A few days ago, it was announced that Tesla is launching an improved mode for fast racing starts in its performance versions for the first owners of its Model S and Model X electric cars. An already updated Model S has now been borrowed from the YouTube channel DragTimes, which regularly tries out Teslas and publishes data on it. And the test showed that when the electric car was launched in the new “Launch Mode”, it not only really adopted the “cheetah posture” that the explorer had so deeply lowered front, Tesla also added about 55 hp to the performance version .
No more break in the Tesla
This was the result of a series of quarter-mile tests with the Model S Performance, which have now been published in a new DragTimes video. However, this does not set a new record for the classic US short distance: In the fastest run, the Tesla needed 10.55 seconds for the good 400 meters – which were only just undercut in a drag race with a Lamborghini. The YouTuber cites 2.4 seconds as the best time to accelerate from 0 to 60 miles, which corresponds to the value specified by Tesla, but has not always been achieved in the past.
Nevertheless, DragTimes is enthusiastic about the new Tesla quick starts. Even the experienced driver behind the wheel has to take a deep breath after the repeated full accelerations. And now there is less time for relaxation than before: Tesla has apparently improved heat management or allowed higher temperatures, in any case, with the update you can make many quarter-mile attempts in succession with just a two-minute break in between. Several of them are shown, and in fact times hardly change.
Also important for the experienced YouTuber: activating the new start mode is no longer as complicated as before, and then the electric car waits longer for it to be used – previously, it switched back to normal start after just 4 seconds. The measurements also show that up to 614 kilowatts (about 835 hp) of power were drawn from the Tesla battery during the tests. According to the information in the video, this is around 40 kilowatts (almost 55 hp) more than before.
Cheetah starts only for newer Teslas
The hacker @green, who deals intensively with Tesla software, first reported on the new mode and used the expression cheetah attitude because of the lowering of the front suspension. The new possibilities of the air suspension for Model S and Model X, which was modernized last spring, are used. Thus, only the “Raven” models of the two top Teslas that have been available for almost a year (and also these only in the fast performance version) will benefit from this.
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