Elon Musk Says Tesla Model 3 Will Offer the Most Important Mode…In The World
Time to dust off those “Spaceballs” jokes again.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently took to Twitter to answer questions from the unwashed masses, as he often does when he (presumably) grows tired of swimming through his Olympic-sized pool filled with $100 bills. Among the casual details he dropped during the impromptu Q&A, Musk announced that the new Model 3 would indeed offer the glorious accelerative option known as Ludicrous Mode.
Granted, in terms of outright shocks the news ranks far closer to "your dog pooped on the floor while you were out" than "fried rat in your KFC bucket." Like the ubiquitous Supercharger stations and the grandma-scaring Autopilot, the performance-enhancing Ludicrous Mode has become a Tesla signature. Available only on top-rung, all-wheel-drive versions of the Model S and Model X, Ludicrous Mode includes higher-amperage fuses made out of Inconel that let the electric motors draw more power from the battery. This, in turn, enables the Model S and Model X to lay down supercar-smoking acceleration times.
At the Model 3 launch event back in March, Musk claimed that the Model 3 would be capable of hitting 60 mph in less than six seconds. Considering the Model S and Model X both lay down Ludicrous Mode sprints in the low 3s and high 2s, that seems waaaaaaay too slow for a Tesla bearing the Spaceballs-inspired acceleration upgrade. However, a report from just before the Model 3 debuted suggested the fastest version of the car would run from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds, which would be much more in line with what we'd expect from a car on the verge of going to Plaid.
