Except maybe of a lab somewhere, Elon Musk says, “The Plaid carbon wrapped motor is arguably the most advanced motor on Earth outside of maybe a lab somewhere. We have to keep some secrets!”
A couple of hours back, he just replied to a tweet about Physics being “the search for truth”. And hours later we see him talking about the Tesla Plaid Motor.
Carbon wrapped motor
Wrapping the motor with Carbon is not as simple as it sounds or looks like. As explained by Elon Musk, the concept behind it is that carbon and copper have different thermal expansion. And by wrapping up the result will be desired thermal expansion.
However, it is a difficult job to have the extremely high-intensity wrap on the rotor. As said by Elon, “As far as we know, this is the first time there has been a production electric motor with a carbon-coated rotor. This is an extremely difficult thing because carbon and copper have very different rates of thermal expansion. To have a carbon-coated rotor, you need to wrap it with extremely high intensity and this is extremely difficult to do.”
And he also replies on a tweet as below.
The Plaid carbon-wrapped motor is arguably the most advanced motor on Earth outside of maybe a lab somewhere. We have to keep some secrets!
We have a few ideas for increasing torque & max rpm even further for new Roadster. Definitely fun & exciting engineering ahead!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2021
And it was interesting to know “we have to keep some secrets”. Meaning Tesla possibly is still working on advancing the technology further.
Going for higher speeds
For making the carbon-wrapped motors, Tesla specially designed a production machine. Which is a small highly efficient engine with a speed of 60 mph in 2 seconds. It is a small machine that can be lifted in hands but can accelerate a 2-ton car.
Furthermore, Elon Musk talks about going for higher speeds with the carbon wrap. As he mentions about the motor being made by the Tesla Production machine. He further adds that the carbon must be wrapped to the motor in compression. So that the carbon wrap doesn’t loosen later in the expansion.
Main advantage of this is a much stronger EM field compared with a rotor that is held together by metal (usually high strength steel).
Other advantage is that rotor can go to higher RPM, as carbon sleeve (mostly) stops copper rotor from expanding due to radial acceleration.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2021
Clearly, it isn’t just that Tesla made the fastest production car that can fly. But also plans to defeat its own records. Which is when the concept behind their technology plays a big role.
The motor with an electromagnetic field is super-efficient. And has tight gaps at super high revolutions (RPM). Carbon Overlap holds it all together.
While every autonomous driving technology was going for complex LiDAR technology with lasers, Tesla is going for camera-based tech. Their approach has always been the same, to make it simple yet effective. Also, their dry-electrode coating technology is also an interesting concept, reducing the water consumption of the Giga Berlin factory.
