Tesla Announces Dual Motors, 'Autopilot' For the Model S

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Tesla Announces Dual Motors, 'Autopilot' For the Model S

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 10, 2014 @12:50AM from the not-for-individual-resale dept.

SchrodingerZ writes: Nine days after Elon Musk hinted about a new project, Tesla Motors has unveiled the P85D Sedan. This is Tesla's latest car design, capable of feats not yet seen in electric vehicles. The four door luxury car is able to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in a mere 3.2 seconds, an acceleration similar to the McLaren F1 super car. While the exterior remains the same build as the standard Model S, the interior will have a second motor in the front of the car to complement the rear motor. The D models will also have a slightly greater range of 275 miles on a single charge, 10 miles more than the 85 and P85 cars. Safety features have also been enhanced, adding "adaptive cruise control and the ability to read speed limit signs, stop itself if a crash is imminent, stay in its lane, and even park itself in a street spot or in your garage." Musk explains at the inaugural event, "this car is nuts. It's like taking off from a carrier deck. It's just bananas." The "D" version is available for the 60kWh, 80kWh, and P85 cars, and are expected to start shipping in December of this year.

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Performance by Charliemopps · 2014-10-10 01:07 · Score: 5, Interesting

This is how electric will win. Performance.
When I was in High-school I raced RC cars for fun, and I remembered by gear head friends giving me crap about working on "Toy cars" until I challenged one of them to a drag race, against his real, full sized muscle car, and won hands down. The torque from an electric motor is just monstrous. So much so, that I suspect if they continue to build electric sports cars, the gforce alone will become a safety issue. My drag car would pull 100amps off the starting line and could melt battery cables, and the thing only weighed 2lbs. It'd be doing the scale equivalent of over 1000mph when I got to the end of the track. Yes, yes, I know at full scale wind resistance is different and such, but still. I had a hunk of carbon fiber doing 100mph in a few feet for Christs sake.
The sorts of people that hate electric because it's a "hippie thing" will embrace it because the fact of the matter is that, in the end, it just performs better. Can't have hippies beating your Cudda with a Prius.
Random video I found on youtube as a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
1. Re:Performance by mlts · 2014-10-10 02:48 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  The ironic thing is that even in rural Texas [1], even the coal rollers think that Teslas are extremely useful and hope that eventually the company would make a one ton pickup truck. It would make life nice for a number of reasons:
  1: A lot of ranch vehicles tend to go a long distance, but get parked near the same spot at night, so an electric charger is useful.
  2: Trucks need torque at 0RPM. Electric motors deliver here in spades.
  3: Welders and other tools are needed. Having a heavy duty inverter and the ability to use the battery bank for powering an air compressor would come quite handy.
  4: Electric motors need a lot less upkeep than a diesel engine. No pee cans, no DPFs, no EGR valves, air filters, oil filters, just very minimal maintenance required.
  5: They use no fuel when stopped/idling, other than to keep the vehicle electronics going and the climate control system.
  6: They are quiet.
  7: An electric motor can sit indefinitely without worry about fuel turning to sludge (in the case of gasoline) or getting algae in it (like diesel.)
  8: No exhaust.
  Electric cars are like solar. Both sides, be it the hippies or the banjo country types understand how useful the technology is or can be.
2. Re:Performance by Charliemopps · 2014-10-10 03:21 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  You don't understand. I wasn't hitting 60 in 2 to 3 seconds. I was hitting 60 (Scale 600mph) in tenths of a second and I was 16!. Tesla is getting this speed without even trying. Get a real race enthusiast to start messing with these? Forget F1, it'll be like being behind a rocket engine. I've seen RC drag races that resulted in the motor ripping the tires off the rims, and they were glued on. 2 to 3 seconds will be laughable when the real drag race guys get hold of this stuff.
3. Re:Performance by skaralic · 2014-10-10 05:03 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  This is how electric will win. Performance. When I was in High-school I raced RC cars for fun, and I remembered by gear head friends giving me crap about working on "Toy cars" until I challenged one of them to a drag race, against his real, full sized muscle car, and won hands down. The torque from an electric motor is just monstrous. So much so, that I suspect if they continue to build electric sports cars, the gforce alone will become a safety issue. My drag car would pull 100amps off the starting line and could melt battery cables, and the thing only weighed 2lbs. It'd be doing the scale equivalent of over 1000mph when I got to the end of the track. Yes, yes, I know at full scale wind resistance is different and such, but still. I had a hunk of carbon fiber doing 100mph in a few feet for Christs sake.
  The sorts of people that hate electric because it's a "hippie thing" will embrace it because the fact of the matter is that, in the end, it just performs better. Can't have hippies beating your Cudda with a Prius.
  Random video I found on youtube as a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
  Yeah, but does it have... soul. :D
  
  Seriously, I like the mechanical sound of a nice inline 6 or a V8 under the hood. I love the control of a manual transmission and clutch and how it engages the driver and makes him/her an essential part of the vehicle. Yes, dual-clutch autos are faster and electric cars are even faster but something is lost in the process and it's a shame. But, most people don't care about such things so electrics will be perfect for the masses just not for us "enthusiasts". Now get off my lawn!
Re:Autonomy by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-10 01:09 · Score: 3, Interesting

TFS says "60 miles per hour in a mere 3.2 seconds".
60 miles per hour is referring to a velocity, not a distance.
If it could really somehow cover 60 miles in 3.2 seconds safely, I wouldn't care that it could only do it for 15 seconds, because i would already be there
73% tax return by hooiberg · 2014-10-10 01:34 · Score: 5, Interesting

And because it is an electric car, we get 73% of the purchase price back here (Netherlands), because of tax related stuff. So this car effectively costs a quarter of the listed price. Not bad.
Re:Autonomy by alex67500 · 2014-10-10 02:38 · Score: 4, Interesting

A lot of comedy is just made of silly arguments and situations... I found it funny, but I guess a sense of humour is very much like opinions: most people have one but they're not always compatible.