It could NOT work unless you first put it in HIGH. So it would rarely be used on highways, certainly not when there is any traffic. Just enough power to assist in slippery hill climbing at slow speeds.

99.9% of the time the MS is perfect just the way it is now wrt braking, traction control, acceleration, cornering, etc.
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Simplicity is key. The entry Model 3 will have RWD simply to meet Tesla's price target. AWD will be an option although whether it will be available right away is not certain.

Telemachus13 said:

I don't remember saying that, or even implying it, and if I gave that impression, I sincerely apologize. It is most certainly not the case that AWD (in general) is always better/preferable to 2WD, nor even that Tesla's Dual Motor AWD is always better/preferable to 2WD (I readily admit that cost is an issue that Tesla has yet to present a solution to). I was merely trying to point out that Tesla's Dual Motor AWD does not have all of the exact same disadvantages as traditional ICE AWD, so the same old arguments that work against ICE AWD may not work as well against Dual Motor AWD.

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Sorry I confused you with Heart of Gold who I originally responded to. I disagreed with his statement that AWD was better than FWD or RWD.

mknox said:

I found in last year's brutal winter that my Model S with Nokian Hakka R2s did amazingly well. My last car was a Cadillac CTS with AWD, and I do notice that when powering through dry corners with the Model S, it feels like it is kind of "plowing" through the corner whereas the Caddy would just power and pull right through. I'm not sure if it was due to a lighter car, the AWD or both, but the Caddy did handle the corners better.

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Probably a bit of both. The four rubber contact patches don't care what kind of engine you have, but they do care about total weight. That's the difference 1000lbs will make