Tesla leaks code hinting at Model 3 100 kWh battery pack, Ludicrous mode, and more

Tesla leaked some code in recent software updates hinting at a possible Model 3 with a 100 kWh battery pack, Ludicrous mode, and more.

Some hackers have root access to Tesla’s software in their vehicles, and they have often revealed features ahead of time.

A Tesla hacker known as Green has done it several times, but he slowed down his leaks over the last year, focusing on cool visualizations of what the Tesla Autopilot can see.

For the end of the year, he is back at it and released a ton of interesting information that he found in recent Tesla software updates.

There are some relatively small but interesting changes, like Tesla moving away from traditional TPMS sensors in favor of their own BLE sensors:

For example here's an addition from April that said that Tesla is planning to do away with Conti TPMS sensors and replace them with their own BLE ones (and save money)?
And sure enough this month there was FCC application confirming it https://t.co/5yur4WOJKg pic.twitter.com/J6edXXRq1U

— green (@greentheonly) December 20, 2019

This code leak appears likely to turn out to be correct since as Green pointed out, Tesla has filed an application with the FCC for the new device.

Green also found some hints of new wheels coming from Model 3:

Or the existing wheel types with some upcoming one that there's no picture of yet? pic.twitter.com/cTLBaHqhYG

— green (@greentheonly) December 20, 2019

Tesla recently launched the new Gemini wheels for Model 3, and it wouldn’t be the first time that Tesla wheels first leak through Tesla’s software.

We have also recently seen on Model Y prototypes wheels first unveiled on the Model 3 prototypes but that never made it to market:

It might be one of those new wheels Green is seeing in the code of Tesla’s latest software updates.

Now to the bigger stuff — much bigger, but also less likely to happen.

Green found a reference to a 100 kWh battery pack for the Model 3, which would be a massive increase over the current biggest Model 3 pack (75 kWh):

Now where it gets interesting is with the actual batetery packs.

the 100kWh pack has survived the great "non-model3 stuff purge" mid year so there's a fair chance this is actually upcoming and not some spillover. pic.twitter.com/gliPuJhrP7

— green (@greentheonly) December 20, 2019

The hacker also found a reference to Ludicrous Mode for the Model 3, which is something CEO Elon Musk has promised in the past, but Tesla never released it for the Model 3 Performance:

Another interesting set is performance config types.
Baseplus_awd is what is speculated to be theboost, but look at the other options. Ludi mode survived the great model S purge too so there must be a reason for it?
It's also all changeable on the fly. pic.twitter.com/1UXAtWzWJ4

— green (@greentheonly) December 20, 2019

To be clear, Green himself warns that it’s still all speculation at this point:

Tesla moves in unknown ways and none of that may come to life.

While it’s a good sign that it’s in the software, Tesla has sometimes included things in updates that never made it to the wider fleet.

Electrek’s Take

As a Model 3 Performance owner, I’d love to finally see a power upgrade resulting in a Ludicrous mode, but I also kind of think that if it was going to happen, it would already have.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

As for the 100 kWh battery pack, that would be a massive surprise, and also, not really necessary.

What would Tesla do with a 100 kWh battery pack? A $60,000 Model 3 vehicle with 400 miles? I am not exactly sure how many people actually want that.

300 miles of range is plenty for most people.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against it, but it would be very surprising to me.

The good news is that it would also likely indicate an energy density improvement to enable such an energy capacity in the Model 3 form factor. Maybe with a new Tesla-made battery cell?

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.