2021 Tesla Model S Plaid

Jan 1

Written By Katelyn McSherry

1000 horsepower, 0-60 in 2 seconds, fastest electric car yet. Is it super?

Upon first glance the Model S Plaid doesn’t resemble a supercar as a four door passenger car. It doesn't have the carbon fiber wing of the F40 or gaping air ducts of the Chiron, but it has the performance to embarrass both of them! Tesla’s Ceo, Elon Musk, is quoted, “Basically, our product plan is stolen from Spaceballs”, and he’d be right. The Model S Plaid makes 1020 hp and 1050 lb-ft all accessible with a little tap of the gas pedal and sent to all four wheels. That power makes the Plaid the fastest 0-60 mph production car at 1.99 seconds. It’ll do 50-70 mph in 1 second, the Chiron does that in 2.2 seconds. The battery's low position gives the Plaid the lowest center of gravity of any production car. Straight line speed isn’t it’s only party trick, it achieved a 7:35.759 lap time at the Nürburgring. Car and Driver states that the car achieves 1g on their skid pad test. Although the Plaid is ridiculously fast, performance is not the only measure of a supercar, they must be technologically advanced.

The Plaid is Tesla’s most complex Model S yet, being the first one to feature three electric torque vectoring motors, two at the back and one at the front. Each motor has a carbon sleeved rotor capable of spinning up to 20,000 rpm to maintain power up to its top speed. The Plaid’s radiator is larger than any of its predecessors to keep the battery at optimum temperature to never have a dip in performance. Its new batteries allow faster charging as well and gives the car a maximum range of 400 miles between charges. The interior sticks to Tesla’s minimalistic styling. Climate, navigation, music, and in car settings etc are all controlled from the 17 in center screen. There is no physical drive selector on the car, instead the driver presses a small animated car on the left side of the screen and points it into the desired direction. Depending on the way the car is parked, drive or reverse is preselected so the driver doesn’t have to. Entertainment in the car is huge. The driver can select the “Toybox” button, which houses entertainment features such as an internet browser, movies, sketchpad, and video games. Some of the video games can be controlled by the steering wheel and pedals when the car is at a stand still. Safety is the highest priority of the plaid and it features 12 ultrasonic sensors aided with 360° cameras to ensure safety while driving. The Plaid’s full autonomous driving option has active guidance on the highway, automatic lane change and autopark. The driver can summon the car to their location from their phone. Sentry Mode monitors the car when it’s parked and records if the car is hit or damaged and will send an alert to your phone. This only scratches the surface of the Plaid's technology.

People would certainly be impressed by the performance and tech, but is it a supercar? From the outside most people would say no, but the age old saying, “never judge a book by its cover” could never be more true with the Plaid. Traditional car enthusiasts would most likely hate it, but the Plaid is very much the car of the future. It’s ridiculously fast, practical, and safe. If it was a stylish coupe or convertible maybe more people would consider it amongst these other great cars in the exhibit.