There it goes.
Narrator: 2.4 seconds.
Passenger: Wow! Narrator: That's all it takes
for this Tesla to reach 60 mph from a standstill.
That's quicker than a Bugatti Chiron,
the fastest car in the world,
which takes 2.5 seconds to go from zero to 60.
Tesla engineers worked for years
to shave tenths of a second
off the Model S Performance's acceleration time.
So, what exactly makes it so good
at accelerating so fast?
First off, electric vehicles will always be more efficient
than your typical combustion-engine car.
And the more efficient a car is,
the better it performs.
Gas-powered cars are filled with thousands of parts
linking together different mechanical components
to deliver the power from the engine to the wheels.
To do this, the engine sends power to the transmission,
which converts that power to usable energy through gears,
clutches, and different electrical components
before sending it to the driveshaft,
which ultimately rotates the wheels.
At every point in this process, there's a loss of energy
due to the friction of the various moving parts.
Electric vehicles are much simpler
in part because they can accelerate from zero
to their top speed without shifting a single gear.
Since electric vehicles don't have to shift gears,
all of the torque they can produce
is available from zero rpm, or rotations per minute.
This is what's referred to as instant torque.
Passenger: Oh, my God!
Narrator: But let's take a step back
and talk about where that power comes from.
The battery.
EV batteries range from about 20 kilowatt-hours
to 100 kilowatt-hours.
This number represents how much energy
the battery can store,
also known as energy density.
The 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack
found in the Model S Performance
makes 762 horsepower,
which is on par with Lamborghini Aventador SVJ,
but it's the power density of that battery
that determines how much power can be delivered
to the electric motor per second.
The higher the power density,
the faster the car can accelerate.
Tesla declined to share the exact power density
of its batteries, but a quick look
at how the Model S Performance compares to other EVs
will prove it is one of the most power-dense batteries
in an electric vehicle available today.
But power isn't everything.
A car can only accelerate
as fast as the tires can grip the road.
Traction is one of the most important factors
when it comes to racing.
If your tires can't grip the road,
then your car isn't going anywhere.
Tesla incorporates three features commonly found
in other performance cars to maximize traction
between the tires and the road,
which allows the car to accelerate more efficiently.
The first is all-wheel drive.
Two electric motors at the front and rear of the car
deliver power to all four wheels at the same time,
which, of course, increases traction.
Then there's torque vectoring.
Tesla's software measures how well
each of the tires are gripping the road
and adjusts torque in the front and rear
independently hundreds of times per second
to ensure the tires are constantly achieving maximum grip
and propelling the car forward.
And, lastly, Tesla uses a tire with a thread pattern
specifically developed to maximize contact with the ground.
So far, everything in Model S Performance,
with the exception of Tesla's battery technology,
can be found in other performance cars or EVs.
These features together give the Model S
a zero to 60 of 3.7 seconds,
which makes its acceleration comparable
to the Alfa Romeo Giulia
or the Dodge Challenger Hellcat,
both of which are impressive performance cars on their own.
But the not-so-secret sauce that propels the Model S
to supercar performance
and shaves off another 1.3 seconds
is Ludicrous Plus mode and launch control.
Ludicrous Plus mode preps the battery
for maximum performance
by heating it to precisely 122 degrees
to improve power output by about 46 horsepower,
according to DragTimes' recent test
of the latest firmware update.
The motors, inverters, and transmission
can handle higher temperatures for a longer period of time
before the car limits power
to cool the car's components down,
allowing the car to endure strenuous driving
like drag racing longer.
With launch control, the front suspension
squats into a cheetah stance
to keep force on the front tires more consistent
to further improve traction.
The axle is also preloaded with a small amount of torque,
similar to pulling a slingshot back
to build tension before launching a projectile.
But in this case, the projectile is the car.
There isn't just one feature that can be attributed
to the incredible performance of the Model S.
Instead, it's a system that maximizes power
and efficiency at every stage.
Passenger: I could do that every day.
[driver chuckles]
I need this every day, Brooks. Every single day.
[both laugh]