During last weeks battery day event, Elon Musk announced a new faster performance Model S which they have been working on for a while. It’s called the Model s Plaid and it’s going to have a new battery tech, better performance and better range as a direct result of all Tesla’s new battery and technology improvements.
The Model S Plaid is going to be capable of traveling up to 520 miles on a single charge with over 1000 horsepower and this is past Ludicrous. Actually this is beyond Ludicrous Mode and Tesla had to come up with a new word for something beyond Ludicrous and that’s why it is called Plaid. The name comes form the movie Spaceballs. I think it’s going to be amazingly stupid fast and Plaid just begins to describe something that is set to go from 0 to 60 in under two seconds with the top speed of 200 mph.
In my opinion I just wish they would’ve updated the model S design a little bit so the physical appearance lets people know that you are driving a plaid model and not just an aftermarket killed up Tesla model X. I wish that the styling in a tree this is more like the model Y on the model S just a slight little.
However I wish Tesla would have given more thought and spent more time updating the styling and the trim pieces just a smidgen to give it a little lift because it feels too similar to what the Model S been for so long to get me really excited to spend over $140,000 on yet another Model S. I can’t help but thing that I’m just gonna be sitting in the same Model S as that I had years before only much faster. Tesla is mostly about real time value and performance for the buck. They don’t put unnecessary work into styling which doesn’t make any technical sense unless they are optimizing for aerodynamic performance.
Also like all previous Tesla announcements, there is also another about a year delay before you can actually order days. The problem with the “order now, get it in 1-2 years” concept is that people are gonna be like: “Let me get the Roadster” “Oh wait a new better Model S” “Oh another one” And so on…is that Tesla run’s the risk of causing product fatigue amongst it’s customers leading them to just keep changing the car they gonna buy, and never buy one. And by the time you actually get the car, it’s not new or cool anymore – which a big selling point of Teslas.
How cool would it be if Tesla actually put something out they can fans can actually order immediately just like Apple does with their iPhones. I think that would be amazing because if you have to count on people to come back in about a year or count or their excitement to maintain for about a year, than you yourself a disservice. There’s no better time to place an order for product then at the time it was initially announced because that is typically when enthusiasm and momentums at it’s greatest. Case in point when the Cybertruck was announced, within the first few days it received over 200,000 pre-orders. Now imagine if those were actual purchases, Tesla would’ve broken every sales record in history for automobiles.
Now obviously a car entails a much different complexity than iPhones and Teslas are built to order as opposed to a standard iPhone. However I do think people would go absolutely nuts if they can actually order it immediately and receive in the next month or two. Late 2021 to have this car is quite a tough choice for me to make because it just gets pushed to the back burner and sits in the back of my mind, allowing me time to second-guess my decision to purchase.
Sill, this car is absolutely nuts. 520 miles on a single charge with that type of performance, the Model S Plaid crushes the Porsche Taycan. At this point, the Plaid is now competing with a Lucid Air which also has tremendous performance and tremendous range. The Model S Plaid is also cheaper than the Taycan, with faster acceleration, and much longer range. For comparison, the Taycan range is around 200 miles and the Model S Plaid range is over 500 miles.
This also gets me wondering about the Tesla Roadster and what will happen to it. It seems that of recent, all mentions of the Tesla Roadster or updates about the Roadster has vanished and now we know why. Perhaps Tesla aims to satiate its speed demon fans with the Plaid and by turning its focus to a car it can deliver relatively sooner than the Roadster.
Anyway the Tesla Model S Plaid is going to be very expensive. It’s only gonna be for people that want the absolute bragging right to on this car. It’s not a mess market model by any means but 0-60 in under 2 seconds is phenomenal. Just for people who are not into cars, 0-60 in under 60 seconds is the holy grail million dollar cars territory which makes it very ridiculous for a sedan with a hatchback. The Model S Plaid is completely bananas when you think about it. For the price you would pay for a Bugatti or McLaren to give you a similar speed, you can purchase Tesla Model S Plaid.
0 to 60 has always been pretty fast for electric cars. It’s more like hyper car territory! Yes even some hyper cars cant do 0-60 in 2.3 sec with the exception of new 911 Turbo S . But the real question is how fast can you reach your top speed and for how long you can stay there, which for electric cars is hard to do but damn they are getting closer and closer. Here’s the part that most non-car people don’t get: this car lapped Laguna Seca Speedway faster than a bloody McLaren P1, and it wasn’t even on a hot lap. That’s like knocking out Mohammad Ali while warming up.
Tesla Model S P100D challenge McLaren 720S in drag race
I am curious to see if the Bugatti owning McLaren driving elite will be interested in adding this to the exotic car collection. Even the current model S is already at Bugatti levels of acceleration which is close to 2 seconds 0-60. That is formula 1 levels of acceleration you are getting in an everyday sedan. Consider my mind delightfully blown.
However as for me, my bank account would rather I wait for the roaster. That way I know that I am getting something completely different and having a new experience complete removed from what I have previously experience in my Tesla Model S 70 years ago. What do you guys think?
PS: if you like this post and you are in the market for a new Tesla, Tesla has an amazing referral program that offers you 1000 free supercharging miles if you use a referral code when you make your purchase. As a two-time Tesla owner, having owned a model S and model X, I can assure you that purchasing a Tesla will be the best automotive decision you’ve ever made and will ever make in your life. So why not make use of my referral code below and we can both continue to enjoy the wonderful Tesla life.
