Launch Mode Testing on Tesla P90D Ludicrous

December 5th, 2015

tesla-p90d-launch-mode-testingTesla recently released a software update that includes a new feature called “Launch Mode” which is supposed to “help your car accelerate as quickly as possible”  as per the release notes.  We gave the new Launch Mode a test which requires the car to be in “Max Battery Power” Mode.  Tesla’s Launch Mode operates similarly to other performance cars.  While the car is completely stopped you press firmly on the brake with you left foot, then press the accelerator completely down with your right foot.  Then you release the accelerator and press it down all the way again.   Now the car displays a message “Launch Mode Enabled”, you then have 4 seconds to release the brake and take off.

During the Launch Mode procedure we can feel the car “loading up” power against the brakes along with some creaking noises that just begs for you to release the brakes and go.  Using Launch Mode resulted in slightly quicker performance numbers over the previous software release but still falls quite short of Tesla’s 10.9 1/4 mile performance specifications.

We also did some back to back 0-60 MPH testing with and without launch mode and while the best 0-60 MPH time obtained was using Launch Mode some of the runs were dead even between using Launch Mode and not using it.  Wheels on the car are lighter than stock by Pulse a division of Speed Design GmbH.

Check out the video below and performance comparison:

Software Version 7.0 release 2.7.77 (without Launch Mode)

0-60 MPH: 2.86 seconds
0-100 MPH: 7.56 seconds
1/4 Mile: 11.32 @ 118.3 MPH

Software Version 7.0 release 2.9.40 (with Launch Mode)

0-60 MPH: 2.82 seconds
0-100 MPH: 7.46 seconds
1/4 Mile: 11.26 @ 118.7 MPH

Release Notes

tesla-launch-mode-release-notes

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