It's a safe bet that when any new car, truck, or SUV gets introduced, it's built with future powertrains and technologies in mind. The new Tesla Cybertruck electric pickup will be no exception to that rule. Although the Cybertruck prototype rolled out sporting Tesla's current latest-and-greatest Raven powertrain, Tesla chief Elon Musk told us that the Cybertruck was being built with the company's future Plaid powertrain in mind. This powertrain could prove revolutionary in the pickup segment.

Before we delve too deeply into Plaid, a quick look at Raven. Tesla's Raven powertrain, as seen in the Model S and Model X, utilizes the automaker's latest motor technology to up both efficiency and power. The current batch of Raven-powered Teslas utilize a Model 3 rear motor mounted up front making around 275 hp and 503 lb-ft of torque and a Model S/X motor in back making about 310 horsepower and 531 lb-ft of torque. We estimate combined output for the powertrain to be about 690 hp and 824 lb-ft of torque—Tesla, for whatever reason, doesn't disclose power outputs for the Model S or Model X.

Given how little we know about Raven, a powertrain that's already out and purchasable today, details on Plaid are even more scarce. What we do know is that the powertrain first made its debut in the 2020 Tesla Roadster prototype, and it can currently be found in a Model S prototype that's living at the Nürburgring as Tesla seeks to beat the Porsche Taycan's electric lap record at the track. At the Roadster's debut, Musk claimed that the Roadster made nearly 7,376 lb-ft of torque, though we're just as skeptical about that number as you no doubt are.

Plaid marks a departure for Tesla in that it's the automaker's first consumer-oriented vehicle with more than two motors (the Tesla Semi has four motors at each corner of its rear axles). A Plaid-powered Tesla Cybertruck, just like Plaid-powered Model S and Model X cars, will use three motors: one up front and two in back, with one at each rear wheel. Power output for the Cybertruck when equipped with the Plaid powertrain and a double-stacked battery will likely be around 800 hp and 1,000 lb-ft combined, based on previous claims about Plaid and the amount of power Teslas currently make.

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More important than how much power the Plaid-powered Cybertruck could make are the advantages the three-motor setup could give the electric pickup off-road. With an electric motor at either rear wheel, the Cybertruck would essentially have a locking differential, ensuring traction in even the toughest of conditions. The twin motors could have other benefits. Since they can operate independently of each other, the motors could provide the Cybertruck with torque-vectoring on-road and off-road and also allow Tesla to either drag, or run one motor in reverse in sharp turns off-road to effectively lower the pickup's turning circle.

Things could only get better—and cooler—from there. Taking things a step further to a completely nonexistent-but-totally-plausible four-motor setup, Tesla could even copy the rival Rivian R1T's party piece: its 'tank' mode, where the front and rear axles turn opposite each other, allegedly allowing the R1T to literally turn on a dime off-road.