American electric carmaker Tesla recently introduced earlier this month the Ludicrous Plus mode for its production vehicle, the Tesla Model S P100D.
The Ludicrous Plus mode is merely a software update so it did not do much in as far as altering the design elements of the Tesla Model S P100D. However, what seems clear is that the new mode has significantly boosted the acceleration of the production vehicle.
Interestingly, under the new Ludicrous Plus mode, the Tesla Model S P100D can actually go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.389 seconds, making it the fastest accelerating electric car in the world.
It can be recalled that during the Consumer Electric Show (CES) 2017 held in Las Vegas, Nevada early this month, Faraday Future proudly stated that its new FF91 electric car will compete one day with Tesla.
The independent company said that their electric car is the fastest-accelerating electric vehicle on the planet as it can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds, reports Techno Buffalo.
Unfortunately, Faraday Future’s FF91 is already beaten by the Tesla Model S P100D with the latter’s new Ludicrous Plus mode.
Looks silly on a track
The Tesla Model S P100D even with its new Ludicrous Plus mode, however, recently got totally dusted by the Ford Mustang it has been drag racing against, and it definitely looks a little silly on a track where one typically expects to find loud engines and plenty of gasoline.
As well as software updates to add back Autopilot functionality in its latest cars, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted on Twitter at an update to improve performance even further.
It was also Musk who recently teased a software update that would allow the latest Model S P100D to do 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds, shaving 0.1 second off the time previously quoted and a quarter-mile time of 10.6 seconds.
That update is now available, and Tesla fans have nicknamed it the ‘Ludicrous Plus’ mode.
Accessing the new mode takes some doing, but it does deliver somewhat increased performance.
Ludicrous Plus mode first requires the most recent version of Tesla’s firmware, listed as version 8.0.
Activating the Ludicrous Plus feature
To activate the new feature, the driver must press the ‘Ludicrous’ button on the car’s settings screen for five seconds.
The move brings up a warning advising that the higher-performance mode will cause accelerated wear of the motor, gearbox, and battery.
In the Ludicrous Plus mode, the car raises the temperature of its battery pack to 122 degrees Fahrenheit and increases maximum power output from the motors. Experts estimate the gain to be at least 30 horsepower under the Ludicrous Plus mode.
During the initial test, the Tesla production vehicle recorded a 0 to 60 mph time of 2.46 seconds, registering some improvement over the standard Model S P100D, which the website previously clocked at 2.54 seconds to 60 mph.
It is impressive that Tesla was able to wring more performance out of what is already one of the quickest accelerating production cars ever, details the Green Car Reports.
But it also begs the question of whether that small improvement will garner much enthusiasm from potential customers.
The software update does at least put the Model S P100D further ahead of the claimed performance for the Lucid Air, a new electric luxury sedan planned to go into production in 2018. Lucid previously quoted a 0-to-60-mph time of 2.5 seconds for the Air, as well as a total motor output of 1,000 horsepower.
Tesla has proven that the Model S P100D goes as fast as one could even want and it now has a model that goes farther than ever.