Musk launches Tesla Model X – bio-weapon defence button comes standard

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30 September 2015 3:04 PM

Tesla Model X

Elon Musk has today officially launched the Tesla Model X, the SUV successor to the highly successful Model S sedan.

“It’s important we move to a sustainable world sooner rather than later”, Musk noted whilst opening the presentation in a glittering event at the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley. “It’s also important to show that any type of car can go electric, we’ve done it with a sports car, the sedan, and now we’re doing it with the SUV”.

Every Model X carries a forward-looking camera, radar, and 360 degree sonar sensors to enable advanced autopilot features.

Every Model X carries a forward-looking camera, radar, and 360 degree sonar sensors to enable advanced autopilot features.The Model X will also be safest SUV in the market, achieving a 5 star rating in all categories, even surpassing 5 stars in some of those, with a calculated 6.5% of serious injury when in any serious accident according to Musk. The lack of an engine at the front of the car allows for a great crumple zone, protecting passengers from frontal intrusions in a head on collision.

The Model X also comes standard with the world’s first true “hepa air filter” in a car, as well as a bioweapon defence mode button which gives you “hospital grade air-quality”.

No, really. The biodefense mode button is available in the dash display, it pumps up the Model X’s HEPA air filter to maximum level, which Musk claims would be able to rid any toxins from biological weapons, making the SUV the new panic-room should any apocalyptic events occur.

The all-wheel drive Model X has a range of 400 km with a 90kWh battery. The P90D version – with ludicrous mode -accelerates from 0-100km/h in just 3.2 seconds. Not bad for a people mover that can tow over 2 tonnes.

The double-hinged falcon is a fantastically awesome-looking addition. The wing doors can open with only 30cm of space on either side of the car.

How? Tesla double-hinged the doors, and fitted each with an ultrasonic sensor and put a third on the roof. This means the doors will open knowing exactly how much room it has and will adjust accordingly.

Elon Musk demonstrates how the falcon wing doors can open in tight spaces.

The latest addition to the Tesla shares many features as the popular Model S, it’s good-looking and incredibly fast and all with no emissions. Tesla has made the people moving, soccer-mum driving, family car SUV desirable again.

The Model X will be priced in line with Model S, with standard models starting at under $100k, in the US. Deliveries in Australia will start later this year. Redflow’s Simon Hackett will take delivery of the first.

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Sam Parkinson

Sam is Chief Operating Officer for Renew Economy and EV Media. Sam has been working with Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid since 2014 and with The Driven since its inception in 2017. Sam is an occasional contributor to both websites with particular interest in electric vehicles and social policy.