Tesla Model S & Model X Get 100 kWh Battery & Greater Range With P100D Option

They say nothing in life is certain but death and taxes. But you can add to that list: a bigger Tesla battery pack.

Today Tesla officially announced a 100 kWh battery pack option for its Model S sedan and Model X SUV. When equipped with the “Ludicrous Speed” performance option (currently a requirement for the 100 kWh pack), a Tesla Model S P100D can now get from 0 to 60 MPH in just 2.5 seconds. That’s 0.3 seconds quicker than the previous model P90D with Ludicrous Speed. The larger pack will also increase the EPA-rated range between charges to an estimated 317 miles. On the Model X, the 100 kWh battery pack is expected to bring the 0–60 time down to as low as 2.9 seconds (down from 3.2) and range will increase from 257 miles to an estimated 289 miles on a single charge.

People have been speculating about when the P100D would be announced since March, when a hacker found references to that option buried in the Tesla source code. Last week the rumor mill started up again when the 100 kWh option was leaked in Europe. But today the P100D is official in the United States, as is the pricing. Any Tesla buyer with a standing order for a P90D with Ludicrous Speed can now upgrade to a P100D at an added cost of $10,000. Those owners who have already taken delivery of a P90D with Ludicrous Speed can bring their car in to be upgraded to a P100D for a fixed cost of $20,000 (to accommodate recycling of the current pack).

For new orders, the P100D comes at a $10,000 premium over a comparably equipped P90D and requires or “includes” the Ludicrous Speed option which is, in itself, a $10,000 option. So a P100D (which includes Ludicrous Speed) is $20,000 more expensive than a P90D (which does not include Ludicrous Speed). This brings the starting price of the P100D Model S to $134,500 before incentives and the starting price of a Model X P100D to $135,500. A fully loaded Model X with the P100D option now rings up at a whopping $163,250 (plus a $1,200 destination fee). At this time, the 100 kWh battery is only being offered with the top-of-the-line performance version with Ludicrous Speed option, and the Ludicrous Speed option is no longer available with the lower-capacity 90 kWh battery pack.

According to Tesla’s blog post announcing the news, the P100D Model S with Ludicrous Speed is one of the 3 quickest accelerating production cars ever built, and the only one with seating for more than two people (it has room for seven, as long as two are fairly small).  The other two (the LaFerrari and the Porsche 918 Spyder) were limited-run, million-dollar vehicles which can no longer be purchased new. So, if you need to pop over to Costco with the family to load up on supplies, really really quickly, and cost is not a factor, you might want to give this all-electric beast a closer look.