Tesla Model S – Automotivetry.com – Motor Sports, Exotic Cars, and Everything In Between

Tesla Model S Plaid Needs 15 Seconds To Run Quarter Mile In ‘Chill’ Mode

The Tesla Model S Plaid has been in the headlines a lot in recent months and has established itself as the world’s quickest production car this side of the Rimac Nevera and Pininfarina Battista hypercars.

Importantly, virtually all performance tests you’ll see online of the Model S Plaid show it being driven in Plaid mode with the available Drag Strip Mode system enabled. Eager to see how his Model S would perform in the more relaxed ‘Chill’ and ‘Sport’ driving modes, YouTuber DragTimes headed onto the street for some tests.

For the first test, he set a baseline with Plaid mode and Drag Strip Mode enabled, rocketing to 60 mph (96 km/h) in just 2.42 seconds and running the quarter-mile in 9.52 seconds at 148.58 mph (239.1 km/h). He then switched the EV into Sport mode. Doing so saw the 0-60 mph time climb to 3.51 seconds while the car then needed 11.14 seconds to run the quarter-mile with a trap speed of 129.36 mph (208.18 km/h). That’s still a quick quarter-mile time and just a few couple tenths behind a BMW M5 CS.

As for the ‘Chill’ mode, well it is exactly that. After pinning the throttle in this mode, the YouTuber is immediately amused with how much slower it is. It picks up speed very gently and ultimately needs a full 7.13 seconds to hit 60 mph and completes the quarter-mile in 15.27 seconds at just 93.81 mph (150.97 km/h).

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1,100 HP Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Shows Tesla Model S Plaid It’s Not Invincible

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With customer deliveries of the Tesla Model S Plaid well under way, it’s hardly a surprise that videos of the EV being put to the test on the drag strip have started to flood the net.

As expected, the tri-motor electric powertrain of the Model S Plaid makes it astonishingly quick. So quick in fact that it can hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in less than 2 seconds (with 1 foot of rollout…) and launch down the quarter-mile in around 9.2 seconds, making it the quickest production car right now.

With this in mind, does an internal combustion engined car have any hope of beating a Model S Plaid down the drag strip?

If we’re talking stock cars, it’s hard to think of something; however, if we include modified cars, a tuned Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 can apparently get the job done.

The Shelby GT500 featured has been modified to pump out 1,100 hp, significantly more than the 760 hp which its 5.2-liter supercharged V8 ordinarily delivers. It was lined up against a Model S Plaid for a series of rolling drag races at the recent MITM Elite event.

In the first video, the Mustang is in the inside lane and builds speed just as quickly as the Tesla. It crosses the quarter-mile mark in 7.91 seconds at 159.63 mph, narrowly beating out the Tesla with its 7.97-second run at 154 mph. In the second race, the results are similarly close, with a 7.66 at 160.94 mph set by the GT500 and a 7.68 at 155.19 mph by the Tesla.

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Tesla Came Oh So Close To Delivering 500,000 Vehicles In 2020

Tesla managed to deliver a total of 499,550 vehicles in 2020, just short of Elon Musk’s goal of 500,000.

Figures released by the electric automaker reveal that in the final quarter of the year, it delivered 180,570 vehicles to customers around the world. Of these, 18,920 were Model S and Model X vehicles, while the remaining 161,650 were Model 3s and Model Ys. During the quarter, a total of 179,757 new Tesla vehicles were produced.

While Tesla didn’t quite hit Musk’s goal of 500,000, these figures represent significant gains over previous years. Tesla increased deliveries by 36 per cent this year compared to 2019, a particularly impressive achievement when you consider just how crazy 2020 was.

Moreover, despite very narrowly missing the target, Tesla said it had “produced and delivered half a million vehicles, in line with our most recent guidance”, which Elon Musk said was a “major milestone”. In fact, Tesla manufactured more than 509,000 cars in 2020.

In a press release confirming the production and delivery numbers, the company added that production of the Model Y recently commenced at its Shanghai Gigafactory and that customer deliveries will “begin shortly.”

This year could be just as fruitful, if not more so, for Tesla. Just a few days ago, Musk and the transport minister of India revealed that the automaker will begin selling its vehicles in the country this year. India is the world’s fifth-largest auto market and its government is making efforts to promote electric vehicles, including a plan to offer $4.6 billion in incentives by 2030 to establish EV battery manufacturing sites in the country. A measly 3,400 electric vehicles were sold in India in 2019.

The first Tesla to be sold in India will be the Model 3, priced from 5.5 million Indian rupees (over $74,000).

Tesla Model S Performance Can’t Keep Up With Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S

Next year, the Tesla Model S ‘Plaid’ will start to reach the hands of customers but for now, it is the Porsche Taycan Turbo S that’s proven itself to be the most accelerative electric sedan currently on sale.

In what is the most comprehensive test between the flagship Model S Performance and the Taycan Turbo S to date, DragTimes headed out to the quarter-mile to put the duo through their paces. The results were close but it was the Porsche that claimed victory.

During the first run, the Porsche leaps out of the box slightly quicker than the Tesla and is able to stretch out its lead as the two EVs run down the quarter-mile. In the second race, the driver of the Tesla jumped the start and ran a 10.563 quarter-mile, still behind the Porsche that recorded a 10.393-second quarter-mile. The third and final race almost perfectly mimicked the first race as it was the Porsche that got the better launch and stretched out a commanding lead.

To ensure the two were evenly matched, both were brought to the drag strip on trucks and each had 100 per cent charge before the first race.

According to the YouTuber, the Porsche recorded a best 0-60 mph (96 km/h) time of 2.35 seconds while the Model S Performance recorded a best time of 2.34 seconds. However, thanks to the two-speed transmission of the Taycan Turbo S, it proves to be too much as the speeds increased. The Porsche is also said to have performed more consistently throughout the day of filming.

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NHTSA Investigating Possible Front Suspension Failure In 115,000 Teslas

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a formal investigation into approximately 115,000 Teslas with a possible front suspension issue.

According to the NHTSA, it has received 43 complaints about 2015-2017 Model S and 2016-2017 Model X vehicles related to faulty front suspension parts that can damage the tires. The safety regulator says that 32 of the complaints it has received involved failures that occurred during low-speed parking maneuvers, while 11 occurred while driving. A further eight complaints have been made over the same issue.

In February 2017, Tesla actually released a service bulletin describing a manufacturing issue that could see the front suspension fore links fail. If this were to happen, the tire could contact the wheel arch liner.

News of the NHTSA’s investigation comes just four weeks after certain Model S and Model X EVs built at Tesla’s Fremont factory and exported to China were recalled due to two separate suspension defects that could result to damage to both the front and rear suspension following large impacts, Reuters reports.

On November 20, a class-action lawsuit also related to Model S and Model X suspension issues was filed against Tesla in the U.S. District Court in California. It asserts that defects can see front and rear suspension control arm assembly components failing prematurely.

In June and July, the NHTSA also opened an investigation into touchscreen failures on 2012-2018 Model S and 2016-2018 Model X vehicles, as well as a separate probe over a battery cooling issue with early Model Ss.