Tesla claims world’s fastest car* with new 100kWh battery pack

Tesla’s Model S has been back in the news this week with a new, even ludicrous-er 0-100km time of 2.5 seconds – that is around 0.3 of a second faster than before – prompting speculation that the car-maker had begun installing its new 100kWh battery without telling anyone.

That speculation was promptly confirmed in a new blog post on Tuesday, entitled New Tesla Model S Now the Quickest Production Car in the World.*

(The asterisk – added by Tesla – denotes that the Model is actually the third-fastest if you count the LaFerrari or the Porsche 918 Spyder, but because both of those were limited run, million dollar vehicles and cannot be bought new, Tesla is not really counting them.)

Tesla said in the blog that the larger 100kWh battery pack – which also increases range to an estimated 613km, making it the “longest range production electric vehicle by far” – was now available for both the Model S and X in the “P100D” iteration.

As we have reported here, Australia’s first batch of Model Xs has arrived – more than one year after they first went on order. Tesla is keeping quiet on actual numbers, though.

According to the blog, Tesla Model S drivers with an existing P90D Ludicrous, or one on order, can upgrade to a 100kWh battery for $US20,000.

It also notes that the P100D Ludicrous is “obviously an expensive vehicle”, but restates Elon Musk’s Master Plan theory that every sale of “obviously expensive” Teslas helps pay for the smaller and more affordable Teslas, like the Model 3 that is in development.