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Tesla Model S P85D's Total Power Output Is Being Questioned by a Group of Owners

 We've all seen the four-wheel drive Tesla Model S thrash all sorts of conventional vehicles on the quarter-mile drag strip, so a group of owners complaining about pumped up power figures seems a bit surreal.
Tesla Model S 1 photo
Photo: Tesla Motors
However, just because the car has enough power, it doesn't mean it's OK for the company to lie about the car's actual figures. In all honesty, "lying" is too strong of a word as you will very soon see, but something is amiss in Elon Musk's paradise as well.

71 Tesla Model S P85D owners got together and wrote an open letter to Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk. “We are writing to you as a group of concerned Tesla owners," the letter read, "investors, and perhaps most importantly, supporters. The P85D was marketed as making 691 horsepower. It doesn’t. We believe, based on various testing methods and tools including dynamometer testing and testing with professional performance data loggers that the maximum energy output is 415 [kilowatts], which results in a maximum horsepower of 557 before any drivetrain losses on a fully charged battery.”

You can't just dismiss these guys as nitpickers as they've clearly done their homework. After all, there are 71 of them and if several of their vehicles gave out the same results, they have every reason to be concerned.

Tesla's answer came in the form of a post on the official Blog signed by Tesla's chief technical officer JB Straubel. He went on to say that “there is some confusion about our methodology for specifying ‘equivalent’ horsepower ratings for our all-wheel drive, dual motor vehicles.”

“The shaft horsepower rating of the rear wheel drive single motor Model S is straightforward and roughly 360-470 [horsepower] depending on the variant (60, 85 or P85),” he stated. “When we launched the all-wheel drive P85D, we took the straightforward and consistent approach of specifying the combined capability of the two electric motors, front + back.”

He's undoubtedly right, but you can't help feel Tesla took advantage of this confusion to post a very high horsepower figure. As a result of this new development, the Tesla website doesn't say anything about the total output of the P85D model, and things might very well stay that way for good. You can read the whole answer here.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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