Click “pause” on that Model S vs. supercar/fighter jet video, Tesla aficionados.
The newest Model S P90D will outrun last year’s top-shelf Tesla while in Ludicrous mode, according to acceleration tests published by Drag Times.
The 0-to-60 mph run was made in a fresh-off-the-line P90D by Brooks Weisblat. The Model S underwent a styling and content update earlier this year, though Tesla claims its power hasn’t changed. Weisblat’s Vbox sport performance meter says otherwise.
Tesla rates the P90D at 532 horsepower when equipped with Ludicrous mode, good for a 2.8-second 0-60 run. On a non-prepared roadway, Weisblat’s stock Model S returned a time of 2.65 seconds.
No stranger to fast launches, Weisblat was reportedly very surprised by the Tesla’s puissance. Just to make sure the acceleration figure wasn’t a weird fluke, he conducted the run again. Again, 2.65 seconds.
The automaker isn’t saying why the newest P90D appears to be faster than previous models. Speculation abounds, however, with the answer ranging from subtly improved aerodynamics to a secretly improved battery pack.
Watch the very brief run to 60 mph below:
[Image: Tesla Motors]
Sounds like he was enjoying himself from 1:07-1:10.
Well this post should prove to be entertaining.
Just curious: How many miles of range do you lose with one ludicrous 0-60 run?
I’ve noticed that despite their capabilities, most Teslas seem to be fairly conservatively driven. I suspect range loss might be the reason.
I am not certain but I have read somewhere that was substantial. The thing is I know or should say have acquaintances here in N Florida that own them and they must drive hard. They say their range is slightly less than 200 miles.
None have even used the ludicrous mode.
None have even used the Ludacris mode.
He was great in 2 Fast 2 Furious.
+1
There I fixed. It difficult to get Google to type anything right when you are using its speech to text mode.
This could be an issue. But additionally, how many $100,000+ cars do you see being driven so aggressively on a regular basis? I’ll grant cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis probably get driven that way, but S classes, Panameras, and the likes get driven around like the luxury isolation tanks that they are.
I’d say it’s both issues, since a spirited bit of driving in an S Class will cost you a few minutes at the gas station instead of an hour on a charger.
EDIT: In terms of range loss from ludicrous runs specifically, I’ve heard just handful of runs will deplete the battery. I can’t confirm 100%, but that seems very logical to me given the strain it must take to pull that kind of acceleration.
In a way it’s all relative. How fast would you go through a tank of gas in a Hellcat if you did nothing but 0-60 runs? I’m sure it do more of them than a Tesla but flat-out 0-60 runs will give you the worst gas mileage.
A Hellcat can empty its gas tank in 13 minutes:
http://jalopnik.com/holy-crap-the-dodge-srt-hellcat-can-kill-1-5-gallons-of-1606097708
This must be why most of them are driven conservatively.
The ludicrous runs do offcourse take a few amps out of the battery each time, but you’ll get nauseous and have neck problems long before you need to recharge it. Having been a passenger in one(without using the launch control) for about half an hour, we used a lot less than half the battery, and that included half a day of ‘normal’ driving by the shop manager before we ‘played’ with it. If Teslas seem to be driven conservatively I think it may be an illusion because of the silence, and the relaxed way it moves about so effortlessly. It’s not really a very sporty feeling car despite it’s apparent contempt for the laws of physics.
If Tesla claimed 2.6 seconds and it actually took 2.65 seconds, they’d be chastised.
Now it’s a scandal if the car is slightly quicker.
Tesla claimed 10.9 1/4 mile for the P90DL from the beginning, this might be the first one that can achieve it.
Good to see the Tesla being used for what it is – a toy. Because with its pathetically miserable range, it has no business competing with proper cars.
Nice troll.
A 200 mile range EV a toy? Hope my Leaf doesn’t read that post. I’ve racked up 34,800 miles in less than 2 years with a 100-mile+ range car. Does that make it a toy? I ran it 118 miles today with charging only at the destination at the halfway point and the heat pump running in 90-degree weather. As icing on the cake, I jump started an ICE car that had a dead battery. A P100D Tesla has a 381-mile range in the European cycle. I thnk I’ve owned more than one ICE car with that range.
Well, I guess if it takes batteries, it’s a toy. Now I get it!
@mcs: Your posts make me miss my Leaf, or at least what it could have been if it was the newer model.
On our cycle, the P90D gets 330 miles.
I have driven LOTS of cars that wouldnt get 330 miles on a tank in normal driving.
You can in fact randomly pick out high performance cars and they wouldnt get anywhere near 330 miles.
“I have driven LOTS of cars that wouldnt get 330 miles on a tank in normal driving.”
No problem, since they could be refuelled in a matter of minutes. That’s been the norm with petrol-powered cars, and yet the supposedly modern Tesla doesn’t even come close. That really is utterly pathetic, and I think it’s a shame that EV consumers appear to be more concerned with virtue signalling than with rejecting sub-par products in the marketplace, so that EVs might actually one day become compelling choices as the EV manufacturers would be forced to up the ante.
“Nice troll.”
…said the Elon Musk sycophant, who’s drunk too much Kool-Aid to appreciate people telling it like it is.
A friend of my brother had a Super Bee six pack. He said you could hear the tank flush when you stepped on the gas. He also said his personal best Minneapolis to Brainerd (~130 miles) was under an hour and a half, including 2 stops for gas.
edit: Oops this was supposed to be attached to 993cc’s range comment.