Torque vectoring?

Not yet, but possibly in the near future.

At The D reveal last Thursday, Elon suggested that thanks to the new electromechanical braking system on cars now, they could do some cool things through software updates later on, like torque vectoring.

it will definitely be a feature eventually. and unlike most cars today with torque vectoring, it will be "active" and not "passive".

(passive torque vectoring is provided by the brakes, or slowing the inside wheel down. active torque vectoring is provided by increased power to the outside wheel, no brakes involved. read: better!)

Active torque vectoring can only be done with an active differential or four motors. Any toque vectoring on Model S will be brake based for the foreseeable future.

But yeah, I would _love_ a four motor Model S. I'll go on record here saying that's the one thing that would get me to ever trade-in my P85D.

EarlyAdopter said:

Active torque vectoring can only be done with an active differential or four motors. Any toque vectoring on Model S will be brake based for the foreseeable future..

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oh my bad... I thought the current motors had differentials on them....

Chuck P85D said:

oh my bad... I thought the current motors had differentials on them....

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They do, but they're just open diffs.

Chuck P85D said:

it will definitely be a feature eventually. and unlike most cars today with torque vectoring, it will be "active" and not "passive".

(passive torque vectoring is provided by the brakes, or slowing the inside wheel down. active torque vectoring is provided by increased power to the outside wheel, no brakes involved. read: better!)

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Not true. My Acura RDX sends more power to the outside wheel to push the car around a corner as opposed to brake the inside wheels to drag you around the corner. All done in the axel. Works like a charm. I find that I don't need in my Tess.

TDial said:

Not true. My Acura RDX sends more power to the outside wheel to push the car around a corner as opposed to brake the inside wheels to drag you around the corner..

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That's why I said "most", not "all". Next time, try reading with more effort and precision.

I owned a 1999 Honda Prelude Type SH back in the day. Active torque.

But the fact remains that brake-torque vectoring is more prevalent, primarily because it's cheaper/easier.

Yeah, I had a 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD (before the Tesla) that was pretty sweet with the torque vectoring. It was a very nice car, for an ICE.

If I remember correctly what Elon said a few months ago, the D will have a smaller turning circle due to front and rear motor working together to augment the turn. (I can imagine this specific function works more comfortably on slippery surfaces). But it is a sort of torque vectoring.
Active front to rear torque vectoring should work at speed too, with the correct software.

Chuck P85D said:

That's why I said "most", not "all". Next time, try reading with more effort and precision.

I owned a 1999 Honda Prelude Type SH back in the day. Active torque.

But the fact remains that brake-torque vectoring is more prevalent, primarily because it's cheaper/easier.

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Sorry about that. The thing I do miss on my Acura is the passive. The active is great when accelerating. But decel can end up in front end plow. Thanks for correcting me.