INFO: Price of P85D upgrade to Ludicrous and/or 90kWh pack

[MarkS22]

HOWEVER, if all current 90kWh packs and future larger packs are also capable of Ludicrous, when I decide to upgrade my pack to a larger capacity, it will retain my Ludicrous software setting.

I suspect Ludicrious will be renamed with future enhancements. You can't be so certain--in fact, it's unlikely--they'll keep giving you the highest-end software improvements for life. Or, that there won't be minor hardware changes in the pack or elsewhere preventing you from the next "Maximum Plaid." Especially when current Ludicrious isn't showing the performance expected. Case in point, what good is a lifetime of Insane mode upgrades at this point?

 

[MarcG]

One other thing to consider....based on the information from the Sales person at Tesla store, Ludicrous requires battery pre-conditioning to reach "max battery power" while insane mode does not. Without the preconditioning, he indicated both are very close to each other in performance. Therefore, you have to plan ahead if you want to do a full Ludicrous launch. Otherwise, for the spur of the moment launches that are not pre-meditated, you effectively have a P90D with Insane Mode. Again, this information was provided by the sales person at the Tesla store. Haven't seen any back to back tests yet of a P90DL launched with and without max battery power.

In Firmware 7.0, INSANE also has the Max battery power option on the P85D.

 

[wk057]

Just like you can't buy next generation seats for an older car, despite the money train it would generate for Tesla.

I'll clarify that they do actually offer this now and I had it done on my wife's P85. Pricey though.

Aside from that, I agree with your post. The battery upgrade is way too expensive, and the $2500 "core" for the old pack is laughable.

- - - Updated - - -

In Firmware 7.0, INSANE also has the Max battery power option on the P85D.

It doesn't appear to have any measurable effect on performance aside from hitting limiters quicker (which is a bad thing).

 

[P85DEE]

I agree with the others.

From what we've seen thus far, Max battery power doesn't make much, if any, actual performance difference in Insane, nor Ludicrous.

- - - Updated - - -

I wouldn't keep my hopes up. As it is the P90D is having a hard time breaking the 11" quarter-mile times.

You're 100% right.

Smart money says that there is no rational reason whatsoever to hope for what I'm hoping for based upon that which we've see so far.

That said, maybe I'm a dreamer, or simply taking a nice long delusional swim in Denial River.

However I figure that there has to be some sort of OTA upgrade to get the P90D Ludicrous to make it's number. And am holding out hope that the same update will be available for P85D Ludicrous upgraders.

 

[Andyw2100]

I agree that at $5,000, it's at least somewhat in the ballpark of being reasonably priced. However the $10,000 option when buying new for what is ONLY A FRIGGEN SOFTWARE CHANGE is beyond ridiculous.

To be fair, though, it's not just a software update that Tesla is charging the $10,000 for.

They chose to put the improved hardware in all the batteries for their own reasons--probably to simplify manufacturing, and possibly based on how many people were ordering Ludicrous anyway. The $10,000 is actually paying for that hardware too.

It's similar to how the autopilot hardware is now being built into all Model S vehicles, whether people are purchasing autopilot or not. It can be turned on later if not purchased with the car. There is some cost to that hardware, so it wouldn't be correct to say that when Tesla charges $3000 to turn it on after the fact that is $3000 for software only. If you hadn't chosen to pay the $3000, you were getting the hardware for free, but not getting the ability to use all of it. With the battery hardware you're probably getting most of the benefits of the improved hardware whether you pay for the Ludicrous upgrade or not, but of course you're not pushing the limits of the new hardware the way you would be if you paid the upgrade price.

I'm pretty critical of Tesla on a number of things, and I think $10,000 for the Ludicrous upgrade on a new car may be too high a price, but calling it "software only" just isn't accurate, in my opinion.

- - - Updated - - -

However I figure that there has to be some sort of OTA upgrade to get the P90D Ludicrous to make it's number. And am holding out hope that the same update will be available for P85D Ludicrous upgraders.

I agree. (What do you know!)

The big question, though, is how much the bigger (and different) battery in the P90D will affect the improved performance on both models. Since we know the motors are power limited, and we know the batteries are different, it is possible that there is something about the 90 that will allow it to work better with Ludicrous than the 85, other than just the additional battery capacity.