Tesla Model 3 gets hacked, reveals more details and great potential for dual motor/ performance versions

Tesla is delivering more Model 3 vehicles every day and now the vehicle is making its way into the hands of Tesla hackers and tinkerers who are exploring the new all-electric vehicle in depth.

It’s why it’s not surprising that someone has now managed to hack the Model 3’s ‘factory mode’ – revealing a few interesting details in the process.

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‘Factory mode’ is a version of Tesla’s onboard software in its vehicles used to perform final tests and diagnostics before shipping the car out of the factory.

It has a toolbox screen that can give some interesting information about the vehicle’s powertrain.

A member of the Tesla community who goes by ‘Ingineerix’ already has a lot of experience hacking Tesla vehicles. He recently took delivery of a new Model 3 and started going to work.

He posted a few videos on Youtube about tearing down some parts and exploring his new vehicle, but he also hacked the factory mode and now released this picture of it:

There have been a lot of different reports about the actual energy capacity of the Model 3’s ‘Long Range’ battery pack since Tesla refuses to advertise the capacity in any other way than by mileage (310 miles).

Our report on the Model 3 battery pack architecture showed about 74 kWh, which is still correct by design, but the ‘full pack energy capacity’ can be slightly different in each car and in this one, it’s 76 kWh – though Ingineerix says that it is not the full usable capacity and that there’s a small buffer that can’t be used.

The image also shows a max discharge rate of 1,200A, which is fairly impressive for the size of the pack.

It’s equivalent to what Tesla’s 85 kWh Model S/X packs used to achieve and only about 100A less powerful than Tesla’sModel S/X performance versions before the ‘Ludicrous battery upgrade’.

Of course, that’s only at the battery pack level and there could be other power limitations in the powertrain, but Ingineerix says that Tesla designed a 800A inverter for the RWD drive unit and a 500A inverter for the front motor in the upcoming dual motor AWD version of the Model 3.

Electrek’s Take

That’s some great sleuthing from Ingineerix here. If we were to speculate based on that information, it bodes well for the capacity of the dual motor all-wheel-drive version of the Model 3 and potentially the performance version that Elon Musk promised a while back – though we haven’t heard much about it since.

The battery pack has plenty of discharge capacity to power both front and back motors and even if the overall power rating would still be below what can be found in the performance versions of the Model S today, the smaller and lighter Model 3 could be surprisingly impressive on the drag strip.

In my opinion, Model 3 reservation holders who are waiting for those versions of the car should start to get excited.

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