When the Ludicrous was announced on July 17 they said that existing owners of P85Ds would be able to upgrade for six months for $5000. Today I called my local shop in Toronto and they don't have info on the upgrade. So when is the six months up? Jan 17, 2016 or six months after they start actually doing the upgrade?
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When does/did the 6 month clock start ticking for Ludicrous updates?
- Thread starter wayner
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
jpet
Jan P.
It is unclear. My advice is to get yourself on the waiting list. Since the final price is not clear, you can always decline when the final price is more than you are prepared to pay for the upgrade. My contact at Tesla told me that they were using the waiting list to get an idea of the total interest. Based on that they can determine the logistics required to have the upgrades done (and derive the price from that).
My guess is that removing the battery packs is not the issue, opening them and having Inconel contactors available in volume probably is.
I asked again today in Fremont and they said they've still heard nothing. They said they were still gauging interest which led me to my next statement that it would be a bummer if Tesla decided to not after the L upgrade after all. She agreed with me rather than say "oh there's no danger of that".
jpet
Jan P.
This is my personal opinion, so nothing I got from a conversation with Tesla but I think they have 2 options: replace the battery with a new one containing the new fuse and contactors OR open up the pack, replace the fuse and contactors and again seal it. The latter seems like an awful lot of work that can only be performed by a small group of trained employees. I would not be surprised if they opt to go the first route if -at the end of the day- the total cost of logistics and labor would be less. The only way to find out is to take a couple of months (6?) to gauge interest and decide. I'm on the list and I'm not in a hurry. The winter is coming so I am more than OK to get the upgrade in the spring of 2016.
Nearly every service center can do fuse/contactor replacement in the battery packs and re-seal. It's not really an issue.
New battery packs would be an issue if there's nowhere for the first packs to go. For the most part, they can only be used for service refurbs.
While I have nothing to base this on (and I hope I'm wrong), I'm just getting the feeling that we may not get this upgrade after all. Here we are almost 2 months after the announcement and absolutely zero additional information from Tesla. My prediction is that Tesla will drag their feet into next year and then either (i) announce that it is not feasible, or (ii) announce a price for labor that is high enough to cut the volume of upgrades down to next to nothing.
P85D owners will complain but by the time this hypothetical announcement happens in, say, Feb or March, we'll be 4 or 5 months away from the (probable) announcement of a P95DL+ that will be slightly quicker again, meaning that the P85D to P90DL upgrade becomes somewhat meaningless and that those who want the extra speed will probably just sell their P85D for a P95DL+ (so Tesla just has to weather the storm of complaints for a short period). Again, all hypothetical and a total guess but I can see this happening.
jpet
Jan P.
Ok, I stand corrected then. All the better if it is not really an issue.
Any idea how much time it takes to do this? It could give us an educated guess on the labor cost involved.
Depends, a few hours once the battery pack is drained to the appropriate level. The service center will tell you they need it for the day.
jpet
Jan P.
If it can be done in 1 day, a reasonable price for the labor cost should probably not exceed $1000.
I have another scenario to explain the delay in rolling out the upgrade. Maybe they want some more feedback from the field before retrofitting the electronic fuse and Inconel contactors. I believe this to be even a good idea to avoid making a mistake and having to do an upgrade of the upgrade. Let's have the P90D out in the wild for a couple of months to make sure the fuse and contactors continue to perform as expected.
Historically, they always follow through. Might be a few months late (rear NextGen seats), couple years late (CHAdeMO, Model X), might not be in the exact form as originally promised (premium center console), might be software incomplete initially (Autopilot), might be an unexpected semi-freebie (Autopilot hardware, 40kWh packs actually being software limited 60kWh packs), or it might cost a lot more than what was promised/implied/speculated (Roadster 3.0 upgrade), but it'll eventually come.
Historically, they always follow through. Might be a few months late (rear NextGen seats), couple years late (CHAdeMO, Model X), might not be in the exact form as originally promised (premium center console), might be software incomplete initially (Autopilot), might be an unexpected semi-freebie (Autopilot hardware, 40kWh packs actually being software limited 60kWh packs), or it might cost a lot more than what was promised/implied/speculated (Roadster 3.0 upgrade), but it'll eventually come.
*Center console.
*Lighted vanity mirror.
The list goes on...
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