Magna Powertrain installed a motor at each rear wheel of the P100D to improve its danceability.
This car is not a Tesla Model S. It looks and sounds like one. The electric motors make it eerily quiet, except for the whine. Three Motors? Magna Powertrain is a Michigan-based outfit that designed the logos for this car. They removed Tesla’s dual motor running gear from its Model S and replaced it by an in-house system with three motors. One for the front wheels, and one for each of the rear wheels. The Magna E1 is now the name of the system. There’s a way out of this madness.
Magna’s new powertrain includes a front and back battery, as well as individual motors for each of the wheels. A report by Roadshow by CNET states that each 140 kilowatt motor generates 188 horsepower, for a total of 564. Magna’s E1 can torque-vector itself through corners better than the standard Tesla. However, it is less powerful than the P100D in Ludicrous Mode.
Or, Road Show believed it after taking a test drive at Magna’s facility. Straight-line acceleration was comparable to a P100D. However, the beefy car responded better in corners, turning in more force due to the different power levels provided by each rear wheel to rotate the car. Although there are no hard measurements, the theory has been confirmed on cars with similar torque vectoring systems.
Magna does not plan to make the E1, so if this intrigues you, don’t bother to pull out your checkbook. The company wants to demonstrate the system, even though it is a technology demonstration. Next week, the E1 will be displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show. We suspect that many manufacturers will be interested to learn more about the three motor electric setup.