A few years ago, the Tesla Model 3 might not have been in daily driver consideration for most enthusiasts. Now, though? A cheap second-hand example of a quick little sedan with no oil change hassles or indeed much of anything in the way of traditional maintenance sounds like a tempting way of freeing up some time to work on your fleet of projects, which begs the question: What can be done to a depreciated Tesla Model 3? Well, how about adding up to 150 horsepower?
While a tuning scene around EVs has existed for some time now, it’s largely focused on suspension, braking, and aesthetic modifications. Electric vehicles are inherently tricky to modify for power due to several reasons. The first is that extra power usually doesn’t come at a huge cost to manufacturers. There are no emissions targets to meet, so it’s not uncommon for OEMs to throw everything at the wall because horsepower sells. Secondly, the only real way of increasing EV horsepower is to throw more current at the motors, and this can be risky, or most likely, fruitless. Components from wiring to inverters might not actually be able to handle the extra juice, and output is ultimately capped at what the inverters can handle. This is why horsepower upgrades for first-generation Nissan Leafs involve swapping in the inverter from a second-generation model — the standard 80 kW inverter is just tapped out.
However, occasionally EVs have something in reserve, particularly if an over-the-air downloadable paid add-on for additional horsepower is available, or if major components are shared between models with differing outputs. Electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y, for example.
Cue Ingenext, a Quebec-based EV recycler, parts company, and yes, tuner. In between breaking down salvaged EVs for parts and swapping Chevrolet Bolt powertrains into airport tugs, the firm cranks out a line of impressive plug-and-play piggyback controllers for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles that promise meaningful horsepower gains and a whole bunch of other perks.
Let’s say you have a standard range plus Model 3. Well, if it has the 980 motor, Ingenext sells a module called the Boost SR which promises an extra 50 horsepower, drift mode, and plug-and-play installation for $795. You’d need the 980 motor installed from the factory to make this work, but that’s a pretty strong value proposition, and it’s a similar deal if you have a 60.5 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack in a Model 3 Standard Range Plus with the 980 or 4D1 motor. Then you’ll need the $795 Boost LFP, and while it doesn’t add body features like heated rear seat controls to the Model 3, it does offer 50 extra horsepower, regenerative braking control, drift mode, and the ability to hard reset the car.
For dual-motor owners, the $995 Boost 50 is the entry point for these piggyback modules, and although it’s not compatible with the 4680 battery pack or Tesla’s own acceleration boost add-on, it promises to add 50 horsepower to a Tesla Model 3 dual-motor long range or Tesla Model Y dual-motor long range, all while promising a host of other goodies. We’re talking drift mode, an off-road mode that locks the torque split 50:50 between the front and rear motors, manual battery pack heating, automatic driver’s door opening, and manual wiper control, to name a few.
What’s more, the boost in output produces some meaningful results. In a video produced by the firm, a Dragy GPS data acquisition device was used to time two zero-to-60 mph runs in identical ambient temperatures. Without the Boost 50, the dual-motor Model 3 in question ran from zero-to-60 mph in 4.22 seconds. That’s quick, but installing the module dropped the zero-to-60 mph time down to 3.61 seconds. Considering Tesla quotes a zero-to-60 mph time of 4.2 seconds, shaving more than half a second off a manufacturer’s claimed best time is certainly noteworthy.
Finally, there’s the Ghost module, and that’s where things get really fun. This one requires a Model 3 or Model Y dual-motor Long Range with either the 980 or 4D1 rear motor, because that motor’s shared with the Performance models. You can guess where this is going. Yep, this module promises to effectively turn a regular Model 3 or Model Y into the Performance trim, unlocking an extra 150 horsepower, a track mode, and all the equipment perks the Boost 50 offers. Granted, at $1,495, it’s not as cheap as say, a downpipe and canned tune on a turbocharged combustion-powered car, but it’s still way less expensive than upgrading to a Model 3 Performance or Model Y Performance.
Mind you, most of the perks of these modules aren’t activated on the touchscreen, but rather through your phone by connecting to the module’s Wi-Fi. Some of them require cycling vehicle power too, such as activating drift mode. Still, considering the end result is tuning an EV for power and unlocking a bunch of features, it seems worth it. This era of modifications is still in its infancy, and piggyback modules like these certainly feel worth trying.
Now I know what you’re thinking: won’t Tesla’s own updates potentially notice any of these modules and flag an issue? Well, sort of, but Ingenext has thought of that by offering modified updates to keep everything working happily. The only downside is they have to be downloaded through Ingenext directly, resulting in a slightly more complicated loading process than Tesla’s own updates. However, if you’re the type to modify your car, that’s probably something you can put up with.
So, how do you figure out which piggyback module fits your Tesla Model 3 or Y? Well, it seems to be pretty easy. There’s a sticker on the driver’s side of the rear drive unit that you can view with the aero caps off or by sticking your phone behind the left rear wheel. This YouTube video from Ingenext shows the part number format, and you’re really looking at the last three numbers before the hyphen. For instance, the Model 3 in this video has the 980 motor, meaning it would be a good candidate for the Ghost upgrade.
While this isn’t the same as a custom map with customized accelerator response curves and unique output tuning, the fact that you can theoretically pick up a used Model 3 or Model Y Long Range Dual Motor and slap on an Ingenext Ghost module, all for less than $20,000, is pretty cool. The future of electric vehicle tuning is getting interesting, and as more companies launch tuning and suspension solutions for these Teslas as they depreciate, the case for a modified second-hand electric daily driver is getting stronger.
(Photo credits: Tesla, Thomas Hundal, Ingenext)
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This reminds me of console modding lol.
These are definitely NOT geniuses. More like dumbass dipshit Tesla stans. EV’s are ugly junk on fire
Gasoline forever!
While I am very interested in this (2023 RWD), I won’t be messing with anything until after the battery warranty is up. My desire for the car was it’s LFP battery pack, but that will also potentially limit access the extra power the motor is capable of.
I’d like to see an add on clutch pedal and shifter. Then simulate a gas engine with a manual transmission and pump simulated engine sounds through the speakers. It could all be done through software, and make you feel like you’re driving any kind of car you want. Could even make it pretend to stall out if you do it wrong.
Install a sim racing rig in your actual car sounds like
Are you aware of Toyota’s “Manual BEV Concept”? As per the author of this article “It makes no sense, but it’s so much fun” which is right up my alley.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/toyota-has-built-an-ev-with-a-fake-transmission-and-weve-driven-it/
This is what I want. None of the half-assed fake engine noises and minimally impactful “gearshifts”, I’ll just turn that shit off. We have the technology to simulate an entire engine and transmission. Let me do an engine swap with the push of a button!
I know “tuning” of any kind is not always the best call for (stock) component longevity, but I wonder how it shakes out with EV batteries. Like is what what they are doing here just similar to what Tesla does themselves when they make a Model S “Plaid” instead of a regular Model S?
Shaving half a second off the 0-60 on my MY LR AWD is compelling. But it’s fast enough in stock form.
Seriously, there needs to be some creativity in the titles, out of principle I didn’t read the article and I’m not going to click on any articles with “Some Geniuses” in the title.
you did click on it though.
This is neat stuff.
Good. More of this is good for the consumer.
I sincerely hope right to repair laws get passed everywhere. Tesla should reserve the right to refuse service or warranty work on modified cars.
But trying to block/brick cars via OTA updates because the owner bought a 3rd party modification should be 100% illegal.
While Tesla tries to block it via the mothership, their mobile techs could have cared less.
Ingenext have been around for a while. They are pretty good at coming up with updates (there is a USB cable port in the modules) especially when Tesla tries to lock them out.
However because there are so many variants of Model 3 / Y out there with different motor and battery combinations, if you are dead set on getting a performance module, double check the VIN before you purchase the vehicle and module.
Also you get a pretty big discount on Black Friday 25-30% off (that’s when I got mine). They also stock a lot of used Tesla parts if one is interested in an EV conversion.
Quebec probably has the best government subsidy in EV purchases in Canada.
Maybe next they can find a way to uncork my Model S 60D. Tesla used to offer the full 75kwhr capacity and an extra 50kw output before I bought mine used, but apparently they don’t want thousands of dollars to send out a software update for an 8 year old car anymore.
Can Tesla download and install a new CEO?
Great news, now if they could figure out how to download and install a new interior and exterior to replace / upgrade the factory provided fugly ones.
My main takeaway was that tesla has copied video game cut content in the sense that your car already has these features, it just was told not to have them. But also jailbreaking a sedan is a hilarious concept
Musk’s current persona has turned off a lot of ev lovers, Tesla 3s getting cheaper by the day, and I can see these as a screaming deal down the road as long as the battery pack is useful. Sounds like this relatively cheap hot rodding is an added bonus, although the base performance is way good enough for me.
As a Drivetrain Engineer who has experience in Gas, Diesel, and BEV, people really underestimate the diversity of failure modes in Electric Drivetrains. Sure, electric motors have far less moving parts than ICE. Yet, the types of failures they have are numerous and most cannot be “repaired” the way an ICE can. In fact, a majority of Inverter and Motor failures cannot be repaired at all. I look forward to seeing how the aftermarket community deals with this.
I’ve observed that there are is an abundance of wrecked Teslas filling up wrecking yards so the organ donor population for the 3 model should be decent. Tesla’s e-torque seems to inspire aggressive driving which leads to a lot of crashes and apparently it doesn’t take much damage to total a Tesla.
Of course if there’s a module that fails universally rather than randomly, salvage parts don’t help much and as you say would require the aftermarket to provide “rebuilts”.
yawn
you have my attention
I know, totally buried. My brain was like “say what?!” That’s what I want to hear about.
Seems like a perfect application you need torque not speed and battery pack weight is a bonus for traction.
I’d like to hear more!!
I desire footage of hoonage IMMEDIATELY
RIP Stepa J. Groggs he woulda loved this 🙁
I was beginning to wonder if the nerdy/tech side of the world would meet with the auto enthusiast side when it came to Tesla. I remember watching a video of a Model 3 a few years ago attempting a drift with little success, only until the owner pulled the fuse for ESC and it finally pulled some sweet moves. One of the top comments was “I can’t wait until I have an app that let’s me do that to my Tesla!”
Now here we are, and it’s honestly pretty amazing considering how much Tesla safeguards their OS. I think they pulled any port to their ECU except for OBD way back in the early days of the Model S (there was an ethernet port under the dash) for fear of what people could potentially do.
Having the ability to be able to have fun with a second hand, $20k Model 3 actually seems like a decent proposal now.
I grew up steeped in muscle car culture, and as an adult work in an industry filled with old-school car guys, and I have heard that:
-fuel injection will kill hot rodding
-computers will kill hot rodding
-electric cars will kill hot rodding
I think that people will always be finding way to make their vehicles faster, and that once the first person figures out how to modify the newest technology the floodgates open, and slowly but surely it becomes commonplace.
Okay but fuel injection and computers really did kill the original spirit of hotrodding, that being some bored kids adjusting and tuning and tweaking and lid flipping to see how they could make their ride a little quicker. You don’t do that anymore.
As is referenced in the article, hotrodding nowadays more commonly looks like buying a downpipe and a chip tune, specifically engineered for your car by an aftermarket company. There is still plenty of old school hotrodding, and people can do anything with an LS these days, but the focus is very shifted.
People will always be making their cars faster, but if/when EVs are the most common cars on the road, hotrodding will look very different, and it likely will not be the kind of grassroots hotrodding that so many of us know and love. The difficulty of modifying computer controlled EVs will likely put these kinds of modifications further and further into the realm of affluent aftermarket companies.
I’ve had two Teslas. 100% ready to acknowledge their limitations, as well as those of the company and CEO. Not a fanboy by any means.
I can also understand why they take the cautious approach towards mods. Two reasons: first, crashes, fires, etc. involving Teslas always seem to make the news, accompanied by a “see? See?” attitude. They don’t want to make that any easier.
Second: the damn things are fast enough already. My first Tesla was a (used!) S P100D and at full acceleration it scared the shit out of me and anyone else in the car. Even a standard Model 3 can be frighteningly quick if you’ve only driven ICEs.