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Performance Gains after P85D Ludicrous Mode Upgrade

TMC member thimel recently had the Ludicrous mode upgrade installed on his Model S P85D. He carefully measured the performance of his car before and after, and found that Ludicrous mode is worth about a half second to 60 mph and a noticeable increase in power at all speeds up to 80.

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Just how much faster is the the P85D with Ludicrous Mode upgrade? According to Tesla Motors Club (TMC) member thimel, the performance gains are significant, to the tune of 19% more power above 30 mph and a drop in 0-60 time from 3.2 to 2.9 seconds. Quarter mile time also drops from an already quick 11.8 seconds to an astounding 11.5 seconds.

thimel carefully measured the performance of the P85D both before and after the Ludicrous Mode upgrade. The performance data was then meticulously charted and plotted, painting a clear picture of the performance differences from the $5,000 retrofit.

Performance Chart P85D Ludicrous Mode Upgrade

[Image source: thimel via TMC]

According to thimel’s post from the TMC forum, “I started the before Ludicrous tests early in the morning and had not driven the car for many hours, but had charged it that night. The ambient temperature in my garage that morning was 59 degrees and it was 50 degrees outside during the tests. I started with a 90% charge and by the time I was done the charge was 70%. Creep mode was off to help avoid a very slow start. Insane mode was on of course. Climate control was off.

“I drove a few miles before starting the first test but did nothing else to warm the battery. I drove 5 miles at moderate acceleration and speeds between acceleration passes. This was both to give a chance for things to cool down and to return me to the same starting point for each acceleration pass.data shows the Ludicrous mode upgrade it worth nearly a half second in the sprint to 60 mph and several more miles per hour at the end of the quarter mile. ”

Next he charted his power and speed against time and found power to range from 380 kW, before the Ludicrous upgrade, to 451 kW after the upgrade with the Max Battery Power setting on. The setting heats the Tesla battery to a higher temperature thereby reducing its impedance and increasing current to provide short term acceleration and performance gains.

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thimel chart 2

The biggest boost in performance after the Ludicrous upgrade happens above 30 mph. Below that, performance is about the same. But with Ludicrous mode engaged, there is a sizable increase in available torque. Before the upgrade, lateral acceleration reaches approximately 1.15 g at 15 mph, then falls below 1 g after 25 mph. After the upgrade, lateral acceleration peaks at 1.1 g and continues to pull over 1 g until slightly past 30+ mph. Most notably, the acceleration is consistently above the pre-Ludicrous Mode upgrade all the way until 80 mph.

P85D Ludicrous Mode acceleration

[Image source: thimel via TMC]

In his notes, thimel makes some interesting points. “Above 30 mph, ludicrous clearly has more power. This is seen directly with the PowerTools readout…..which shows the maximum power increased from 380 to 451 kW, a 19% increase and by the shorter times to achieve speeds above 30 mph. The max power measured from the battery was 451 kW. This compares to 458 kW that Pete90D measured on his P90DL. So the battery doesn’t make much of a difference. The 0-60 time I got of 2.89 is also nearly identical to that Pete90D got of 2.901.”

He ends his post with this conclusion: “The P85D with ludicrous upgrade is significantly faster than without. There is 19% more power above 30 mph, 0-60 time drops from 3.2 to 2.9 seconds and the quarter mile time drops from 11.8 to 11.5. So it was fast before and is faster now. You get about two-thirds of the improvement if you don’t heat the battery with max battery power.”

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Tesla plans for largest Australian Supercharger yet

The company has a 20-stall site in the city of Goulburn in New South Wales, which is an ideal location for trips between Sydney and Canberra, two major cities.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is planning to build its largest Supercharger in Australia yet, expanding on the infrastructure the company has built for electric vehicles.

The company has a 20-stall site in the city of Goulburn in New South Wales, which is an ideal location for trips between Sydney and Canberra, two major cities.

However, according to The Driven, a new Australian Supercharger is on the way, and it is going to be the biggest in the country, accounting for more than 25 stalls total. They will likely be V4 Superchargers, Tesla’s fastest piles that enable some serious range for cars that will plug in.

Tesla is operating 148 active Supercharger sites in Australia, with 80 of those being available to non-Tesla EVs as a part of the company’s initiative to make things accessible for all electric vehicle owners.

The expansion of Tesla Superchargers is welcome for all EV owners, especially as there are so many automakers that have access to the network. It is widely reliable and extremely dependable; it is tough to find a Supercharger location that is completely out of service.

The opening of the stalls will be welcome for the Tesla owners of Australia, especially as the Model Y continues to be a major contributor to the company’s prowess in the market.

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Tesla’s sales performance in Australia showed a mixed but challenging picture in 2025, with the company delivering 28,856 new vehicles, marking a significant 24.8% decline from 38,347 units in 2024.

This represented the brand’s largest annual drop on record and the second consecutive year of decline, amid intensifying competition from Chinese EV makers like BYD and shifting buyer preferences toward SUVs. The Tesla Model Y remained a standout performer and Australia’s best-selling electric vehicle, with 22,239 deliveries, up 4.6percent year-over-year, accounting for about 77 percent of Tesla’s total sales.

The mid-year launch of the updated “Juniper” Model Y helped sustain momentum in the popular mid-size SUV segment.

In contrast, the Model 3 sedan struggled sharply, plummeting 61.3 percent to just 6,617 units, as consumers favored SUVs and faced growing options in the sedan category.

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Despite the overall dip, Tesla held onto leadership in the EV segment, capturing roughly 28 percent of the BEV market. Australia’s EV market grew robustly, surpassing 156,000 sales and reaching 13 percent market share, up 38.7 percent from 2024, highlighting strong broader adoption even as Tesla faced headwinds.

Early 2026 data suggests a rebound, with EV sales nearly doubling year-over-year in February and the Model Y showing strong gains, positioning Tesla for potential recovery amid ongoing competition.

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Tesla Model Y L gets new entertainment feature

Beyond audio quality, Immersive Sound X aligns with Tesla’s ecosystem of over-the-air updates, potentially allowing future refinements.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla is including a new entertainment feature in the Model Y L, improving the vehicle even further and making it what appears to be the best configuration of the all-electric crossover globally.

Unfortunately, we in the U.S. do not yet have access to the vehicle, and the plans for it to enter the market remain up in the air, as CEO Elon Musk has said it could appear late this year. However, there is nothing concrete at this time.

Tesla’s latest enhancement to the Model Y L is a new Immersive Sound X feature, exclusive to the Model Y L.

It aims to transform the in-car listening experience into something truly cinematic. First introduced by Tesla China in October 2025, this advanced audio mode is now rolling out to deliveries in Australia and New Zealand, highlighting Tesla’s approach to region-specific premium upgrades.

At its core, Immersive Sound X leverages real-time sound extraction technology to create a customizable 3D soundstage. Using advanced algorithms, it analyzes audio tracks to separate direct sounds, such as vocals or lead instruments, from ambient elements like echoes and reverb.

The system then positions direct sounds front and center while diffusing ambient sounds to the side and rear speakers, simulating an expansive virtual environment. This results in a heightened sense of depth and spatial awareness, making listeners feel as if they’re in a concert hall or studio.

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What sets Immersive Sound X apart from the standard Immersive Sound found in other Tesla models is its hardware dependency and enhanced processing. The Model Y L boasts an 18-speaker system with a subwoofer, compared to the 15-speaker setup, plus a subwoofer, in the Model Y Long Range’s previous premium audio configuration.

This upgrade provides more “kick” and precision, enabling finer control over the soundstage. Unlike traditional surround sound, which requires multi-channel mixes like Dolby Atmos, Immersive Sound X works with any stereo source from platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, so every owner will be able to use it.

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You can fine-tune the experience via an adjustable immersion slider, scaling the “size” of the virtual space to personal preferences. This caters to a more custom sound.

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An Auto mode intelligently adapts based on media type, whether it’s music, podcasts, or videos, ensuring optimal immersion without manual tweaks. This feature is unavailable on standard Model Y variants (with 7 or 15 speakers) or Model 3 trims, underscoring Tesla’s strategy to differentiate higher trims through superior hardware and software integration.

Beyond audio quality, Immersive Sound X aligns with Tesla’s ecosystem of over-the-air updates, potentially allowing future refinements.

For audiophiles and casual listeners alike, it elevates mundane commutes into immersive journeys, proving Tesla’s commitment to blending cutting-edge tech with user-centric design.

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Elon Musk teases crazy outlook for xAI against its competitors

Musk’s response was vintage hyperbole, designed to rally supporters and dismiss doubters, something his responses on social media often do.

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Credit: NVIDIA

Elon Musk has never been one to shy away from crazy timelines, massive expectations, and outrageous outlooks. However, his recent plans for xAI and where he believes it will end up compared to its competitors are sure to stimulate conversation.

In a bold and characteristic response on X, Elon Musk fired back at a recent analysis that positioned his AI venture, xAI, as lagging behind industry frontrunners.

The post, from March 14, came as a direct reply to forecaster Peter Wildeford’s assessment, which drew from benchmarks and reporting to rank AI developers.

Wildeford placed Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI in a virtual tie at the top, with xAI and Meta trailing by about seven months. Chinese players like Moonshot, Deepseek, zAI, and Alibaba were estimated to be nine months behind, while France’s Mistral lagged by about a year and a half.

Musk’s response was vintage hyperbole, designed to rally supporters and dismiss doubters, something his responses on social media often do.

He claimed xAI would “catch up this year,” meaning by the end of 2026, erasing that seven-month deficit against the leaders. But he didn’t stop there.

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Musk escalated his vision to 2029, predicting xAI would “exceed them all by such a long distance” that observers would need the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s orbiting observatory stationed about 930,000 miles from Earth, to spot whoever lands in second place. This analogy underscores Musk’s confidence in xAI’s trajectory, implying an astronomical lead that could redefine the AI landscape.

Breaking down these claims reveals Musk’s strategic optimism. First, the short-term catch-up: xAI, launched in 2023, has already released models like Grok, but recent benchmarks, including those for Grok 4.2, have shown it falling short in capabilities compared to rivals.

Anthropic’s Claude series, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s GPT models dominate in areas like reasoning, coding, and multimodal tasks. Musk’s assertion suggests aggressive scaling in compute, talent, or architecture, perhaps leveraging xAI’s ties to Tesla’s Dojo supercomputers or Musk’s vast resources, to close the gap swiftly.

The longer-term dominance by 2029 paints an even more audacious picture. Musk envisions xAI not just parity but supremacy, outpacing competitors in innovation speed and model sophistication.

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This could involve breakthroughs in energy-efficient training, real-world integration, like Tesla’s robotics, or ethical AI alignment, aligning with Musk’s stated goal of “understanding the universe.”

Critics, however, point to parallels with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving delays; one reply highlighted Musk’s 2023 promise of FSD readiness. Musk has made this promise for many years, and although the system has been strong and improving, it is still a ways off from the completely autonomous operation that was expected by now.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.5 might be the most confusing release ever

Musk’s comment highlights the intensifying U.S.-centric AI race, with xAI challenging the “three-way” dominance noted by Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, whom Wildeford quoted. As geopolitical tensions rise—evident in the Chinese firms’ lag—Musk’s tease could spur investment and talent wars.

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Yet, it also invites scrutiny: Will xAI deliver, or is this another telescope-needed mirage? In an industry where timelines slip but stakes soar, Musk’s words keep the spotlight on xAI’s ambitious path forward.

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