Tesla Model X Reveal

Tesla Model X Reveal
Tesla first showcased their Model X back in 2012, and I thought it was fascinating to take a look back at it.

Great DeLorean DMC-12 Documentary

Great DeLorean DMC-12 Documentary

Cool German VW Commercial

Cool German VW Star Trek Commercial

Elon Musk Unveils Dual Motor Tesla

Elon Musk Unveils Dual Motor Tesla S Model P85D All-Wheel-Drive: 0-60mph in 3.2 Seconds!!!!!
I Am At A Loss For Words!?!?!?!?!
Today, Telsa proudly introduced the fastest four-wheel sedan ever made, which can do 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds, and it also can drive itself!!! Oh, and it offers All Wheel Drive...So what exactly does this mean? It probably means the P85D is now the overall best car made in history!!!!

What does all this mean? Basically, the Tesla P85D is a Supercar Sedan, which has created a new class of cars. This means that if anybody pulls up next to you in an kind of production car, the couldn't beat the P85D is an kind of race, not that you should be racing people driving Ferrari 458 models or Bugatti Veyron models ;-)

Tesla has rated the P85D at being able to do 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, but to the best of my knowledge, Tesla typically understates their acceleration, so I would not be surprised if the real number is in the high two seconds. In other words, the P85D is an absolute game-changer!!!! Oh, and if you charge it at home during off-peak hours, you get a range of close to 300 miles for under $5 in electricity!!?!?!! Compare that to a Bugatti Veyron that gets 7 miles to the gallon in the city.

In this next video, Elon Musk, Founding CEO of Telsa takes a Bloomberg reporter and cameramen on a test drive of the all-new Tesla S P85D.

In the video below Elon Musk discusses how Tesla's all-new Auto Pilot works. Basically you should think of the Tesla Auto Pilot feature as the next generation in cruise-control.


Design Analysis
The P85D offers many unique features beyond being a rocket on wheels. For instance, it is the only Tesla Model S P85D that offers a perfect 50/50 weight balance between the front and rear of the car. All the other Tesla models are close at 52/48, but the P85D is perfectly balance due to its two engines, as seen below. 

It is also worth noting that the Model S offers such an amazingly useful amount of cargo space due to the fact the motors are located between the wheels. This gives the car super traction, and saves tremendous room since there is no drivetrain, or exhaust.
The standard Model S Tesla offers seat that are available in different materials including leather, as seen below.

With the advent of the P85D Tesla S, there is an upgraded all-new seat named the "Next Generation Seat", which is seen below. These new seat are beefed up, and offer more substantial seat bolsters.

I put together the animation below which clearly shows the difference between the standard Model S leather seats and the "Next Generation" leather seats. If you watch the image carefully you will notice how much more lateral support the Next Generation seat provide, even for back seat occupants.

My background is in design, and as a designer, I have spent a bunch of time studying all the details on the Tesla, and the only feature I really have an issue with have to do with the seats. In particular, I think Tesla should offer seating options that include air-conditioned seats, the point of which is that they keep you dry and refreshed. 
I would also love to see Tesla offer built-in seat massagers, like Mercedes offers. Also, I think the center armrests and the door armrests should be more luxurious, by adding more padding like you would find on a Lexus LS 460 or S-Class Mercedes.

So one of the obvious question, is what is the impact of this new model introduction with the Tesla P85D? It could be argued that the already great Tesla S sedan, is now the best car made. As a matter of fact, Motor Trend awarded it the 2013 Car Of The Year, pointing out that being as smooth as a Rolls Royce, it had close to the cargo capacity of a Ford Explorer.

Tesla has also been working on their North American Supercharger Network which allows all Tesla S owners to charge their Model S cars for free, forever. To learn more about the Tesla Supercharger network, click here.

In 2013, Consumer Reports rated the Tesla Model S as their highest scoring car in the history of their rating system. 

The Tesla S is also the safest care ever made. It is so strong that while being tested for roof strength, the Telsa S was so strong that when subjected to a 4G load, the Tesla roof broke the crush-teeing machine!

TESLA MODEL S ACHIEVES BEST SAFETY RATING OF ANY CAR EVER TESTED

SETS NEW NHTSA VEHICLE SAFETY SCORE RECORD 

MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2013

Palo Alto, CA — Independent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has awarded the Tesla Model S a 5-star safety rating, not just overall, but in every subcategory without exception. Approximately one percent of all cars tested by the federal government achieve 5 stars across the board. NHTSA does not publish a star rating above 5, however safety levels better than 5 stars are captured in the overall Vehicle Safety Score (VSS) provided to manufacturers, where the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars.

Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants. While the Model S is a sedan, it also exceeded the safety score of all SUVs and minivans. This score takes into account the probability of injury from front, side, rear and rollover accidents. 

The Model S has the advantage in the front of not having a large gasoline engine block, thus creating a much longer crumple zone to absorb a high speed impact. This is fundamentally a force over distance problem – the longer the crumple zone, the more time there is to slow down occupants at g loads that do not cause injuries. Just like jumping into a pool of water from a tall height, it is better to have the pool be deep and not contain rocks. The Model S motor is only about a foot in diameter and is mounted close to the rear axle, and the front section that would normally contain a gasoline engine is used for a second trunk.

For the side pole intrusion test, considered one of the most difficult to pass, the Model S was the only car in the "good" category among the other top one percent of vehicles tested. Compared to the Volvo S60, which is also 5-star rated in all categories, the Model S preserved 63.5 percent of driver residual space vs. 7.8 percent for the Volvo. Tesla achieved this outcome by nesting multiple deep aluminum extrusions in the side rail of the car that absorb the impact energy (a similar approach was used by the Apollo Lunar Lander) and transfer load to the rest of the vehicle. This causes the pole to be either sheared off or to stop the car before the pole hits an occupant.

The rear crash testing was particularly important, given the optional third row children's seat. For this, Tesla factory installs a double bumper if the third row seat is ordered. This was needed in order to protect against a highway speed impact in the rear with no permanently disabling injury to the third row occupants. The third row is already the safest location in the car for frontal or side injuries.

The Model S was also substantially better in rollover risk, with the other top vehicles being approximately 50 percent worse. During testing at an independent facility, the Model S refused to turn over via the normal methods and special means were needed to induce the car to roll. The reason for such a good outcome is that the battery pack is mounted below the floor pan, providing a very low center of gravity, which simultaneously ensures exceptional handling and safety.

Of note, during validation of Model S roof crush protection at an independent commercial facility, the testing machine failed at just above 4 g's. While the exact number is uncertain due to Model S breaking the testing machine, what this means is that at least four additional fully loaded Model S vehicles could be placed on top of an owner's car without the roof caving in. This is achieved primarily through a center (B) pillar reinforcement attached via aerospace grade bolts.

The above results do not tell the full story. It is possible to game the regulatory testing score to some degree by strengthening a car at the exact locations used by the regulatory testing machines. After verifying through internal testing that the Model S would achieve a NHTSA 5-star rating, Tesla then analyzed the Model S to determine the weakest points in the car and retested at those locations until the car achieved 5 stars no matter how the test equipment was configured.

The Model S lithium-ion battery did not catch fire at any time before, during or after the NHTSA testing. It is worth mentioning that no production Tesla lithium-ion battery has ever caught fire in the Model S or Roadster, despite several high speed impacts. While this is statistically unlikely to remain the case long term, Tesla is unaware of any Model S or Roadster occupant fatalities in any car ever.

The graphic below shows the statistical Relative Risk Score (RRS) of Model S compared with all other vehicles tested against the exceptionally difficult NHTSA 2011 standards. In 2011, the standards were revised upward to make it more difficult to achieve a high safety rating.

The Safest Car In History
The Tesla Model S is arguably the safest car ever made. It received a 5-Star Safety Rating from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP).
Remarkably, the Model S Tesla is on of only a few cars that ever achieved a 5-Star safety rating from both the U.S. National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA), and the European NCAP.
On November 5, 2014, Tesla Model S Achieved the Euro NCAP 5-Star Safety Rating, and below is the text from the press release:

We're pleased to announce that the Tesla Model S has received a maximum-possible 5-star safety rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP).

Model S is one of just a few cars to have ever achieved a 5-star safety rating from both Euro NCAP and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Additionally, Model S is the only car this year to have achieved both a 5-star Euro NCAP rating and 5 stars in every NHTSA subcategory, including frontal impact, side impact, and rollover. Only two other cars have earned the same recognition since 2011 (when NHTSA introduced its latest rating scheme).

The reason so few models achieve 5-star ratings in both Europe and the U.S. is that each program places emphasis on different safety aspects in the assessment process. NHTSA emphasizes structural and restraint safety, with a deep focus on how well the vehicle can withstand and absorb the energy of an impact while protecting its occupants. It is also primarily concerned with adult occupants. On the other hand, Euro NCAP assesses a wider range of scenarios, including tests for child and pedestrian safety. Unlike for NHTSA, active safety is also an important part of Euro NCAP's 5-star requirement. Every year, the European organization raises the standard for a 5-star rating to account for technological advances in the industry.

The dual 5-star ratings for Model S validate our holistic approach to safety. We have been engineering passive and active safety systems in parallel, so the car is structurally sound and is also designed to intelligently anticipate and react to potentially dangerous situations.

Structurally, Model S has advantages not seen in conventional cars. It has a low center of gravity because its battery pack, the largest mass in the car, is positioned underneath the passenger compartment, making rollover extremely unlikely. It also has a large front crumple zone because of the lack of an engine, meaning it can absorb more energy from a frontal impact, the most common type of crash resulting in fatalities. Its body is reinforced with aluminum extrusions at strategic locations around the car, and the roof can withstand at least 4 g's. It was for these reasons that Model S achieved 5 stars in every subcategory when tested by NHTSA in 2013.

This quarter, we started implementing the Model S active safety system in conjunction with the introduction of new Autopilot hardware, consisting of 12 ultrasonic sensors that sense up to 16 feet around the car, a forward-looking camera, a forward radar, and a digitally controlled, high-precision electric brake boost. We specifically selected this hardware to accommodate the progressive introduction of new safety features via software updates over the course of the next several months.

While the features already pushed to the Model S fleet - Lane Departure Warning and Speed Limit Warning - have proven sufficient to merit a 5-star NCAP rating, we will go much further with active safety systems. Features coming soon include Forward and Side Collision Warning and Avoidance, Blind Spot Warning, and Automatic Emergency Braking.

Safety has always been Tesla's top priority, and we remain committed to continuously improving Model S to ensure that adults, children, and pedestrians alike receive the best possible protection from the car and its technology. In the meantime, Model S owners can be secure in the knowledge that this recognition from Euro NCAP reaffirms their car's outstanding safety qualities.  

The video below is a Tesla EV Safety Training video for first responders, and it offers fascinating insight into how the Tesla is made.

Great Tesla Reviews
The following videos offer more valuable insight into the magic behind the Tesla Model S.