- Tesla has considered a tri-motor Model 3 internally, but it probably won’t become the next Plaid model.
- Lars Moravy says Tesla’s best performance hardware is currently being aimed at the Roadster.
- A Model 3 Plaid would need more than just extra power, like major brake and cooling upgrades.
With the Model S and Model X now retired, one obvious question hangs over Tesla’s performance lineup: where does Plaid go next? The Model S Plaid was the car that turned Tesla’s already quick luxury sedan into something absurdly quick, using a tri-motor powertrain to deliver acceleration that is still almost unbeatable nearly five years later—it’s faster than the new four-motor Ferrari Luce, for instance.
But Tesla no longer offers a Plaid model and hasn’t announced plans to introduce one. However, during an appearance on the Ride The Lightning podcast, Tesla’s engineering boss Lars Moravy revealed that he thinks about putting the Plaid powertrain into a Model 3 “all the time.”
He then goes on to talk about carbon sleeves and permanent magnet motors, which sounds like actual engineering speak rather than just humoring the podcast host’s question. That’s a reference to the drive units for the Plaid powertrain, whose rotors are wrapped in a tightly wound carbon-fiber sleeve, allowing it to achieve higher rpm.
What makes this interesting is that Moravy is not a marketing executive. As Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, he is one of the few people who can speak credibly about whether a tri-motor Model 3 is just enthusiast daydreaming or something Tesla has seriously considered internally.
He then pivots to talking about the Roadster, a more natural destination for Tesla’s most advanced and most powerful motors. He says the Roadster is the first product where Tesla can think about implementing a purely performance-focused powertrain, even though he jokes they can’t fully get efficiency out of their brains.
The current Model 3 Performance is already seriously quick, with Tesla quoting 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds for the U.S. version—the Euro model is marginally slower. But a real Plaid version would be a totally different beast.
A Model 3 Plaid would not just be a Model 3 Performance with another motor bolted in. Moravy’s own comments made that clear. He described the idea as a “work for reward” decision. That means making a faster Model 3 is not just a question of whether Tesla can make it work, but it also has to be worth the engineering time and cost.
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Source: Andrei Nedelea
Moravy says the Plaid powertrain was originally developed for the 2017 Roadster prototype before being pushed into the Model S after Porsche set a Nürburgring benchmark with the Taycan. That paved the way for the Model S Plaid to be created, but it also showed how much the upgraded supporting hardware matters.
Moravy recalled early Plaid testing when a prototype’s carbon-ceramic brakes caught fire after a single lap and a hard stop. The production Model S Plaid initially arrived without carbon-ceramic brakes, and early track use quickly exposed the mismatch between its colossal acceleration and its stopping power.
Tesla eventually offered upgraded brake kits for the Model S Plaid, including carbon ceramic brakes that cost a whopping $20,000, making the car far more suitable for track use.
But a Model 3 Plaid would be a considerably lighter vehicle, and while it too would need bigger brakes than even the Performance has, with power levels much closer to the old Model S Plaid than the current Model 3 Performance, it would still be easier to stop from high speeds.
A Model 3 Plaid sounds almost obvious from the outside, because Tesla already has the badge, the motors, and a car that would make good use of both. A Model Y Plaid would probably also get a lot of people excited. However, Moravy seemed pretty reserved about a production prospect, even though he clearly finds the engineering challenge tempting.