American electric vehicle maker Tesla has a project in the works dubbed ‘Palladium’, which is said to entail major updates to the Model S and Model X, reports Electrek. The website has been able to confirm the project’s existence with several sources, it said, and this involves the construction of new production lines for the updated versions of the four-door and SUV.
The project will be deployed at Tesla’s Fremont facility and Gigafactory in Nevada, and Electrek reports people familiar with the matter as saying that the Palladium update will involve new battery modules and drive units which will serve as the basis for ‘Plaid’ versions of the Model S and Model X.
The ‘Plaid’ drivetrain configuration will consist of three drive motors for increased performance and efficiency, according to the website, while it also received reports from another source that the Palladium update involves more than just the powertrain, quoting one employee who referred to a new ‘Model S and Model X Palladium body’, which meant to say that each model will feature Palladium version in a different body.
If confirmed, the application of new bodywork for each Palladium version of the Model S and the Model X makes sense of the new production lines for the forthcoming variants. The ‘Plaid’ Model S first surfaced last September with modified bodywork including wheel arch extensions to accommodate larger wheels and tyres as well as larger air intakes for improve cooling and a boot-mounted spoiler lip for added downforce.
These were apparently in preparation for a Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record attempt, where the modified Model S was hand-timed by an independent observer to have clocked a lap time of seven minutes 23 seconds. This followed the seven minute, 42-second lap EV lap time set by a pre-production example of the Porsche Taycan.
The ‘Palladium’ update for the Model S and Model X could also come together with updates to the cabins of both models, suggests Electrek, which Tesla had originally planned to introduce last year before the interior updates were postponed.
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