Tesla’s Model S P100D has been the subject of some serious debate among speed freaks. The progression which started back when the company launched the car, reached epic proportions after Faraday Future insisted on bringing it on stage at the CES and comparing it with their own FF91 super EV. Well, Tesla seems to have taken offense at Faraday Future and the P100D appears to be setting new records every week.
As per a test conducted by Motor Trend using a stock Tesla vehicle with the Ludicrous+ mode turned on, the P100D variant of the Model S managed to reach an acceleration of 0 to 60 in merely 2.28 seconds. This marks an improvement over the previous tests that saw the same vehicle achieve accelerations of 0 to 60 mph in 2.34 seconds.
The car was also made to run through a quarter mile, taking 10.5 seconds to complete the leg. Meanwhile, this test also makes the Model S P100D the first production car tested by Motor Trend, that has managed to achieve a 0 to 60 mph speed meter in a matter of 2.3 seconds.
Interestingly, the car appears to be breaking its own records one after the other. Originally, the P100D was touted to have an acceleration of 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. This is also faster than the 2.3 seconds that was teased by a fan run racing channel, as well as Elon Musk himself.
Meanwhile, this particular test saw the vehicle deploy have lighter-than-usual Arachnid wheels. However, the Ludicrous+ mode that was packed in with the easter egg probably had more to do with it than the wheels. We have already seen that lighter body parts tend to increase the capabilities of the car — as evinced by Faraday Future during the test of its FF91 car.
Tesla’s over the air updates are proving their usefulness here as well. The Ludicrous+ mode for instance was delivered to owners as part of an easter egg software updates. It is actually really interesting that Tesla is allowing users to unlock new capabilities on the pre-existing hardware using software updates. With that said, let’s see if Faraday Future’s FF91 can keep up.
