Elon Musk's drive to dominate a future market for affordable, stylish electric cars took a slight detour.
Instead of sharing updates on Tesla’s much-awaited $35,000 Model 3 sedan, the brash tech industrialist and his engineers unveiled what they describe as the world’s fastest production vehicles: the P100D Model S sedan and Model X crossover, both starting at around $135,000.
Performance specs on these machines designed for very high net worth — and presumably very impatient — drivers bring to mind the proto-punk classic by Iggy & the Stooges: Raw Power.
Armed with a tweaked version of Tesla’s “Ludicrous” speed setting, the new 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack in the top-end Model S propels the car from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds. The P100D Model X can reach 60 mph from a standstill in a mere 2.9 seconds. Ferrari and Porsche may have produced faster cars, buy they were limited production vehicles selling for nearly $1 million, according the Palo Alto, California, company.
“I think it’s amazing that an electric car is now the fastest car in production in the world,” an audibly delighted Musk said on a conference call today. “It’s a great message to the world and really speaks to the fact that electric cars are the future and that’s a very positive message to the electric vehicle industry as a whole, going beyond just Tesla.”
Range increases to an estimated 315 miles per charge on the $134,500 Model S P100D, compared to 268 miles for the current top-end P90D, the most ever for a battery-powered vehicle, said JB Straubel, Tesla’s long-time chief technology officer. Likewise, the $135,500 Model X P100D can go 289 miles fully charged, up from 257 miles for the Model X P90D.
the new pack is approaching the limits of what’s possible with the current generation of lithium-ion cells Tesla uses, Musk said. Fortunately, the company is close to bringing out a higher-powered cell now in development with battery partner Panasonic , he said on the call.
Production will be relatively low volume for the time being, averaging around 200 units per week.
Given that Tesla long ago made its mark for high-performance autos capable of staggering levels of acceleration, the P100Ds seem to be an answer to a question few were asking. Nevertheless, Musk reiterated his long-standing belief that the company’s most expensive vehicles pay for and pave the way for its more affordable ones, namely the Model 3. Still, upping its halo vehicle line right now is curious, maybe even ludicrous.
Tesla is laboring to accelerate vehicle production at its Fremont, California, plant ahead of the roll out of the Model 3 next year and is racing to complete work on the massive Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada. It also has to pull off the acquisition of solar power company SolarCity and integrate it into the company’s broader operations.
If that weren’t enough, Tesla is pouring resources into becoming a leader in highly automated driving technology, readying an electric commercial truck and transit van and preparing to raise additional funds to cover the expanding list of cash-intensive projects.
Meanwhile, it’s still awaiting the outcome of a U.S. government safety review of its Autopilot automated driving system that was in use when a fatal accident in May killed a Model S driver.
Given how challenging the road ahead looks, maybe the P100D line is a reward for Tesla engineers, letting them have some fun wallowing in the pure speed their powertrain delivers. How it helps get the company to the mass-market scale it craves and, ultimately, profitably isn’t quite so clear.
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