Slow-Motion Video Of Tesla Model S 85D Acceleration On Snow

Highlights of Tesla Model S (85D - AWD) acceleration tests on snow.

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jan 26, 2016 at 8:00am ET

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Philippe Marseille uploaded an excellent video presenting Tesla Model S (85D - AWD) acceleration in the snow - normal and in slow-motion (10x).

What do you think?

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Runs were done in range mode on/off and slip start on/off combinations, as well as full throttle at low speed.

The Tesla copes with snow pretty well, although as in the case of any vehicle, snow decreases range - by at least 10% according to Philippe, who shared his insights:

"With the snow we had in the past couple of days, I decided to do a couple of acceleration runs on packed snow and film them using my Nexus 6P (240fps).

Video is played at 24fps, so this is 10x slow motion.

My car is a Tesla Model S 85D (AWD) equipped with the base wheels and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 (non-studded) in 245-45-19

First pass is with range mode on (AKA eco mode) 2nd pass is with range mode off (AKA normal mode) 3rd pass is with range mode off and slip start on (similar to disabling traction control but since the car has 2 motors, it does not work like an AWD car with a center diff)

Last pass, I hit full throttle when in front of the camera. Range mode was OFF and Slip Start was off.

If you pump the volume, you can hear the motors / inverters modulating their output.

Couple of things I noticed :

1-With range mode, the car seems to be a bit slower to adjust power bias between front and back. This is barely perceptible when driving but is clear in the video (front wheels spins a bit before the back kicks in which make sense since I have the same motor in front and back, this is not a P85D)

2-Slip start does not have much effect... I believe it uses the G sensors of the car and since I had plenty of traction (the Nokian R2 are really nice on packed snow!), it had barely any effect. The car was spinning a bit more (look at the snow that's been thrown by the tires in the 2nd vs 3rd run) but it's not like it was cutting power with the setting disabled (like it does on bare ice)

3-Driving on packed snow does incur a penalty on range. At -12C, I usually average 200-205 Wh/km on this route and the Nokians, Range Mode and the HVAC at 18C. With the snow, it was more like 225-230. Car is rated for 180 Wh/km (435km of range). My battery would have lasted around 340km."