The Time Vector Generator is an 18 inch long black rod with gold and white caps. It connects the Exo-Plasmic Shell with the interior Micro-Universe. The caps at either end of the Time Vector Generator can be removed to release the vast amount of power stored in the Time Vector Generator. It will release a dazzling light and burst of radio static (enough to burn out advanced communication gear). This power could be adapted to be used by primitive technologies. In a Type 40 TARDIS the Generator can be found behind one of the roundels in the secondary control room. In a Type 97 the Time Vector Generator installed in the central column, giving it a very different appearance from the column found on a Mark I.

Removal of the Time Vector Generator collapses a TARDIS's interior, making it the same size on the inside as the outside. Such a removal would cut all power to the Dynamorphic Generators. If the Time Vector Generator is removed for too long the TARDIS will suffer severe damage. If reinstalled, the interior of a TARDIS will "re-grow," but the internal configurations are sometimes scrambled and redecorated.

A malfunctioning Time Vector Generator can allow time warp fields to leak out of the console, possibly displacing the operator forward in time. Malfunction of the Fluid Links can render the Time Vector Generator inoperative. In the post Time War era severe temporal paradox can break the link between a TARDIS's interior and it's Exo-shell. It should be noted that there is no spare Time Vector Generator, nor can one be constructed (in a reasonable time) in the Workshop. Adapting the emergency one used by the Tertiary Control Room is impossible.