For Tesla Model S P90D owners who have concluded they won’t soil their firm, supportive seats if given the chance to go faster, well, they’re in luck.
Tesla Motors is offering to bring “Ludicrous” mode to owners of the top-end Model S as an aftermarket upgrade, assuming their wallet can match their need to blow everything else out of the water.
Newly listed in Tesla’s online gear catalogue, the upgrade will cost you $10,000 before tax and associated labor. But, if you made the mistake of buying a P90D that stops at “Insane” and have thought of nothing else since, the Ludicrous lifestyle can now be yours.
Tesla says the upgrade will pare the stock P90D’s 0-60 mile per hour times down by 10 percent, making the run in 2.8 seconds and passing the quarter mile in 10.9.
Spending money on personal consumption is less enjoyable if you can’t brag about it, so Tesla will make sure your P90D reflects its newfound puissance. Tesla states that “vehicles will receive updated badging to P90D where the underline denotes the LUDICROUS upgrade.”
The electric automaker began offering the headline-generating upgrade on its now defunct P85D last summer.
Going Ludicrous involves installing an advanced “smart fuse” and swapping the steel main pack contacter with one made of an ultra-modern alloy. This allows the vehicle to increase power output from its battery from 1300 amps to 1500 amps.
Well as PT said there is a sucker born every minute.
I cant believe you all missed the Spaceballs reference, but the search for more money is apt
I can’t see many takers for this upgrade.
Ludicrous Mode is for bragging rights at the test track, but most passengers can’t feel the difference between Insane and Ludicrous Modes.
The people who want Ludicrous Mode know why they’re buying it, and those who don’t buy it have already thought through the decision. Those with regrets will be very few.
Sure, but there’s probably minimal overhead for the service centers to have a few parts kits on hand (both for upgrades and repairs to existing Ludicrous cars), as well as minimal labor to install them and flash the software. If they’re charging $10k, there’s likely a huge profit margin built into that. Why not offer it?
Remember, Ludicrous Speed is only available if you have at least 95% of your battery capacity.
That’s curious to me.
Ludicrous Mode in my Leaf meant not carrying passengers. :) But I never noticed a difference based upon level of charge.
Maybe for Tesla it’s a thermal or lifespan issue.
Does Ludicrous Mode void your warranty, like launch control on the GTR?
The problem is, THEY’VE GOT A P100D COMING SOON.
They keep upgrading the same car so much, no matter which Model S you buy, you feel like you’re at a loss.
The P90DL isn’t just a battery upgrade, but several components including smart fuses.
It’s not just LUDICROUS.
It’s RIDICULOUS.
Of course I must say: THAT THING IS FAST!
This from the guy who just got a JGC with what will soon be regarded as the tiny engine.
There will always be something shinier and newer. It won’t bother you as much when you stop expecting possessions to give your life meaning.
HEY – that’s what LOAN MODIFICATIONS and TRADE-INS are FOR !!!
So you can tear up the diff even faster?
Yup. Tesla sucks at reduction gears. Cant even build a one speed that doesnt fail, let alone the roadster two speed failure….two or three speed reduction gears in EVs add missing top end response. Keep the electric motor better near the best efficiency point. And significantly improve bearing life and reduce cooling needs, as well as adding up to 20% range. I could easily design a two or three speed dog clutch electrictronically synchronizing system for tesla,ot sny other EV, its part of what I do for a living with CODAG systems.
Oh and before any fan bois claim reduction gears wit multiple ratios just dont hold up to instant ev torque…my power input to my reduction gear is over 40 MW. Tesla just sucks at reduction gear design.
Does Tesla really suck at gear design though…or did they simply make an executive decision to not pursue that path? It’s almost certainly doable, and I’m sure they could do it quite well, especially if it’s as easy as you say. However, it would also add cost, weight and complexity to the car. Furthermore, I have to believe that all things being equal, a single fixed-gear design is inherently more robust due to simplicity, fewer moving parts, etc.
They went with the single fixed-gear design, and it seems to have served their customers’ needs really well. Most folks who buy Teslas aren’t screaming for top-end 100+ mph response. The 20% increased range would be nice, but Teslas already have pretty darn good range out of the box.
As for the best efficiency of an electric motor, I think that’s a plateau spanning between 0 and 8,000 RPMs or more. EVs aren’t dying for multi-gear transmissions the way ICEs are.
“I could easily design a two or three speed dog clutch electrictronically synchronizing system for tesla,ot sny other EV”
Oh, if only you weren’t forced to spend all your time posting on the internet!
I spend the majority of the time overseeing my plant ;)
Seriously, designing a two or three speed dog clutch reduction gear with electronically synchronizing solenoid controlled shifting is ridiculously simple on both the mechanical and electrical side, do you even know how ridiculously simple a two speed dog clutch transmission is?
If they can afford to buy a Tesla in the first place I’m sure that $10.000 grand won’t stop them, besides they’ve already got a government subsidy to offset the cost of the upgrade.
Pretty sure $10K is the list price for the upgrade on a new Tesla as well. This is just letting you drop some cash to get over your regret for not getting it when you bought the car.
Won’t void the warranty. In fact, if you test drive one the first thing you do (or, at least, I did) is test the 0-60 time. Yes, it does it in 2.8 seconds. Took me two times, the first time I just wasn’t ready and backed off at about 35MPH. No sturm, no drang, just OMG here we go. It’s impressive. Not $10K impressive for my wallet, but there are plenty out there who would drop the coin. I would if I had the money because why not?
Impressive car. The Model III is going to be tempting. Shoot, the Model S is tempting, and if I didn’t have two college educations coming up I’d probably already have one.
Outside of a few vocations, college is a poor investment. Go for the Tesla.
Sounds more like a Tesla fundraiser. The true cost on the upgrade can’t be more than $2,000, right?
That’s probably true of all options on all cars. How much does it cost to put leather in a car? Local furniture stores will sell you a leather living room set for $600, so it’s got to be less than that. Does a screen that’s two inches bigger really cost $800? Does a V6 cost $5,000 more than a 4? How about dropping nearly two grand on a nav package when Best Buy retails a Garmin for a hundred?
What’s surprising is that it’s not just a software upgrade, unlike the difference between a (previous gen) C300 and a C350.
“Local furniture stores will sell you a leather living room set for $600”
They will? I need to know the name of this place.
Bob’s Discount Furniture. Locations all over the Northeast. They will sell you a couch and chair for that price in leather. It is absolute garbage, but it is just about as good leather as you find in a cheap car. And by cheap, I mean anything under $50K.
No way to know for sure. They developed a new type of alloy for thr contactor and built the new fuse out of a patented alloy…it may have taken a lot of r and d to get it right.
Inconel isn’t a new alloy…
Its so sad to see that tesla cant develop a 2 or 3 ratio reduction gear. This car wouldbe absolutely incredible if they had the know how. Breaking into the 10s is no joke. Breaking into the sub 10.5s would be legendary.
Another ratio might be able to extend range as well. I suspect that they’re so busy rolling out new vehicles that they don’t have the resources.
No doubt. Studies show up to 20% range increase.
@nickoo – Yes, but no EV maker produces a car with more than a one-speed reduction gear, except for Detroit Electric.
If it’s so simple and awesome, maybe you can tell us why they don’t do it.
How much for just the badge?
If you want this upgrade do you have to contact Tesla and state “I want to go plaid”?
Rumor has it that “Plaid” will be the next speed bump after Ludicrous mode. See Spaceballs for reference.