Tesla released new firmware in November that promised a 5 percent power boost.



After installing the update, we ran our long-term Model 3 Long Range through our standard acceleration testing again to see how much its performance improved.

The results are impressive, with the Model 3 returning quicker times in every acceleration test.



With only a little over 5000 miles registered on the odometer, our long-term Tesla Model 3 has certainly given us plenty to talk about. It will echo rumblings from the digestive tract, it can keep pets cool on a summer day, and we've proved that the aero wheel covers are as functional as they are unattractive. More recently, our Model 3 suffered a catastrophic failure and left for the repair shop on a flatbed. But before it bricked itself, we installed Tesla's firmware update and curious whether it would provide the promised 5 percent power boost, we tested it for a second time. After installing firmware version 2019.36.2.1 (released in November), we headed to our local proving ground. Could the revised calibration of our Long Range Dual Motor better the Model 3's stout acceleration that we recorded in our initial testing?

Yes, it could. In this latest test, our Model 3 shot to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds, a 0.1-second improvement. Though a tenth might not seem like much, what happens over the course of a full acceleration run is impressive. The quarter-mile marker appears in 12.3 seconds at 116 mph, gains of 0.3 second and 3 mph. From there, the margin continues to increase, with the recalibrated motors yanking the Model 3 to 140 mph 2.5 seconds quicker than before. Acceleration improved in every test, recording quicker times in both our 30-to-50-mph and 50-to-70-mph passing tests. As always, each result is an average of the quickest run in each direction.

Car and Driver

Tesla is coy about quoting horsepower figures, but simply adding together the outputs stated in the owner's manual for the front and rear motors yields 425 horsepower. A 5 percent bump would bring that to 446 horsepower, and estimating performance based on the power and weight specs suggest the quarter-mile time should be 12.4 seconds. So Tesla definitely delivered every bit of the promised 5 percent. Since then, Tesla has rolled out an optional upgrade that costs $2000 and promises a further 0.5-second improvement in zero-to-60-mph performance. Whether or not we can convince the bean counters that this is money well spent is a topic for another post.

Tesla's ability to add content and tune its powertrains through over-the-air updates is a perk that no other automaker can offer at this time. When a software flash can add muscle such as this overnight, it's a technology every automaker should be implementing. As Tesla continues to update the Model 3, we'll keep testing the bells and whistles. And, we hope, adding more power.

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