Tesla “jumps to plaid” with power upgrades

Spaceballs fan much, Elon Musk?

The charismatic CEO of Tesla Motors today announced that, for those Model S drivers who find their P85D’s “insane mode” too tame, the company has come up with a way to make the all-electric sport sedan even quicker, by way of ‘ludicrous mode,’ the name of which was inspired by the late 1980s movie, Spaceballs. Included on a new variant called the P90D, it cuts the car’s zero-to-100 km/h acceleration time to 2.8 seconds, from the already actually insane previous interval of 3.2 seconds. Though it’s all academic at this point, that’s 0.1 second quicker than a Porsche 911 Turbo, and the car is apparently capable of a 10.9-second quarter-mile time. Ludicrous mode is a US$10,000 option on the P85D, but existing owners can make the upgrade for half that amount.

Other news from today’s announcement included an update on the Model X crossover, which will come with its own ludicrous mode and an expected 100 km/h sprint time of 3.3 seconds, which Musk admitted was “mad” for an SUV. He said the Model X is on track to go on sale this fall, and the smaller Model 3 sedan is due out in two years.

And as if that’s not enough insanity, a forthcoming second-gen Tesla Roadster will go one step beyond with a setting called ‘Maximum Plaid,’ another Spaceballs riff.

Tesla has also added a couple of tamer Model S variants, including a base-model 70 trim, and a longer-range 90 version said to be good for about 480 kilometres of driving range; current owners can upgrade to that car’s larger battery for US$3,000.