Tesla Motors (TSLA) Model S P100D Easter Egg Update Will Make Self-Driving Car Even Faster

Two weeks ago, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk teased on Twitter an upcoming “P100D Ludicrous Easter egg” update that would unlock the full performance of the Model S. And on Wednesday, he announced exactly what that Easter egg is.

When the P100D was announced in August, it already broke records, not just for electric vehicles but for car speeds in general. It could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 2.5 seconds, making it the fastest car in the world (excluding supercars). This update shaves an extra 0.1 second off that time. To non-speed enthusiasts, that may not seem like much but it may be easier to understand when you think of it as a 4 percent improvement in acceleration.

Or, for that matter, if you think about getting in your car, and from the moment you switch it on, doing a quarter of a mile in under 11 seconds.

Musk also clarified that the update will be available for all vehicles with the P100D battery pack, old or new.

The battery pack, which is also available for the Model X, will improve the SUV’s performance, Musk tweeted.

While this is great news for Tesla owners, there is a small catch. And that is, the update is an Easter egg. Common parlance in the gaming and tech world, the term refers to a hidden feature to get to which there is no specified manual. In this case, once the update is out, Tesla customers will have to figure it out for themselves how to enable the feature that will shave off that extra tenth of a second from their acceleration.

Other than the Model S, only a handful of cars (including Model X) can go from 0 to 60 miles an hour in less than 3 seconds. After the update, the Model S will be ahead of the rest, and while the car is not exactly cheap, it will do so at a fraction of the cost (think Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari and Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse) than its closest competitors. And the fact that it is electric makes it all that much cooler (acceleration that is faster than gravity with almost no sound).