Tesla Model S Plaid does 0-60 in 'just' 2.59 seconds — what's going on?

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Tesla Model Southward Plaid does 0-60 in 'but' two.59 seconds — what's going on?

(Image credit: Tesla)

How fast does the Tesla Model Southward Plaid go from 0-60 mph? According to Tesla, the machine can manage that feat in 1.99 seconds. Which is incredibly impressive, and makes the automobile one of the fastest accelerating production cars on the market.

Only your experience may differ, every bit shown by this dispatch test video from ICSI. This test that showed the auto going from 0-sixty in two.59 seconds. That'due south over half a second slower than what Tesla promises. So what's the deal hither?

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Well, there's a lot of reasons for that discrepancy, the main one being that Tesla doesn't mensurate rollout equally part of its 0-threescore timing. Essentially, this means Tesla is operating under drag race rules, and the clock doesn't kickoff until the wheels have made one full rotation.

In other words it means the car has travelled about a foot, and has already started accelerating before the clock starts ticking. ICSI's speed test didn't do this, and the clock started when the motorcar started moving.

Environmental factors can also affect acceleration, including what surface you lot're driving on and what tires you're using. Ordinary street tires on the public route won't be every bit fast every bit specialized tires on a especially prepared drag strip.

Tesla itself has even admitted that the Model S Plaid needs to be put into a special 'elevate strip mode' to accomplish its peak dispatch, according to Motor Trend. That's a procedure, rather than a simple push of a button, and involves waiting between eight and 15 minutes for the battery to reach the optimal temperature and for the electric motors to cool down.

ICSI apparently did become through the motions to activate drag strip manner, otherwise the fourth dimension would likely have been noticeably slower. The machine also had three people within, which would accept increased the weight and slowed the automobile down e'er so slightly.

Still, as you can see in the video to a higher place it'due south clear that the Model S Plaid is no slouch, and it seems to hit 60 miles per hour in absolutely no time at all. Afterward all, the 0.6 second difference between ICSI'southward time and Tesla'due south official i isn't huge.

That makes a lot of differences on spec sheets and during a race, simply not during real-world driving. Plus, you're still striking 60mph in under three seconds, which is a pretty exhilarating feel, as whatever rollercoaster enthusiast volition tell you lot.

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Tom is the Tom's Guide'southward Automotive Editor, which means he tin usually be found knee deep in stats the latest and all-time electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It's long fashion from his days as editor of Gizmodo Britain, when pretty much everything was on the table. He'due south usually constitute trying to squeeze some other giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't allow him buy the stuff he really needs online.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/tesla-model-s-plaid-does-0-60-in-just-259-seconds-whats-going-on

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