To be honest that surprised me. I think the Tesla motor is slightly misleading. If you've ever seen a 3hp industrial motor you'll see where I'm coming from, they are about the same size as the Tesla's motor and probably weigh twice as much. I appreciate that the tech in those motors is very old compared to the Tesla, but if they are that far out you'd think there would be profit somewhere in improving them.
The difference here (as often is the case when comparing industrial vs. consumer equipment) is that the Tesla motor is rated for peak load under favourable conditions while the industrial motor is rated for continuous load under worst-case conditions. That 3hp industrial motor will run at 3hp shaft power at its maximum rated temperature for its rated operational life.
Many DIY electric car conversions use DC motors rated between 9hp and 20hp. They routinely get 100-200hp+ out of these motors for a few seconds at a time.
The industrial motors don't have permanent magnets, so are cheaper to build and do not run any risk of permanent magnets become de-magnetized. Downside is they are very heavy.
