From the picture it looks new break pad is thinner, but at the same time longer?
If the surface area remained similar, have the brake been really downgraded, or just changed?
Front brakes take the brunt of the stopping force. Rear brakes might be fine to downgrade if front brakes + warm battery pack regen are equivalent stopping force (brake bias). Rear brakes are more for stability.
Things got weird out back for RWD vehicles with the advent of brake-based "electronic limited slip differentials". Now the rear brakes have to potentially soak up gobs of energy to prevent a one tire fire vs. an otherwise open diff.
I remember helping a friend do brakes on some blown rwd v8 AMG he had (sl55 perhaps?) and the rear brakes were just as beastly as the front in every way because of this.
Since the Tesla's don't have a motor per rear wheel I wouldn't be surprised if they similarly rely on the brakes for limited slip.
I think torque vectoring is a different (more advanced) application of the same idea. TV helps rotate the vehicle based on steering input and is an active part of steering.
In this case, there's no consideration for cornering, just "traction". If the vehicle thinks a wheel is spinning too fast, it applies the brake to that wheel. Without it, most newer (2009?) Subaru's will spin one tire when stuck in the snow.
