Tesla is hinting at a paid ‘Acceleration Boost’ upgrade for the Model 3

A Tesla Model 3 driving at night. (Photo: Andres GE)

Tesla is hinting at an “Acceleration Boost” upgrade for Model 3 owners. References to the upcoming performance enhancement were spotted by Model 3 owners in the “Upgrade” section of their vehicle’s profile on Tesla’s official website.

While initial reports of the upcoming Acceleration Boost suggested that it will only be exclusive to Model 3 Dual Motor AWD owners, a post from the moderator of the Tesla Model 3 Facebook group noted that Standard Range+ and Long-Range Rear-Wheel Drive variants were also eligible for the upgrade.

“This is on our SR+ without FSD account page. Our AWD with FSD doesn’t show this page because there aren’t any more ‘upgrades’ at this time,” wrote Mark Gillund, a Model 3 owner who serves as the moderator of the group.

Credit: Facebook/Mark Gillund

Owners of both the Model 3 Long Range RWD have also begun confirming that they are seeing the same Acceleration Boost reference on their account pages. Mid Range RWD Model 3 owners are yet to confirm if the same upgrade has become visible in their vehicles’ “upgrade” pages.

Among Model 3 Dual Motor AWD owners, many owners were likely excited to possibly have the opportunity to upgrade their vehicles into a “Sleeper” Model 3 Performance, but with the lack of a carbon fiber spoiler, an underlined Dual Motor Badge, red brake calipers, and 20″ Sport Tires. While it shows no cosmetic differences to the base variants of the car, it displays superior performance compared to a regular Dual Motor AWD vehicle.

While speculations point to the upgrade costing around $2,000, it is not known how much quicker each Model 3 variant will be after the acceleration boost. It also remains to be seen if the boost will be rolled out as a simple power increase, or if it will be in the form of a special launch mode, similar to the Insane Mode in the Model S P85D and Ludicrous Mode in the Model S P100D.

In October, Tesla announced that the company would be releasing a 5% power upgrade to owners of the Model 3. This came in the form of 2019.36.2.1, which included optimizations to the Model 3’s peak power. Inevitably, a couple of owners of Dual Motor Model 3s put these upgrades to the test with results that showed noticeable improvements in the acceleration and overall speed. A Tesla Model 3 Performance was even able to achieve a 0-60 mph time of 2.9 seconds, as per data from YouTube’s DragTimes.

A date of when the acceleration boost will be available to owners is not available yet. However, Tesla’s website does note that Model 3 owners must have their car loaded with 2019.40.2. This could hint at a release date that is sooner rather than later.

Joey Klender: Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his time at TESLARATI, Joey has broken several big stories, including the first images of the Tesla Model S Plaid, the imminent release of the 4680 Model Y through EPA certification, and several expansions to the Lucid AMP-1 factory in Arizona, to name a few. His stories have been featured in several publications, including Yahoo! Finance, Fox News, CNET, and Seeking Alpha. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on Twitter @KlenderJoey.
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