Tesla Model 3 update: drag racing to benchmark acceleration upgrades

Tesla pushed out a new over-the-air update to its entire electric vehicle line up, offering some big upgrades across the board in different ways. But there was one, for the Model 3 and its acceleration upgrade, that saw a drag race showing a clear winner.

Model S owners will get a little bit more range from the new update to their EV, with the Tesla Model S range increasing from 373 miles to 380 miles. SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO and founder Elon Musk said during Tesla's recent earnings call: "And there are some software improvements that we think will make that even better".

Musk added: "I forgot to mention, we're also expecting there's going to be an over-the-air improvement that will improve the power of the Model S, X, and 3. It should be in the order of 5 percent power improvement due to improved firmware". Not too bad for an update to your vehicle, right?

A couple of Model 3 owners took their two cars to the test, one without the new update and the other Model 3 with the new update from Tesla. You can see in the video embedded above that there is a clear upgrade in acceleration, and while there is another passenger in the 'regular' Model 3 (no update) -- that person wouldn't add enough weight to the car to reduce acceleration that much.

With performance boosted by around 5% on the Model 3, Model S, and Model X vehicles, Tesla is giving out free performance with an over-the-air update. Such an awesome thing to see in 2019, and the free performance upgrade isn't the only thing Tesla is handing out with the new update.

Tesla's new update also includes a new feature called Automatic Navigation, which will see Model 3/S/X vehicle owners having their travel destination based on your current location, and your previous trip history. Tesla explains Automatic Navigation as: "Automatic Navigation routes you to locations associated with upcoming calendar events, to Work when leaving Home in the morning (Monday through Friday) and Home when leaving Work in the afternoon or evening (Monday through Friday)".