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"Tesla's ludicrous launch is a party trick." I live in a rural exurb area. Every spring-fall weekend features parades of supercars of the various supercar club

"Tesla's ludicrous launch is a party trick." I live in a rural exurb area. Every spring-fall weekend features parades of supercars of the various supercar clubs. Million dollar plus vehicles. All driving at 60km, driving no differently than the Corolla that accidentally turned into their procession. Because it's all party tricks. These people aren't racing these cars, but are just sitting on potential. As an aside, I don't remember Tesla ever claiming that their vehicles were the "fastest production car", which is normally a measure of top speed. The Tesla has a positively mediocre top speed compared to supercars, and on any longer run will be demolished. It isn't built for repeat launches, or a quick lap at Nürburgring. But if you want a very confident merge on the highway, pass on the single lane highway, etc, it can confidently provide what you need. As an aside, all lithium ion batteries are degraded by high drain (similarly they are degraded by fast charging). Porsche is seeming buying the exact same technology in LG packs. They have identical issues that Tesla does. If you launch a P100d without ludicrous mode you'll do 0-60 in 2.9 seconds.

martin_bech 7y ago
Exact same what? Teslas batteries are Panasonic, not LG.
- endorphone 7y ago
  Sorry, exact same technology. If LG were using some new process, chemistry, technology, etc, it would be interesting, but otherwise it is effectively fungible.
nullwasamistake 7y ago
High drain isn't the problem, most lithium ion can be drained at 15-50C (drain rate not temperature) until empty without being harmed. P100D is 100kw/h battery, which should be able to put out at least 1500 hp continuously. The problem is 100% Tesla's cooling system not being powerful enough.
- davidgould 7y ago
  Not all lithium ion can be drained at high rates like that. There is a trade off of safety, lifetime, energy density and power density (discharge rate). For instance the RC helicopter batteries are rated for 100C+, but are notorious for fires and short life time. As it happens, the RC photo drones are easier on the batteries and want longer run times so there are batteries that have higher energy density but can only handle 20C. A lot of e-bike packs are built from 1650 batteries and these are best off when limited to 3C. I'd imagine the priorities of a car battery are similar.
clouddrover 7y ago
> I don't remember Tesla ever claiming that their vehicles were the "fastest production car" Here is Tesla making that claim about the Model S. They say, "New Tesla Model S Now the Quickest Production Car in the World": https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-production-car-world https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-pr... Here is Tesla making an even bigger claim about the future Tesla Roadster with no "production" qualifier. It's claimed to be "the quickest car in the world", which is plainly false: https://www.tesla.com/roadster https://www.tesla.com/roadster
- endorphone 7y ago
  Quick != Fast. Quick in the automotive industry generally refers to acceleration. Fast refers to top speed. Tesla made a big deal about acceleration, but as I said they cede that there are much faster cars out there. The Tesla is very quick at accelerating. This is indisputable. Tesla made a benefit of electric motors, properly implemented, to push a high end sedan. Eh. That this whole discussion is full of people moaning that Porsche, years and years later, might make a two seater that in some situations is more performant is quite incredible really, and is quite the accolades for Tesla. Regarding the roadster...how is that plainly false? 2.1 seconds might very much qualify it as the quickest car in the world, production or not. At least for things that qualify as "cars".
  - clouddrover 7y ago
    > Quick != Fast Don't make excuses for Tesla's overblown marketing. Playing semantics is the lowest form of argument. > Regarding the roadster...how is that plainly false? Because non-production cars outperform it.
    - endorphone 7y ago
      Semantics? They are very specific about what measure it is good at. You seem dead-set on pissing on Tesla for some reason. Which non-production car outperforms the Roadster's claimed 2.1 second 0-60? Beyond those that don't really qualify as cars (e.g. with jet engines, etc), I'm not aware of any.

martin_bech 7y ago

Exact same what? Teslas batteries are Panasonic, not LG.

endorphone 7y ago
Sorry, exact same technology. If LG were using some new process, chemistry, technology, etc, it would be interesting, but otherwise it is effectively fungible.

nullwasamistake 7y ago

High drain isn't the problem, most lithium ion can be drained at 15-50C (drain rate not temperature) until empty without being harmed. P100D is 100kw/h battery, which should be able to put out at least 1500 hp continuously. The problem is 100% Tesla's cooling system not being powerful enough.

davidgould 7y ago
Not all lithium ion can be drained at high rates like that. There is a trade off of safety, lifetime, energy density and power density (discharge rate). For instance the RC helicopter batteries are rated for 100C+, but are notorious for fires and short life time. As it happens, the RC photo drones are easier on the batteries and want longer run times so there are batteries that have higher energy density but can only handle 20C. A lot of e-bike packs are built from 1650 batteries and these are best off when limited to 3C. I'd imagine the priorities of a car battery are similar.

clouddrover 7y ago

> I don't remember Tesla ever claiming that their vehicles were the "fastest production car" Here is Tesla making that claim about the Model S. They say, "New Tesla Model S Now the Quickest Production Car in the World": https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-production-car-world https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-pr... Here is Tesla making an even bigger claim about the future Tesla Roadster with no "production" qualifier. It's claimed to be "the quickest car in the world", which is plainly false: https://www.tesla.com/roadster https://www.tesla.com/roadster

endorphone 7y ago
Quick != Fast. Quick in the automotive industry generally refers to acceleration. Fast refers to top speed. Tesla made a big deal about acceleration, but as I said they cede that there are much faster cars out there. The Tesla is very quick at accelerating. This is indisputable. Tesla made a benefit of electric motors, properly implemented, to push a high end sedan. Eh. That this whole discussion is full of people moaning that Porsche, years and years later, might make a two seater that in some situations is more performant is quite incredible really, and is quite the accolades for Tesla. Regarding the roadster...how is that plainly false? 2.1 seconds might very much qualify it as the quickest car in the world, production or not. At least for things that qualify as "cars".
- clouddrover 7y ago
  > Quick != Fast Don't make excuses for Tesla's overblown marketing. Playing semantics is the lowest form of argument. > Regarding the roadster...how is that plainly false? Because non-production cars outperform it.
  - endorphone 7y ago
    Semantics? They are very specific about what measure it is good at. You seem dead-set on pissing on Tesla for some reason. Which non-production car outperforms the Roadster's claimed 2.1 second 0-60? Beyond those that don't really qualify as cars (e.g. with jet engines, etc), I'm not aware of any.