Tesla and Elon Musk have been teasing the Tesla Model S Plaid for a few years, and now we know when we’re actually going to see the car in action.
Elon Musk just confirmed (via Twitter, naturally) that Tesla will host a “delivery event” for the Model S Plaid on June 3. It's just in time for the company’s current August/September delivery estimate.
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Tesla Model S Plaid delivery eventJune 3 at our California factoryFastest production car ever0 to 60mph in under 2 secsMay 20, 2021
The Tesla Model S Plaid is a pretty big deal, with Tesla promising that the car is the “quickest accelerating production car today.” It’s supposed to go from 0-60mph in just 1.99 seconds (with first-foot rollout subtracted), and can travel ¼ of a mile in 9.23 seconds. It also has a top speed of 200mph, which Tesla called “beyond ludicrous”.
Unfortunately the 390 mile range is still less than the Long Range Model S, which can do up to 412 miles on a single charge. If you want to do better than that you’ll have to wait until mid-2022 for Tesla to start delivering the Model S Plaid Plus.
Not only can the car manage over 500 miles on a single charge, the Plaid Plus also promises to have faster acceleration than any other production car ever. That means 0-60mph in less than 1.99 seconds (minus the first-foot rollout), and ¼ mile in under nine seconds.
Tesla here is being slightly deceptive with it's 0-60 times. On its website, under feature details when ordering a Model S, an asterisk is placed next to Plaid and Plaid+ acceleration figures. In drag racing, the initial twelve inches of movement are subtracted from the overall time. So measurement of speed isn't measured at exactly the starting point. It's measured when the car has moved at least a foot. So, if the Model S Plaid is able to accelerate to six miles-per-hour in that single foot, then really you're not measuring a 0-60 time, but instead a 6-60 time. YouTube channel Engineering Explained also has a detailed video breaking this all down.
No doubt Tesla and Musk will have plenty to say about both cars, plus some demonstrations of what people can expect from the standard Model S Plaid. Hopefully that will also confirm whether or not the car will have a retractable spoiler, like the prototype spotted at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Let’s just hope the car isn’t being delayed once again. Tesla has struggled to fulfil orders of new cars in the past. Luckily for Tesla, the ongoing global chip shortage hasn't affected it as much as other automakers thanks to some quick thinking.
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