About time to unveil the D and something else

[MartinAustin]

Tesla Model D: Investors Disappointed With Elon Musk: Video - Bloomberg

If you scan to two minutes & 18 seconds Betty Liu says this:

"By next year, you're going to be able to add on the option of all-wheel-drive to your current Model S's"

Is she confused? I was under the impression it's not retrofittable.

Then again, she did get some serious interview time with Elon.

 

[ggies07]

I can't remember who asked, but there was a question on the autopilot picking up the speed limit signs even though most people go five over. So I was thinking, could the car notice the speed limit sign as well as the speed of traffic around it using the radar or sonar and either mesh the 2 together to allow speed around that or could it decipher between the two and pick the best option?

 

[strider]

Other items not touched on in Elon's announce, but discussed in passing with employees:
Different modes range/normal/insane (think now called normal/performance/insane) don't feel that much different between first 2, but 1st one does mostly use the front motor while cruising.

This is my biggest disappointment of the whole night. The Roadster currently has 3 different driving modes and I HATE it. If I'm driving in normal all the time and I suddenly need full power to merge, escape a situation, etc I have to take my eyes off the road to punch a screen. This is simply ridiculous in an EV. I understand the need for such a thing in an ICE where "Sport mode" causes the car to hold gears longer, stay a gear low, shift more aggressively, etc. But a Tesla doesn't have a transmission so what are they changing? It's just more or less power to the motors and the sole control for that should be your right foot. I want my car to "just work." The car should always send power to the motor that is in its most efficient RPM. I don't want to have to press 15 buttons before I can drive it. If I wanted that I'd have bought a Ferrari, BMW, Audi, etc.

 

[HankLloydRight]

You know, I think the best use of that technology is just to popup a message that says "Hey, leadfoot... the speed limit just dropped from 55mph to 35MPH.. you might want to slow down".

Who actually drives the exact speed limit and wants their car to do the same?

 

[scaesare]

Who actually drives the exact speed limit and wants their car to do the same?

The people I manage to get behind in the fast lane...

 

[glhs272]

This is my biggest disappointment of the whole night. The Roadster currently has 3 different driving modes and I HATE it. If I'm driving in normal all the time and I suddenly need full power to merge, escape a situation, etc I have to take my eyes off the road to punch a screen. This is simply ridiculous in an EV. I understand the need for such a thing in an ICE where "Sport mode" causes the car to hold gears longer, stay a gear low, shift more aggressively, etc. But a Tesla doesn't have a transmission so what are they changing? It's just more or less power to the motors and the sole control for that should be your right foot. I want my car to "just work." The car should always send power to the motor that is in its most efficient RPM. I don't want to have to press 15 buttons before I can drive it. If I wanted that I'd have bought a Ferrari, BMW, Audi, etc.

I don't mind it. Not sure how much range mode helps but, I think it would be cool to have the "insane" mode automatically begin super-cooling the battery below normal operating temperatures in order to allow it to run longer before any limiters kick in. I could see where I wouldn't want to run in this mode normally due to the fact it would likely run the A/C system full blast and get poor range. And it would likely get full performance in "normal" mode, but just full performance for longer period in "insane" mode.

 

[yobigd20]

blog post is up: Dual Motor Model S and Autopilot | Blog | Tesla Motors

- - - Updated - - -

Other updates mentioned in the blog post:

• Seat comfort improvements and taller headrests for whiplash protection
• Improvements for a quieter cabin
• Wider rear door opening
• Electrically opening, self-closing charge port door on Dual Motor Model S
• Increased visor size and larger vanity mirror
• Parcel shelf and front trunk cargo net now standard
• Air ionizer and carbon filter for cabin air purity
• Updates to Alcantara interior trim, such as wrapped roof bow and top pad

 

[Peter_M]

I can't remember who asked, but there was a question on the autopilot picking up the speed limit signs even though most people go five over. So I was thinking, could the car notice the speed limit sign as well as the speed of traffic around it using the radar or sonar and either mesh the 2 together to allow speed around that or could it decipher between the two and pick the best option?

You can set the speed to drive relative to the speed limit: see Speed Assist and Lane Departure Warning.

 

[palmer_md]

Tesla Model D: Investors Disappointed With Elon Musk: Video - Bloomberg

If you scan to two minutes & 18 seconds Betty Liu says this:

"By next year, you're going to be able to add on the option of all-wheel-drive to your current Model S's"

Is she confused? I was under the impression it's not retrofittable.

Then again, she did get some serious interview time with Elon.

I would assume that she meant that if you have one of the new vehicles purchased today, you could upgrade to all wheel drive. I think it means that all the vehicles are built with the same frame that allows for the front drivetrain. Cars built previously had no way to get power to the wheels due to the frame and suspension design. Which brings up a question that I thought of a few months ago while looking at the frame at the Tesla showroom. How does this frame design compare to the old one in terms of safety. Were they able to also increase safety in the design or is it slightly less safe with the new design. Given their past concerns about safety, I'm hoping that they can say the car will be more safe with the new frame design, but I did not hear it in the presentation yesterday.

 

[ElSupreme]

• Increased visor size and larger vanity mirror

Don't let my wife know. Or else I'll be paying to have those retrofitted, or perhaps a whole new Model S.

 

[rlang59]

Don't let my wife know. Or else I'll be paying to have those retrofitted, or perhaps a whole new Model S.

Retrofit cost of $1200 per visor. ;-)

 

[efusco]

You sure you aren't going to start plotting now how that Model X next year is yours 'efusco, and how the current Model S becomes your wife's now?

If I'd have been wise enough to marry a woman who wasn't smarter than i am, I would. But she's due for a new vehicle, likes the SUV's high ride, and I'm SOL...

 

[HankLloydRight]

The people I manage to get behind in the fast lane...

Yeah, I guess I walked right into that one.

And it's true, too.

 

[ra-san]

They popped the frunk for me at the demo car last night at the event. The picture below shows there is still the 'microwave' area, but maybe it does not go back as deeply as before? When I asked them where the front motor was, one employee said that he thought it was just a demo car to show the new seats but was not dual motor - this is in spite of the badging and the dashboard clearly saying P85D. I found the employees at the event were much less knowledgeable than people on TMC, as expected. Just curious to see what others think:

View attachment 61157

This is what I was talking about on some of my previous posts. It's absolutely not an actual D. It was badged and trimmed as the D but didn't have the front motor. The engineer said it was unfortunate they couldn't manage one more actual D at the event so folks wouldn't get the wrong idea, and that he was trying to give people the right info. There is no "microwave" cubby in the frunk for any of the D models. It wasn't a case of them not being knowledgable (about this anyway) but rather limited availability and getting all the ones they had available on the test ride event.

 

[Brett]

I attended the event last night.

Very impressive upgrades for the Model S. I've always kind of regretted not getting the P85, but I knew patience would yield something even better, and now it's here and it's worth it for me to upgrade. I'm all in on a new P85D. D as in DONE. D as in DEMENTED. Ordered last night when I got home, confirmed today!

And once Autopilot rolls out, we can text and drive!

 

[ggies07]

You can set the speed to drive relative to the speed limit: see Speed Assist and Lane Departure Warning.

ahh, I see. I've never read that, thanks.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Did anyone hear anything about the rear motor's bump from 416HP to 470HP in both P models? Was there an actual change? Or just re-spec'ing the existing unit thought to be substantially underrated? They added 50+HP but it didn't change the quoted 0-60 time, which when paired with the claimed weight reductions, I would have expected.

 

[Saghost]

Did anyone hear anything about the rear motor's bump from 416HP to 470HP in both P models? Was there an actual change? Or just re-spec'ing the existing unit thought to be substantially underrated? They added 50+HP but it didn't change the quoted 0-60 time, which when paired with the claimed weight reductions, I would have expected.

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it's a switch from telling you what the whole system is capable of - which we've long believed was limited by the battery pack - to telling you what the drive motor is capable of. Which seems rather disingenuous if they haven't improved the battery pack to remove the limit.

I'm assuming that the P85D packs must be capable of higher surge outputs than past 85 kWh packs permitted, but nothing's been said on the matter.
Walter

 

[dhanson865]

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it's a switch from telling you what the whole system is capable of - which we've long believed was limited by the battery pack - to telling you what the drive motor is capable of. Which seems rather disingenuous if they haven't improved the battery pack to remove the limit.

Its more accurate should battery upgrades or battery swapping become a viable option. Good to know what motor you have vs what you can take advantage of when battery replacement/swap/upgrades are being considered.

 

[Johan]

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it's a switch from telling you what the whole system is capable of - which we've long believed was limited by the battery pack - to telling you what the drive motor is capable of. Which seems rather disingenuous if they haven't improved the battery pack to remove the limit.

I'm assuming that the P85D packs must be capable of higher surge outputs than past 85 kWh packs permitted, but nothing's been said on the matter.
Walter

Perhaps they have had enough real life data to conclude that the 85kWh packs are in fact so well built, cooled etc. and consisting of such high quality cells that it is in fact "safe" to allow for an even higher C rate of discharge than they initially dared believe, when trying to balance performance vs. longevity/capacity/degradation of the battery?