When you ordered your Model 3, you had Performance dreams but a Long-Range budget, now you can make up some of that ground for a little less money.
Roadshow
Sure, there are some cool aspects of having a car — and we’re talking about Tesla here — that can have its performance increased with an over-the-air update. The downside to that is knowing that your vehicle is identical to the faster model from a mechanical standpoint and is only slow because you won’t shell out another $2,000 on a performance boost.
But here’s the thing: what if you could bypass Tesla entirely and get your performance boost for just over half the price? That would be cool, right? Well, good news, pal, you can — for now — according to a report published Wednesday by Electrek.
See, a shop in Quebec, Canada called Simon André figured out how to swap a single-motor Tesla Model 3 to a dual-motor setup, and part of doing that meant busting into the power inverter’s software to reconfigure it. Once the shop hacked its way through Tesla’s IP, it found that switching to dual motors wasn’t the only thing it could do. It could also add Tesla’s 50 horsepower Acceleration Boost without clearance from the Tesla mothership.
As we mentioned earlier, Acceleration Boost usually would set you back $2,000 — that’s one hell of an in-app purchase — but once this shop figured out how to unlock the boost itself. Now, the shop’s owner spun off a new (and likely short-lived) company called Ingenext that offers an increase of just $1,100 as the “Boost 50” upgrade.
But wait, there’s more. Ingenext also offers a pedestrian warning speaker delete for just $22 — though this seems like it’s of questionable legality — and even a full conversion from Model 3 Dual Motor to Performance spec which it calls the Ghost upgrade and adds 150 horsepower to your car, but can only be done in person.
Now, while this company is based in Canada, it should come as no surprise that it’s partnered with the Electrified Garage project that was started and is backed by YouTuber and noted Tesla troll Rich Benoit of RichRebuilds.
So, if this all sounds like a super-cool thing to do, remember that Tesla has a nasty habit of disavowing cars that have been tampered with — making them ineligible for things like Supercharging or even service at Tesla dealers. Don’t call up Ingenext or Electrified Garage unless you’re ready to accept that as a possibility.
Neither Tesla nor Electrified Garage responded immediately to Roadshow’s request for comment.
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Source: Electric - cnet.com
