Live data from Hacker News

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

bloomberg.com

51–60 of 121 posts

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

#51

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 pr…

> 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).

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

#52
post #34
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> 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.

Well, if you have to refuel every eight minutes, then the time to fill up becomes quite relevant. Not to mention that the main problem will be tyres, as those likely won't do a whole lot of miles at such speeds. Qoute: "In testing Michelin had run the Veyron’s massive meats on its tire dyno at 270 mph — the fastest it can spin — for 20 seconds, then at 250 mph for 20 seconds. It repeated that cycle two more times. Then the tires exploded." http://www.motortrend.com/news/bugatti-veyron-grand-sport-vi...

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

#53
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Well, if you have to refuel every eight minutes, then the time to fill up becomes quite relevant. Not to mention that the main problem will be tyres, as those likely won't do a whole lot of miles at such speeds. Qoute: " In testing Michelin had run the Veyron’s massive meats on its tire dyno at 270 mph — the fastest it can spin — for 20 seconds, then at 250 mph for 20 seconds. It repeated that cycle two more times. T…

The tires also cost tens of thousands of dollars. The wheels need to be replaced fairly frequently as well, and they also cost tens of thousands of dollars. Supposedly there are Veyron owners who ship their car to a destination and then follow along in their private jet because that's cheaper than driving the car there. The P100D isn't cheap, but the Veyron is a whole different category of expensive.

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

#54
post #25

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!

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…

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.)

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

#57
post #34
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> 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.

James May only goes 30 miles. On a closed track... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSFX9vrwJf8

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

#58

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 pr…

> 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 0-6…

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

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

#60
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Indeed. My weak Google-fu indicates that the coefficient of friction of tyres against a dry road surface is something like 0.9, so there must be some improvement in tyre technology here just to make the thing go without creating a thick black smelly line on the road.

A car doesn't drag along the road. The tyres are in relatively static contact (unless you're drifting etc.). Static and dynamic friction are quite different.
Post reply on HN