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"Secret Sauce" power upgrade coming - beyond Ludicrous

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So for those that have looked at the data from P85Ds, DLs, P90Ds and P90DLs, where do you think the extra power is coming from?

Tesla maxes out torque of both motors for one second until the battery reaches it's current limit at which point the system is battery limited.

IF there is such a thing, the only wiggle room I can see is an increase of initial torque above what the motors are spec'd for. This would only be available for (less) than the first second as the battery limit would kick in sooner.

Thoughts?

See my earlier post #32. I think Tesla is still holding something back on the S P90DL versus the X P90DL. So maybe it's not extra power, just that they've been holding it back for publicity/marketing/testing reasons.
 
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So for those that have looked at the data from P85Ds, DLs, P90Ds and P90DLs, where do you think the extra power is coming from?

Tesla maxes out torque of both motors for one second until the battery reaches it's current limit at which point the system is battery limited.

IF there is such a thing, the only wiggle room I can see is an increase of initial torque above what the motors are spec'd for. This would only be available for (less) than the first second as the battery limit would kick in sooner.

Thoughts?

Pure speculation follows ....

I see the current design running quite close to some significant hardware limits, making an upgrade that would "change the character of the driving experience" challenging.
1). Who knows where the next h/w current limit in the system is beyond the 1500A fuse (cabling I suspect). If there are no close limits, why did they not implement a fuse with even higher capability with ludicrous.
2). The L battery discharge rates above 5C are probably on the edge of causing battery degradation with consistent use , especially at elevated temps needed to minimize internal resistance. Higher capacity (100kWh ?) or more advanced chemistries (?) or more cooling (h/w) would seem to be needed.
3). A small boost in 0-X times seems possible by increasing the current/torque ramp rate in the first 2seconds, up to traction control limits, but I don't see this as "changing the character" enough to matter much. But worth a couple of tents in 1/4 perhaps.
4). Perhaps they could allow more voltage sag (hold batt current and torque up through higher speeds than we have seen). Conventional wisdom is the torque tail off we see is motor back EMF directly against the battery, but maybe there is a s/w limit in there (I would use voltage level if it were me). Again the question is long term impact on pack longevity.
5) maybe they can push the cooling system (pumps and fans) to allow higher current operation for longer.

My bet is the easy solution ... Bigger battery.
 
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I was thinking the same thing. Is this just a very long April fools gag?


Here's what doesn't make sense. If it's a joke, it's targeted at (or trolling) a very very very small subset of Tesla owners, just P85D/P90D Ludicrous owners on this very forum who follow the threads about P85D horsepower, ludicrous upgrade, 0-60 times, quarter mile times. No one else would notice, be amused, or take any interest in it other than "cool, another software upgrade coming from Tesla". If it's a joke, it has to be "one of us". I.e. I wonder if Adam Schmidt is a regular on these forums.
 
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It's possible Tesla would hold back a little to ensure durability first and also provide themselves with an easy model improvement at some point without having to change all the hardware.

That said, I find it questionable that the guy in this video would really have a test mule with such an upgrade, and that he would risk probably losing his job by letting it be posted on Youtube. Also, I tried to count the seconds on his launch and it seemed roughly equal to what regular P85DL would do. For these reasons, I would suspect this might be a fake video. There are many fake videos on Youtube and this one wouldn't even require any CGI or anything.
 
It's possible Tesla would hold back a little to ensure durability first and also provide themselves with an easy model improvement at some point without having to change all the hardware.

That said, I find it questionable that the guy in this video would really have a test mule with such an upgrade, and that he would risk probably losing his job by letting it be posted on Youtube. Also, I tried to count the seconds on his launch and it seemed roughly equal to what regular P85DL would do. For these reasons, I would suspect this might be a fake video. There are many fake videos on Youtube and this one wouldn't even require any CGI or anything.

Not fake and maybe he checked with Tesla before posting. Maybe this is all part of a plan
 
Yeah, the video is from a well known Youtube video blogger. And the owner is an obvious Tesla fan AND venture capitalist. It's at least plausible the the video is real and Adam Schmidt does have insider access to new firmware, NDA or not.
 
has anyone tried tweeting (or DM'ing) him?

def not fake, it's a popular YouTube channel.

def not April fools joke, as this Kevlar Condom guy has been talking up his "2.4sec golf cart" for many weeks on Twitter. that's a lot of pre planning in effort to fool a couple hundred P85D owners who got the Ludicrous retrofit. :rolleyes:
 
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Not quite. Video was posted yesterday which is April 9th. No indication the video or the test drive has anything to do with April fools. If it's supposed to be an April fools joke, it's pretty dumb and a week late.

Text from the actual Youtube video:

Published on Apr 9, 2016
My good friend Adam (aka. Kevlar Condom) recently had Tesla upgrade his car from Model S P85D_ Ludicrous edition (762hp) to an option that is not publicly available referred to as 'Secret Sauce'. I can't give you the figures on it since they haven't been made public yet under NDA but I can say it's a HUGE step over Ludicrous edition especially on the big end. I can't imagine how this car could get any faster!

Though it is feasible that were it a prank, that the audience would be limited, one has to also consider that the audience just might "not" be limited too.

In other words, if it is a prank, well then yes, it may have been aimed solely at us. But if a prank, well then it may also have been meant to involve other auto enthusiasts, e.g. Hellcat owners, etc., in the collateral damage.

But you bring up another good point. If this was an April Fools prank, then why the video on April 9th?

It's tough to know what to make of this at this point.

There is also talk elsewhere of a body style and other refresh of the Model S. I recall the announcement of Ludicrous. It came with 2 other announcements and was referred to as "3 Dog Day" if I recall correctly.

Perhaps this announcement is meant to accompany the announcement of the changes planned for the Model S.

Finally, if this is a hoax, well then they dotted all of the i's and crossed all of the t's.

By that I mean even going to the trouble of using language indicating that whatever this is, requires the agreement to disclaimers.
 
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honestly I have a P85D and i want the ludacris update but its insanely expensive to upgrade at $10,000. (in hk, it's even more than that)

For 85D owners to go to a full P90DL, that's a huge difference in price so I don't see why anyone's complaining that "if tesla told me ..., i would have ..."

That's like buying a 535i m sport while being fully aware that there is a M5 available for $40k more but they may upgrade the engine over time to give it an extra 30-40 hp in mid cycle updates.

Even knowing that there is this upgrade, I still won't spend $10k on the upgrade to ludacris mode and possibly MORE for this plaid mode upgrade and I'm already an existing P85D owner.

Ludicrous is a $5,000.00 upgrade in the U.S.
 
The LUDICROUS speed option will only be available as a retrofit to customers who placed a P85D Model S order through Tesla before 11am PST Friday, 7/17/2015. These cars will receive updated badging to P85D where the underline denotes the ludicrous upgrade.

Don't know who has tested this, but it was originally said that it would only be available for 6 months as well when it was announced back on 7/17/15.

Three Dog Day

They're still advertising it, and apparently it is still available much longer than 6 months following the initial announcement of it.
 
Agree, if this is real, it sounds like it'll be part of the upcoming Model S refresh announcement. They need to turn the public attention back to the Model S which is the halo car. What better way than announce new styling, significant performance upgrade, and maybe the rumored larger battery. And as a gesture of goodwill, and to remind the public that Tesla is an "outside the box" company, offer most or all of these upgrades to existing owners via software update and hardware retrofit.
 
Other than is being fun, what is the purpose of 700hp+ in a sedan?
or is "fun" sufficient reason for anything?
Marketing. Also reminding the public at large that EVs are real competitors to ICE vehicles across the board.

From a real utility standpoint, it's limited. I do launches in my P85 relatively rarely, but I have a slight obsession with keeping my lifetime Wh/mi under 300. Not sure why.. just.. I do.