[brian_]

Here's a bit of technical information, but I'm not sure that it meets the intent of the "Technical Discussion" section...

As reported by Electrik.co, since January Tesla has been showing both standard RWD and Dual Motor AWD configurations of the Model 3 in the online configurator. The Dual Motor image is attached. Note that as usual in Tesla's configurator layout images, it is a view from above with the front of the car to the left.

What I find interesting about this is that

• the rear motor is ahead of the axle line, unlike the Model S / Model X configuration
• the front motor is still behind the axle line, so the two drive units are not laid out the same
• the front and rear units shown are not the same thing just rotated about the vertical axis, judging from the motor size and housing details

The configurator appears to offer only RWD and AWD options, with no distinction between "Performance" and standard AWD, so it seems likely that there is only one rear motor size (as currently used in the RWD), so in Model S/X terms there will be no "small rear motor". In the image, the front motor is clearly smaller than the rear motor.

For those not interested in buying a Model 3, the significance is:

• Model 3s are on the road now, and as they are wrecked their (rear) drive units will provide a salvage source of drive units configured for mid-rear motor mounting, rather than only overhanging rear motor mounting from other Tesla models.
• When AWD Model 3s enter the salvage stream, they will provide a choice of configurations (motor ahead of or behind the axle line) within Tesla components.
• While the motor-leading rear drive unit is configured like almost every other production EV, it presumably doesn't have the inverter stacked on top like most, which could be handy in some conversion installations.

As with the Model S/X, the drive units are in subframes with typical modern suspensions (double A-arm front, multi-link rear), so there is always the option of using the entire suspension and drive assembly in a conversion. This will be more practical with the Model 3 than with the S or X, due to the newest model's more reasonable width.

 

[brian_]

An earlier article
Electrek: Tesla Model 3 to have smart air suspension with dual motor next year, says Elon Musk
showed the front drive unit from a different perspective. The motor is very high, so the overall unit is roughly as tall as a Leaf motor with inverter on top (but without the charger on top of that). The rear unit has much more potential for those trying to package the powertrain under a floor.