AWD vs TRI-MOTOR Longevity | Solid-State Battery Upgrade

[Macgyverfever]

39 year old here (see *FYI below as to how my age is relevant). I have a two-part question:

1) If one chooses the AWD over tri-motor, which one will be expected to last the longest assuming a driver with a heavy foot and/or hauling a near-max heavy load?

2) If one wishes to upgrade their no rust multi-million mile drivetrain-based CT to a solid-state battery in the future, will this be within the realm of possibility; can such a structural battery pack be replaced (assuming the solid-state battery pack itself is also structural)? I assume yes since in the event a user's CT battery dies under warranty they wouldn't expect to scrap the entire truck, but I would still appreciate your thoughts?

*FYI I'm using this information to decide if whether or not a tri-motor is still worth it considering my goal to drive CT as my one and only for the rest of my life. Thanks!

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[DeadSetElectric]

I’m getting the beast as it will be my only vehicle and payload will be maxed with overlanding stuff. The dual would easily do this but I wanted to go fast and torque vectoring is nice on road.

 

[TexasRaider]

By the time the battery gives out, you’ll benefit more from just getting a new vehicle.
It’s just like replacing the engine to a truck. You “might” want to only change out the engine, but you would get so much more out of the truck if you replaced the whole vehicle.
It’s a high probability that you won’t be able to retro - fit the current CT battery with a solid state in the future.
I thought about doing that with my 17 MS, but it’s better money for a new MS as compared to just a new battery in the 17. (Nothing wrong with my current battery after 114k miles, but just want current performance aspects.)

 

[Coltpete]

I also am also considering keeping the stainless steel CT body for the rest of my life. I think these will be so unique there will be a demand for retrofitting structural batteries even if it is very expensive. I think it will also be significantly less expensive than buying a new CT or car at that time. We just won't know for a long time so plan for the worst (having to scrap it) but I do believe someone will come up with a way to retrofit this with the next generation of batteries. The motors will be easily swapped out.

 

[Coltpete]

I also am also considering keeping the stainless steel CT body for the rest of my life. I think these will be so unique there will be a demand for retrofitting structural batteries even if it is very expensive. I think it will also be significantly less expensive than buying a new CT or car at that time. We just won't know for a long time so plan for the worst (having to scrap it) but I do believe someone will come up with a way to retrofit this with the next generation of batteries. The motors will be easily swapped out.

 

[VR Driving]

I think we will just trade in for the new one like how we have been doing with smartphones.

 

[Tiberius]

We haven't seen any battery technology "upgrade" appear for anything but the original roadster so far. The oldest model is the S and the new cars are still using 18650 cells.
Not saying that means it never will, but by the time the battery tech moves on the demand for upgrading is really low. That and the battery cell kind of presets the form factor.

 

[REM]

Solid state batteries in a mass market may never make it, so it's hard to speculate on a new tech breakthrough.

I'd be interested to verify if Tesla has designed the CT from day one to be able to affordably replace the battery. It certainly seems like a toss up, but I'm leaning more towards Tesla designing the pack to live (I think) 1 million miles.

A teardown will give us better insight.

 

[CyberGus]

THE GOOD NEWS: Nio has a new 150kWh high-density pack that recently went nearly 700 miles:

https://www.gizmochina.com/2023/12/...ive-streaming-14-hour-road-trip-across-china/

THE BAD NEWS: The pack costs $40,000.

 

[Macgyverfever]

THE GOOD NEWS: Nio has a new 150kWh high-density pack that recently went nearly 700 miles:

https://www.gizmochina.com/2023/12/...ive-streaming-14-hour-road-trip-across-china/

THE BAD NEWS: The pack costs $40,000.

Yea I had read about that - was partially the motive to hop on here and take up people's precious time by distracting them with a 'very important' post to engage in rather than complete the work they so desperately need to get done in their lives.

 

[HaulingAss]

39 year old here (see *FYI below as to how my age is relevant). I have a two-part question:

1) If one chooses the AWD over tri-motor, which one will be expected to last the longest assuming a driver with a heavy foot and/or hauling a near-max heavy load?

2) If one wishes to upgrade their no rust multi-million mile drivetrain-based CT to a solid-state battery in the future, will this be within the realm of possibility; can such a structural battery pack be replaced (assuming the solid-state battery pack itself is also structural)? I assume yes since in the event a user's CT battery dies under warranty they wouldn't expect to scrap the entire truck, but I would still appreciate your thoughts?

*FYI I'm using this information to decide if whether or not a tri-motor is still worth it considering my goal to drive CT as my one and only for the rest of my life. Thanks!

I'm going to take a different approach to answering this question because I think the question itself implies some misunderstandings about the time value of money.

Assuming you can responsibly afford the Cybertruck now, when the battery wears out in 15 years you will be 54 years old and probably have different priorities and needs. Your financial situation should be much improved with the passage of time (assuming reasonable savings contributions and investment gains), which means you probably won't even want an old truck with out-dated hardware, etc. Not that it won't still do the same things it can do today, and a few more, like Full Self Driving, but the new trucks will be so much better, in so many ways. The idea here is that if you can afford a new high-end truck now, you should be able to easily afford whatever you want in 15 years, including a garage queen Cybertruck if that's still your favorite.

All that said, the battery should wear out slightly sooner in the Tri-motor, simply because it takes more energy to make it go x miles, and the batteries are otherwise the same (as far as we know). If you add on top of that the faster discharge of full-throttle accelerations, it would accelerate the eventual end of life a little more.

More meaningful than wearing the battery out slightly sooner would probably be the wear on the mechanical components that need to deal with all that power. Honestly though, it sounds like you are perhaps trying to justify an irresponsible purchase now with the fantasy that you will never want another vehicle again, and thus it's a good value. Don't go down that rabbit hole. It's just a thing, a tool, as cool as it is.

 

[Coltpete]

I'm going to take a different approach to answering this question because I think the question itself implies some misunderstandings about the time value of money.

Assuming you can responsibly afford the Cybertruck now, when the battery wears out in 15 years you will be 54 years old and probably have different priorities and needs. Your financial situation should be much improved with the passage of time (assuming reasonable savings contributions and investment gains), which means you probably won't even want an old truck with out-dated hardware, etc. Not that it won't still do the same things it can do today, and a few more, like Full Self Driving, but the new trucks will be so much better, in so many ways. The idea here is that if you can afford a new high-end truck now, you should be able to easily afford whatever you want in 15 years, including a garage queen Cybertruck if that's still your favorite.

All that said, the battery should wear out slightly sooner in the Tri-motor, simply because it takes more energy to make it go x miles, and the batteries are otherwise the same (as far as we know). If you add on top of that the faster discharge of full-throttle accelerations, it would accelerate the eventual end of life a little more.

More meaningful than wearing the battery out slightly sooner would probably be the wear on the mechanical components that need to deal with all that power. Honestly though, it sounds like you are perhaps trying to justify an irresponsible purchase now with the fantasy that you will never want another vehicle again, and thus it's a good value. Don't go down that rabbit hole. It's just a thing, a tool, as cool as it is.

My Porsche 911 is 15 years old. Modern tech and sports cars are much more advanced. I'll be keeping my 911 for another 30 years because I love it so much and it's the perfect blend of everything that cannot be recreated again. The CT may end up being that sweet spot or at least have a body style transcends time, which would make the replacement battery cost worth it.

 

[davelloydbrown]

39 year old here (see *FYI below as to how my age is relevant). I have a two-part question:

1) If one chooses the AWD over tri-motor, which one will be expected to last the longest assuming a driver with a heavy foot and/or hauling a near-max heavy load?

2) If one wishes to upgrade their no rust multi-million mile drivetrain-based CT to a solid-state battery in the future, will this be within the realm of possibility; can such a structural battery pack be replaced (assuming the solid-state battery pack itself is also structural)? I assume yes since in the event a user's CT battery dies under warranty they wouldn't expect to scrap the entire truck, but I would still appreciate your thoughts?

*FYI I'm using this information to decide if whether or not a tri-motor is still worth it considering my goal to drive CT as my one and only for the rest of my life. Thanks!

I am 68 and retired and the CT was going to be my last vehicle. Despite my age, I can still wait a couple of years as the battery, range and towing capacity currently don't meet my needs (price too).

There is a price to be paid for early adopters of any new technology, and this is especially true for tesla. Although tesla has shown that they can do a lot with software updates (my 2018 M3 is completely different from the car I bought), the short commings of the CT are mostly with the battery.

IMO we are on the cusp of a new generation in battery technology and unfortunately the way the batteries are installed in the current CT, an upgrade seems unlikely. 2-3 years from now I am hoping we will see a much improved CT with decent range and price.

 

[Gurule92]

39 year old here (see *FYI below as to how my age is relevant). I have a two-part question:

1) If one chooses the AWD over tri-motor, which one will be expected to last the longest assuming a driver with a heavy foot and/or hauling a near-max heavy load?

2) If one wishes to upgrade their no rust multi-million mile drivetrain-based CT to a solid-state battery in the future, will this be within the realm of possibility; can such a structural battery pack be replaced (assuming the solid-state battery pack itself is also structural)? I assume yes since in the event a user's CT battery dies under warranty they wouldn't expect to scrap the entire truck, but I would still appreciate your thoughts?

*FYI I'm using this information to decide if whether or not a tri-motor is still worth it considering my goal to drive CT as my one and only for the rest of my life. Thanks!

My forever CT plan is, get the vehicle with the highest range. and eventually get the range extender. I want to delay that as long as tesla will let me. So for example, if they will let me still buy the range extender when i have 100k miles and my battery degraded a lot, I will.

I am imagining they will have some sort of limits though, because the batteries need to be compatible. But the range extender, to me, is the answer to degredation lol. And as batterys get cheaper, so will the extender (hopefully)

 

[Tiberius]

Thinking about it some more. Changes in battery tech will need to be significant to warrant building a new pack for an old car.
So while it may sound attractive, the chances aren’t good that it would ever happen

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