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Tesla Model S Can Hit (At Least) 132 MPH On the Autobahn
cartechboy writes "There are few places in the world outside of a race track that you can safely--and legally-- go faster than 130 mph, but the Autobahn in Germany is one of them. After Tesla announced it'll offer a future special 'autobahn' tuning package to improve the Model S's high-speed driving characteristics, one owner took his car for a high-speed run on the infamous Germany highway. He hit a maximum speed of 212 km/h, or 132 mph. With 416 horsepower on tap and full torque available from a standstill thanks to the electric motor, the Model S went from 60 mph to 100 mph in less than five seconds. (Given the included video is mostly focused on the speedometer, lets hope the driver at least glanced at the road.) Only once the car passed 100 mph did its acceleration begin to slow."
Considering the Maxima was made by Nissan and not Toyota, absolutely.
Otherwise, not so much. ;-)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Impressive. But stupid. Yes, the autobahn has unlimited speed, but they also require that the vehicle be in serviceable condition. Given the warning indicator for the tire pressure system, I kinda wonder if the tires were properly inflated and in good condition. But at least the test wasn't for long.
what is the range while doing said 132 mph?
Infamous autobahn? I don't think that word means what you think it means.
more than the tesla...
Citation?
I believe it, but I bet it would be pretty close. Especially since the Tesla is way more aerodynamic than most saloons. At those speeds air resistance will be a major factor.
"Here in the U.S., Tesla Model S owners are likely to rarely reach the carâ(TM)s 130 mph top speed..." Does Montana still have no speed limit during the day?
Well, lets says it's 5 mpg * 20 gallons, I would say you'd get around 100 miles in a stock street legal sports car.
2. Tesla swap stations don't exist yet and when they do, they're not a swap so much as an expensive rental with lots of fine print. Remember when blockbuster (remember blockbuster?) eliminated late fees? Great... but if you didn't return it in time, they decided you bought it and charged you even more. Guess what happens if you don't return your "swapped" batteries back to the same swap station within their specified time frame?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Meh. My 1964 VW Microbus can go from 0 to 60... on a good day.
It is true: the Autobahn is a single, linear tunnel straight through the core of the earth. Great way to get to Fiji.
Horsepower doesn't mean anything - it's just a number. An M-1 Abrams tank has about 1500 horsepower - think it can go faster than a modest automobile? Power to weight ratio is far more revealing, and a much better figure of merit.
It's quick. But an Ariel Atom is 'very impressive'. 0-100, 5.4 seconds.
The Atom is missing certain luxury elements in order to achieve it's admittedly extremely fast acceleration. Like windows. And a roof.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
My car can do 140 mph with only 200 horse power.
You ostensibly have a sports car (a pretty one at that) but the Model S is a sedan and it will still spank your '86 in the 0-60 (3.9s vs 6.0s) and 1/4 mile (12.4s vs 14.7s). It all depends what the machine is optimized for.
Don't race a Model S for pink slips.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
No, there's no way a Citation could hit 132 MPH
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Really? You know, how so? I have driven those types of stretches and at that speed can get that mileage. And yes I live in Europe and yes I lived in Germany.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Still, for an all electric vehicle, 132mph (with no worries about blowing up your engine) is a damn impressive speed to me.
If by "ruined" you mean "turned into a monster of savage acceleration and broke a number of records with."
Sure it's no longer exactly a lightweight, but still lighter than the lightest of your average production cars and certainly not "ruined."
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
not really, no. In that amount of time, a lot of cars can do 0-100. New hybrid mclaren will do 0-60 in 2.8, but can't remember what it's 0-100 is, but it does a standing quarter mile in 10.2 seconds at 145mph
So you're saying it's not impressive because it's not as quick as the top-tier, 7-digit-price hypercars?
Tough crowd...
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Just checked the numbers for F1. They've removed fuel stops, for those that don't know. The Montreal Grand Prix is 305 km, and last year the top time of 1:32:09.143, giving an average speed of 199 km/h. For those non-metric folk, that's 190 miles, averaging 124 mph. They spend a good deal going much faster than that. I think that an F1 car might be able to make the 300 mile mark at 160 mph if properly tuned. Although even then it might have a had time.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Never mind your "beast". ANY decent luxury sedan can cruise at 130MPG. I've done this myself on American roads.
The autobahn and BMWs are both overrated.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
There is a huge difference between driving for range, driving sanely on the highway, and driving on the track. Here are my numbers, and they are real, recorded on the spot, as opposed to remembered.
The car: Volvo S60-R, modded to 460hp at the wheels, AWD fuse pulled.
Average MPG as of this morning: 29.7mpg. (It got smogged on Saturday, the guy took two tries and two hours, lowering my MPG by a full mile)
Usual average MPG: 31mpg
Best MPG from a trip: 36mpg (Chino Hills/San Diego and back)
MPG from a highway trip where I was driving like a moron: 8.7mpg (Chino Hills/Las Vegas)
Worst MPG ever: 3.3mpg on the track.
I've done 560 miles on a tank, and I have emptied my tank in under 60 miles. It really matters how you drive...
No good deed goes unpunished...
416 horse power and it can only do 132 mph is nothing to brag about.
My car can do 140 mph....eventually
FTFY
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
What's the range of the petrol car once you're at 132mph?
Better than an electric piece of shit.
Jeremy Clarkson, is that you?
Nah, he'd have had a much better burn than 'electric piece of shit.' That's the kind of wit I would expect to come from a James May fan.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
He was infamous for his "infamous"?
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
"IIRC its about the same size and shape as a Tesla S"
Not really; plus of course the Lotus was/is also lighter and with worse passive safety.
But a far, far better car, in my opinion. (Tried one - have always loved straight sixes with their perfect primary and secondary balance).
At the time, eveyone focused on its power and top speed, taking for granted the usual Lotus magic on suspension and hence steering, braking and handling. I nearly bought the car I tested - it was £5K a few years ago. When I look at their proces now, I weep.
Wonder how much a Tesla will be worth in 20 years? Damn-all, I suspect.
(But then again, I'm clearly not one to listen to for car investments).
And the headlights, and the radio, and the bluetooth adapter, and the fans for the climate control system, and the ECU, and the BCU, etc.
None of that stuff uses any significant amount of power. Headlights are about 35-40W for Xenons, radio is surely less than 10W with today's class-D amplifiers, you have to be a total moron if you think Bluetooth uses any significant power, climate control fans are maybe 10W, ECU etc. are a few watts max. Compared to the Tesla's battery pack that supplies several thousand amp-hours of energy, all that stuff is nothing. The only thing that's going to affect range in any significant way is the use of the heater or air conditioning. In real driving, your driving style is going to have far more impact on the range: whether you accelerate too much, brake too much (and don't use regenerative braking), or even if you have the sunroof open.
With 416 horsepower on tap and full torque available from a standstill thanks to the electric motor, the Model S went from 60 mph to 100 mph in less than five seconds.
Ok... what does the whole "100% torque from standstill" thing have to do with 60-100 time?
You do realize that 60 MPH is not a standstill, don't you, cartechboy? Lord I hope so...
P.S. I found a nice chart of the 60-100 times of a host of automobiles here for those that are interested in how the Tesla S stacks up.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Tire pressure MONITORING system.
If you owned a car with one, you'd know they are the bane of your existence. They're constantly failing.
Neither of us has any idea whether he checked tire pressure before he did the run. 130mph isn't really that super-duper in a modern car with tires rated for it...as noted, a decent number of people to it on the autobahn, or the Nurburgring, every day.
Please help metamoderate.
It's not exponential. Energy required per unit distance is roughly proportional to the square of speed.
So, if AC's Vette gets 26 MPG at 66 mph, then it would work out to roughly 6.5 MPG at 132 mph.
I had an old Volvo 740 with the boost bumb up kit and the extra fuel mod. At 130 MPH I swear you could see the gas gauge move!
No, there's no way a Citation could hit 132 MPH
Are you kidding? That's about takeoff speed.
It's not impressive for the price (no electric car will be, because it's like paying most of the fuel costs up-front), but still a very good time overall.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
It probably makes much too much nitrogen oxide smog molecules to be legal.
i don't know about 130 but at 145-155 yeah it moves
Pittsburgh ok but what's in the grand canyon?
The Colorado river?
416 horse power and it can only do 132 mph is nothing to brag about.
It's not a technical limitation. The Model S has a software governor that caps its top speed. Part of the "tuning" package Tesla plans to offer for German Model S customers is a raise on the cap to somewhere closer to the "gentlemen's agreement" of 155 MPH that most auto manufacturers limit their cars with.
There's also a hidden menu setting to turn off the governor. See the video at just before the 1:00 mark. I haven't read anything about people trying it, though.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I'm a bit biased in favour of the Lotus modified GM car as I used to have a Lotus Esprit Turbo SE (Series 3). I had to change cars as the police seemed to love giving me speeding tickets for minor infractions that would pass unnoticed in any other car. [I have to admit the one for 122 mph was a fair cop though :-) ]
The extra weight and better passive safety though are surely a product of the fact its an electric car instead of a petrol one, gaining the extra weight of lots of lithium batteries against the flammability of a large fuel tank. (The Esprit had fuel caps on both sides into a central fuel tank - which was a fantastic feature IMO)
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
I assume there are constraints on continuous battery output for electric vehicles. Batteries will eventually overheat unless specifically designed otherwise. So while the Model S has 416hp available to it, it will only be accessible for a short period of time. Makes passing and accelerating very comfortable but does not necessarily translate to a higher top speed. No doubt this could change with firmware changes and cooling mods.
Your vehicle has an OBD-II diagnostic connector.
You just plug in a 'ScanGauge' or similar device.
I see a real drop off in instantaneous MPG from 70 and up.
Turns out 68 is the sweet spot for my car, about the same point as my motorcycle.
No brain, no pain.