A surprising tweet from Elon Musk last night, and the internet was a playground for crazy speculations about the new Tesla product announcement. But, what exactly did the visionary CEO of the biggest electric automobile company have for us in tow? Oh, well, a couple of ‘ludicrous’ upgrades, what else!
With the slew of upgrades announced today, the biggest of them all would be the introduction of the Model S P100D, the fastest accelerating electric car in the world. It is now the third fastest car ever produced and can go from 0-60 MPH in just a miniscule time of 2.5 seconds. It is only beaten by multi-million dollar luxury sports cars — Ferrari LaFerrari and the Porsche 918 Spyder.
But, these two-seater super cars are no match to the luxurious and beautifully designed P100D family car. It is a pure-electric, all-wheel drive that can seat upto 5 adults plus 2 children and has exceptional cargo capacity. You wouldn’t even be able to store your one luggage bag in these supercars.
The new Model X P100D SUV, on the other hand, goes faster as well and clocks a 0-60MPH in 2.9 seconds as compared to the previous 3.2 seconds. You can now also take your Tesla for a long drive without having to care for charging until the next 300 odd miles, again a first for any electric vehicle.
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And all this has been made possible thanks to the long-rumored 100kWh battery pack now included in the upgraded P100D models of both Tesla S and X. This new battery gives your vehicle an extra 10KWh of juice as compared to the previous top-of-the-line model P90D. Now, the new battery pack increases the range substantially to an estimated 315 miles on the EPA cycle and 613 km on the EU cycle for the Tesla Model S, whereas the new Model X travels up to 289 miles EPA estimated and 542 km EU on a single charge.
Commenting on the launch of the new upgrades, legendary CEO Elon Musk said,
It’s quite a historical milestone that the fastest car in the world of any kind is electric. I think that really says something about where the future is headed.
In the future we are going to look at gasoline cars the same way we look a steam engine today. Like they are quaint, but it’s not really how you get around.
In addition to this, Tesla also notes that some upgrades have been made to the wiring harness but the drivetrain remains the same. The new 100kWh battery pack uses the same cell technology, but the official boast about the changes that have been made to the model and packing tech. The company has also completely redesigned the cooling architecture. The improvements in speed and Ludicrous mode can be attributed to the improvements in battery pack.
Both the new Tesla models, with a heftier price tag, are available for pre-order starting today. The Model S P100D with Ludicrous Mode will start at $134,500, while a similarly equipped Model X would cost you a $1,000 bucks more.
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Musk added that it would take several weeks before Tesla could offer the new battery packs for all basic models. It is currently taking it slow and looking to manufacture only 200 battery packs a week, around 10 per cent of the total volumes. The production is expected to increase with the launch of the Gigafactory in the coming months.
Also if you’ve ordered a P90D with Ludicrous Mode, the you have the option to swap and upgrade to the latest model for an additional $10,000. Also, existing P90D owners can also get their 90kWh battery packs replaced, but would need to pay an extra $10,000 for the recycling of their used battery pack.
The blogpost, however, also added that the P100D Ludicrous is obviously an expensive vehicle, but sales would help Tesla pay for the development of the economical Model 3. The company plans to use bigger batteries for this economical model, which is slated for a late 2017 release.
