Recently I stumbled upon a video on YouTube which shows a quarter mile drag race between a Tesla Model X and a Lamborghini Aventador. I was extremely surprised to see the Model X beating the Lambo. It is hard to digest that people are even having these kind of drag races between a SUV, which is primarily intended for a family use and a super high end sports car let alone the SUV actually winning. Watch the following video from 2:10 to 2:40 to see it for yourself.
Tesla Model S P100D with Ludicrous Update takes a mere 2.5s to accelerate from 0–60 mph (0–97kmh); this is even quicker than a Bugatti Chiron or McLaren P1. According to this Wikipedia list, the only commercial car on the planet that is quicker than Tesla Model S is Porche 918 Spyder , a tiny 2-seater, which costs about $1 million and is no longer in production. All this makes us wonder just how the hell Tesla engineers got the 7-seat family sedan to be so incredibly quick. (*Tesla is quicker, not faster. Tesla accelerates quicker than any other comparable car but is limited to 155mph)
Let’s dive into some details
Electric cars have some inherent advantages over internal combustion engine vehicles.
1Primary reason is that an electric motor can generate maximum torque (the rotational force that is transmitted from the motor to turn the wheels. Torque measures an engine’s ability to handle loads and accelerate) at pretty much any RPM. This means that right from the moment the motor starts to rotate, a near-maximum torque is given to the wheels. The following curve shows the general torque vs rpm characteristic of a 3-phase AC induction motor, the class of electric motors which Tesla uses.
Compare this to the following curve which shows the same characteristic for an IC engine.
