Tesla Model S Plaid "Delivery event" coming next month — what you need to know

Tesla Model S Plaid "Delivery event" coming next month — what you need to know

Tesla and Elon Musk have been teasing the Tesla Model S Plaid for several years, and now we know the actual date the car will make its debut.

Elon Musk confirmed (via Twitter, naturally) that Tesla will hold a "delivery event" for the Model S Plaid on June 3. This is just in time for the company's currently announced August-September delivery schedule.

The Tesla Model S Plaid is a pretty big deal, with Tesla promising that it is "the fastest accelerating production car on the road today," with a 0-60 mph speed of just 1.99 seconds (minus first-foot rollout) and a quarter mile in 9.23 seconds The maximum speed is reported to be 200 mph. It also has a top speed of 200 mph, which Tesla calls "nothing short of ridiculous."

Unfortunately, the 390-mile range still falls short of the long-range Model S, which can travel up to 412 miles on a single charge. If one wants to go further than that, one will have to wait until mid-2022, when Tesla will begin deliveries of the Model S Plaid Plus.

Not only can Plaid Plus travel more than 500 miles on a single charge, it promises faster acceleration than any production car to date. That means 0-60 mph acceleration in under 1.99 seconds (excluding the first foot roll) and 1/4 mile acceleration in under 9 seconds.

Tesla cheats a bit here with the 0-60 time. On Tesla's website, under the feature details for ordering a Model S, the Plaid and Plaid+ acceleration numbers are marked with an asterisk next to them. In drag racing, the first 12 inches of movement is subtracted from the overall time. Therefore, speed is not measured exactly at the starting point. It is measured when the car has moved at least one foot. In other words, if the Model S Plaid can accelerate to 6 mph in that one foot, it is not actually measuring a 0-60 time, but a 6-60 time. The YouTube channel "Engineering Explained" has a video that explains this in detail.

No doubt Tesla and Musk have much to say about both cars. Hopefully, we will also get to see if the car will have a retractable spoiler, like the prototype spotted at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Let's hope the car is not delayed again. Tesla has had trouble filling orders for new cars in the past. Fortunately for Tesla, the ongoing global chip shortage has not affected it as much as other automakers thanks to its resourcefulness.

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