From Guest Blogger Jordan: Tesla’s “D” is an All-Wheel Drive Model S with Dual Engine
When Elon Musk posted a tweet saying Tesla is about to “unveil the D” a couple of days ago, it kept millions of people guessing what that “D” might stand for, with most auto experts speculating that it either points to a driverless car, or an all-wheel drive vehicle. It turns out that those who predicted that Tesla is going for a new version of the Model S, one with an all-wheel drive, were right.
On Thursday night, Musk straightened out the dilemma (mystery? -ed) , at an event organized by Tesla at the Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles, where he unveiled the all-wheel-drive version of the Model S. In addition to the all-wheel-drive feature, Tesla’s CEO announced that the new Model S will be equipped with a dual engine, finally explaining that the “D” stands for dual. In essence, last night’s event was all about unveiling an optional package that Tesla will start offering this December.
The added features that the new Model S P85D will have will make it much more powerful , incomparably faster than the previous version. Musk said that it will be able to go from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds, close to the Chevrolet Corvette Z06’s 2.95 seconds, and thanks to the addition of another motor, it will deliver a whopping 691 horsepower. On top of these amazing specs, the all-wheel drive and the dual motor features will give the Model S a better range than the current model, allowing it to travel 275 miles before recharging. The second electric motor will power the front wheels, with all four wheels connected electronically, instead of through a shaft, which is what most other all-wheel-drive systems employ.
On top of these performance improvements, Tesla has integrated a series of advanced, high-tech safety features, which will help drivers avoid collisions. For starters, there are 12 sensors installed in the car, that monitor the car’s surroundings, helping the driver avoid unintended lane departure, as well as pedestrians and other moving objects. Also, when the driver presses the turn signal, the car will switch lanes automatically. The long-range radar is there to recognize and read speed-limit signs and tell the car’s computer to adjust the speed, and also detect traffic lights. Furthermore, the car has the ability to park itself, after the driver steps out of the vehicle, which will surely be very useful to a lot of drivers, and will help prevent back-up collisions.
However, even though the Model S P85D has a lot of autonomous driving features, Musk underlined that it is not capable of driving itself without the input of a driver, dismissing speculations that Tesla is about to unveil a fully-autonomous car soon.
Considering that the additional equipment that the new Model S will come with is pretty sophisticated and expensive, it comes as no surprise that it will cost significantly more to purchase than the current model – with a base price set at $120,000, almost twice the price of the rear-wheel Model S and a lot more then the other top selling EVs.
