Tesla ‘Easter Egg’ Makes the Fast-Accelerating Model S Even Faster

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-16/tesla-easter-egg-makes-the-world-s-fastest-car-even-faster

by Desustorm • 10 years ago

98 114 10 years ago

Desustorm• 10 years ago

Not sure I agree with the terminology of the article (fast rather than quickest accelerating), but I thought this quote was special:

Speeds like this offer more Gs than Earth, so the rate of acceleration is faster than falling. It can feel difficult to support your head and shoulders if you don’t lean back on the headrest.

venomsnake3• 10 years ago

At 2.6-sh second mark your car accelerates with more than 9.8m/s^2 to get to 60.

But even lower accelerations will glue you to the seat because gravity acceleration affects every part of your body. Where as the car grabs you by the butt and yanks you forward.

So - I think he has probably some vague idea of Newtonian physics but just didn't manage to produce coherent sentence.

jonsen• 10 years ago

How is more than one g accelleration possible? There is one g making the friction between the tyre and the road.

Strilanc2• 10 years ago

But even lower accelerations will glue you to the seat because gravity acceleration affects every part of your body. Where as the car grabs you by the butt and yanks you forward.

The feeling of weight we associate with gravity is not distinguishable from elevator-style or car-style acceleration (not counting vibrations; or tiny gradients in the field). You don't feel gravity gluing you to the ground, you feel the ground continuously shoving you skyward to stop the free fall.

See: equivalence principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle

d0mine• 10 years ago

1 g is nothing.

"A hard slap on the face may impose hundreds of g-s locally"

"Early experiments showed that untrained humans were able to tolerate 17 g eyeballs-in (compared to 12 g eyeballs-out) for several minutes without loss of consciousness or apparent long-term harm" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-G_training

aecing• 10 years ago

from the paper(o) in citation 3 from the linked wiki article(i):

The terms "eyeballs in" "eyeballs out," and "eyeballs down" correspond to acceleration fields AX, -Ax, and AN, respectively, where AX, -Ax, and AN refer to the direction of acceleration forces measured in the conventional airplane body-axis coordinate system.
AN acceleration factor, ratio of acceleration force to weight, positive when directed upward along spinal axis (i.e., from seat to head )
AX acceleration factor, ratio of acceleration force to weight_ positive when directed forward transverse to spinal axis (i.e., from back to chest)

(o) https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/199802...

(i) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-G_training

return03• 10 years ago

right-left-brake-right-left-gas-left-gas-right-brake-right-left-gas-brake-brake-left

venomsnake3• 10 years ago

You need to tell "Power Overwhelming" to the car

hellweaver666• 10 years ago

Is it still called the "gas" pedal on an electric car?

cynix2• 10 years ago

Some people call it the "go" pedal :)

dest• 10 years ago

like a konami code! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code

pc86• 10 years ago

That's the joke.

TeMPOraL3• 10 years ago

You mean "gas-gas-brake-brake-left-right-left-right-lights-radio-eject"?

shuntress• 10 years ago

"Gas, Brake, Honk. Gas, Brake, Honk. Honk, Honk, Punch."

Shivetya• 10 years ago

At what battery percentage? Let alone, why? I want range, range, and more range. I could not give a damn about how fast I get to the next stop light or supercharger. Brag when you get 500 miles a charge, even fifty miles more range is more impressive than a tenth of a second off your acceleration "with a full charge"

cynix2• 10 years ago

I want range, range, and more range. I could not give a damn about how fast I get to the next stop light or supercharger.

You're not the target audience for their top-of-the-line P100D. It's aimed at people who would otherwise buy Bugatti Veyrons, Ferraris, etc., and range probably doesn't even come up in their decision making process. The Veyron has a range of 50 miles at top speed, for example.

wiredfool• 10 years ago

And that's about the range of the tires at top speed as well.

josefresco• 10 years ago

"aimed at people who would otherwise buy Bugatti Veyrons, Ferraris"

More like Porsche 911 Turbo, Mercedes SLS, Audi R8 buyers.

nolok• 10 years ago

You're not thinking of the right social category of buyers.

The people buying Veyrons are doing it for status. They're not going to replace their >$2 million car with one <$2 hundred thousands.

vacri2• 10 years ago

The Veyron has a range of 50 miles at top speed, for example.

That top speed being 250mph. Who drives 50 miles at 250mph? And where do they do it?

And, more importantly, they can refill in the blink of an eye and travel 50 more.

FireBeyond3• 10 years ago

No... it's not.

People in the market for supercars at up to $2MM are not in the same market as the P100D.

Range may not come up as an issue, as you say with the Veyron. The fact that the Veyron can actually accomplish it's top speed for those 50 miles will, however. Just like Tesla cannot complete a lap of a race course at top speed without thermal shutdown / limiting.

mikeash6• 10 years ago

You know Tesla has non-performance models too?

antirez• 10 years ago

Is Tesla so fast compared to the price because is an electric car or this is totally unrelated and was just designed to have such an acceleration, without help from the fact it's an electric car? Thanks.

EDIT: Thank you for the replies!

PietdeVries• 10 years ago

To my knowledge the essence of an electric engine is that is has max traction almost independent of the rpm. Where a petrol engine has an optimal rpm (4000 for instance) where it provides most power, the electric car does not. Consequence is that a petrol car needs a gearbox to keep the engine around this optimal RPM (and thus most power) while the electric engine does not need one - it accelerates and keeps on accelerating... So the Tesla is so fast because it is electric, not because it has other features.

jackmott4• 10 years ago

Max torque, not traction. That, and being able to do all wheel drive efficiently and with less weight penalty and with less risk to drivetrain parts helps the quick acceleration.

But you still have to make tons of power and not be too heavy of course.

PinguTS• 10 years ago

Which is only partly right. Also electric drives have a dependency of torque to rpm(1). But it is much more easy to control than an ICE.

(1): http://lancet.mit.edu/motors/motors3.html

gravypod3• 10 years ago

The reason why an EV would outperform most motors is mutli-fold

  1. No cold starting. The engine is on as soon as you push power in.
  2. Equal torque at all speeds 
  3. The lack of a need for a transmission. All "gears" can be controlled by how much power you're feeding

The EV is more like a solid state transistor verses a relay. They do similar things, they're good for different applications, but the transistor has some nice features that makes it better in some key aspects (like raw performance).

jaredraby• 10 years ago

It's not equal torque at all rpm.

Yaggo• 10 years ago

The fundamental explanation is that electric drivetrain's efficiency curve is rather flat, meaning that you can build a powerful drivetrain without sacrificing efficiency (= range in electric car).

With ICE, you have to choose either power or efficiency, i.e. the engine is tuned for specific load and the efficiency sacks when heavily under loaded. (Constant legal-speed driving makes only a fraction of load of heavy acceleration.)

vvanders• 10 years ago

There's a 4th you're missing: lower reciprocating mass.

Low mass connected to the wheels(aside from the stator) combined with near instant torque control means they can adjust power to the wheels in a sub-ms(supposedly) range. Once you break traction it's really hard to get it back and you're fighting the momentum of an ICE engine in the non-EV case. You also have two completely independent motors so you don't have to fight with any transfer case or torque converter and it can just instantly shift power to where traction is available.

All I know is I can floor our 85D in the rain and it doesn't even shimmy, just plants and takes off.

_ea1k• 10 years ago

The "cold starting" issue isn't as significant as it might seem. Most acceleration tests on ICE vehicles are started with the brakes down and the throttle up. It is very hard on the vehicle and doesn't match what you would likely do in the real world, but it does mean power is available right from the start.

jaimex2• 10 years ago

Calling it now, to unlock the easter egg you have to set your volume to 11.

33W• 10 years ago

Or there's a reference to going Plaid.

wlll• 10 years ago

Pish, it will surely be unlocked when maintaining exactly 88mph for a certain time :)

WordyMcWordface• 10 years ago

It also depends on how you define "Worlds fastest car" While there is no doubt this is a fast car and that time is a stonking 0-60 time. I am lead to believe it can't complete a full flat out lap of the Nurburgring as constant high speed/full throttle use heats up the battery to the point where performance has to be limited.

So while it will be great to "hoon about" in and should be a win at the traffic light gran prix there are probably much better track day cars.

Viper007Bond2• 10 years ago

Acceleration is also relatively poor above about 100 MPH. It's an amazing beast, but yes certainly a traffic light car no sports car.

semi-extrinsic2• 10 years ago

It also depends on how you define "Worlds fastest car"

... and here they defined it so the P100D is the fastest. Welcome to the tautology club.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia has three cars above the P100D on its quickest 0-60 list: the Porsche 918, the LaFerrari, and the Bugatti Veyron.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fastest_production_car...

Note also that Tesla has also been called a bit "optimistic" with their 0-60 times as compared to other manufacturers (e.g. by Top Gear when testing P90D against Audi RS6 this year).

nickpinkston• 10 years ago

The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club

mikeash6• 10 years ago

Wikipedia still shows the old 0-60 time for the P100D. At 2.4 seconds, it will be ahead of the Veyron, even with the LaFerrari, and behind the 918.

And Tesla only compares with cars currently in production. The LaFerrari and 918 are not.

Definitely some definitional tweaking to get the "right answer," but not quite a tautology.

tracker12• 10 years ago

The fact is anything below 5 seconds 0-60 is a damned speedy car that you really won't get to push in day to day driving... As it is, I've been in a few Model S's and they are fun. I'll keep my Scat Pack Challenger though, far less expensive, only a second lower, and a higher top speed. Not to mention looking quite a bit cooler imho.

tcpekin• 10 years ago

Car and Driver just compared another 20 or so cars at their resident Lightning Lap track a few months ago, including a Tesla. The Tesla was not fast, approx. 30 sec slower on a track that fast cars were finishing in the 2:45 range.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/tesla-model-s-p85d-at-l...

http://www.caranddriver.com/flipbook/lightning-lap-2016-ever...

ralfd• 10 years ago

I guess the title is right if you don't have access to the German Autobahn...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF36JhHRm4I

simon_acca• 10 years ago

Does anyone have an idea of what they did/could have done in terms of software to allow a performance improvement?

stevendhansen2• 10 years ago

I have a guess: the limit in these designs isn't typically the motor, but instead the power semiconductors in the inverter (the motor has a much longer thermal time constant than the power devices). Therefore the limit is the junction temperature of the power devices. Most high performance drives have some kind of junction temperature estimation algorithm (it is difficult or impossible to put a sensor right at the junction without changing the electrical properties of the semiconductor). When the estimated temperature gets too high, they will start pulling back the current to protect the power devices from overheating. The more accurate the model, the closer they can push the devices to the limit without failure.

I'd bet they have been slowly improving their junction temp. estimation model and are now able to push the power semiconductors a little bit closer to their temperature limit, allowing them to produce more current (or the same current for a longer duration) before pulling back.

ada1981• 10 years ago

I've imagined Elon, still connected to childhood sci-fi dystopian futures, would most certainly include some secret "God Mode" backdoor that only he knows...

So, in a future where Tesla's are all over the roadways,and the earth falls under alien attack or some other crisis -- he could easily escape by speaking to any nearby Tesla, which would give him full access (maybe even unlocking faster speeds ;). Perhaps even having some sort of transponder to send the nearest Tesla's to his rescue, should that be required.

TeMPOraL3• 10 years ago

In the future where aliens land on Earth and start a ground assault[0], Elon can take all the Teslas left by fleeing civilians and use them as remotely controlled (soon to be autonomous) weapons to fight the invasion, all from the safety of his volcano lair. ;).

[0] - Why ground assault instead of orbital bombardment? Well, there aren't many alien vessels left in orbit after a massive onslaught of Falcon 9s and BFRs ;).

jonkiddy• 10 years ago

If I remember correctly, there is a scene in the book Daemon by Daniel Suarez where autonomous cars are used similarly.

Someone12343• 10 years ago

It wouldn't surprise me if they legislate maximum acceleration in the next ten years.

Zero to sixty in 2.5 seconds is fun, no doubt about it, but it is fun on a racetrack. You can go on YouTube right now and find dozens of people utilising Tesla's existing "ludicrous mode" on public streets.

And here's the thing, if people want to endanger their own lives that's fine. But they aren't just endangering their own lives, they're also endangering both other road users and pedestrians (when they eventually lose control).

I don't think anything has been done about this yet because Teslas are still pretty uncommon, and the features which unlock "ludicrous mode" are even more uncommon (like 1% of 1%). But once electric vehicles are the norm and the body count racks up, we'll see legislative action.

As an aside you could tie maximum acceleration into road conditions, including lowing it if the road is icy or wet, or increasing it on surfaces that provide superior grip (like freeways).

jackmott4• 10 years ago

Cars that can go this fast or close enough have been around for decades.

Someone12343• 10 years ago

Indeed. But people who own supercars and other kit cars capable of such feats were rare and expensive.

Electric vehicles are going to take something, once rare, and make it common. Once it becomes common, the accident incidents will be more than just statistical noise, and legislative action may follow.

The NHTSA and FMCSA are currently working on a proposal for large commercial vehicles that would artificially limit their maximum speed to 68 mph. So it isn't unheard of for legislation to be created to target new vehicles which aims to improve public safety.

Viper007Bond2• 10 years ago

Most jurisdictions call unsafely accelerating reckless driving or street racing. I own a car that will legitimately do 200 MPH but existing laws cover it too.

wavefunction• 10 years ago

Top speed is a different beast altogether than acceleration, and I doubt you drive 200mph on public streets.

beachstartup4• 10 years ago

sigh. knee-jerk reaction to ban dangerous things.

first of all, a minivan can kill you doing 10mph.

second, cars with this much power (and more importantly, top speed), have been around for a long time. you can build an 8-second quarter mile car in your garage and drive it on the street.

more nanny-state nonsense. "think of the children".

Someone12343• 10 years ago

That "nanny state nonsense" witnessed road deaths fall from 25 per 100K in 1930 to 10 per 100K since 2010. We've halved road deaths per every 100K of population! I'll take my nanny state nonsense where people are still alive, over the libertarian wet dream where they're dead.

I really think it boils down to that some people value their own personal enjoyment over other people's safety. The sad truth is that you could absolutely enjoy vehicles like that but without endangering safety, by going to a race track. There's literally race days even for road-legal vehicles.

threatofrain• 10 years ago

But isn't banning top velocity on the manufacturer-level much more lower-hanging fruit than banning top acceleration? Just make it so your vehicle can't even go over legal speed limit. It should be clearer to us today how speed kills in some of the most wide-reaching ways.

Velocity is a much more obvious policy knob to tune for the goal of less vehicular deaths and injuries.

eridius• 10 years ago

Not being able to go over the legal speed limit can be dangerous (e.g. if the other cars on the road are, and you're not, you could actually be driving relatively slowly enough that it's unsafe, and you can even technically get a ticket for that under the right circumstances).

Similarly, in most places, speed limits are actually a little lower than they would be in the ideal world where everybody obeys them, to account for the fact that most people actually go a bit over the speed limit. And there are still highways that have absurdly slow speed limits that date back to the 1973 oil crisis (federal law set a maximum speed limit of 55mph, and not all highways have recovered from that yet).

pascalxus2• 10 years ago

Unthought, kneejerk reaction.

Driving while eating a cup noodles is extremely dangerous too, I don't see any laws on the books against that.

obi1kenobi• 10 years ago

dupe of: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12973264

pascalxus2• 10 years ago

That's incredible. I don't think anyone will say electric cars are slow again!

Tesla ‘Easter Egg’ Makes the Fast-Accelerating Model S Even Faster

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