The Tesla Model S P85D Is Now Even More Insane Thanks To A Software Upgrade

Say what you like about electric vehicles, having 100 per cent of torque available from the instant you put your foot down makes for for mind blowing performance potential. That’s no more evident than in the Tesla Model S P85D, which has a suitably named ‘insane’ mode to terrify your passengers.

But Elon Musk has just revealed that an over-the-air software update will make the P85D hit 60mph in 3.1sec - about 0.1 seconds faster than before - with P85 cars seeing smaller improvements. An update to the inverter algorithm has eked a little more performance from the dual motor setup. Owners will wake up one morning to a car that made itself a little bit faster overnight.

This marks one of the most intriguing aspects of ‘tuning’ your electric vehicle. Updates and improvements can be sent to your vehicle over the air, removing the necessity to make a time-consuming trip to a local garage. Furthermore, in the future aftermarket companies could tweak a car’s settings, much like ‘chipping’ today, then you download the update as easily as buying a song on iTunes.

Interestingly, Musk also claims that the ridiculous performance from the dual-motor/all-wheel drive setup is actually just a pleasant side effect of the main goal, which was to create brilliant traction in snow. To prove how effective this is, the real-life Tony Stark shared a video of a P85D owner driving up a snowy hill, passing stricken SUVs.

We’ve just collected a Model S P85 for an exciting feature we’re shooting this weekend. Tell us what you’d like to know!