- The Model S Plaid can accelerate from 0 to 60 in less than 2 seconds, but requires a set-up process.
- MotorTrend tested the vehicle. It had the fastest acceleration they’d ever seen, but only under special test conditions.
- Most high performance vehicles do not require a setup process to achieve high acceleration speeds.
- Check out Insider’s business page for more stories.
The Tesla Model S plaid can go from 0 to 60 in less than two seconds, but it requires a lengthy set-up process, according to a report from MotorTrend.
The magazine tested the vehicle and described an eight to 15 minute process that the Tesla must go through in order to reach its maximum acceleration speed.
The process is far from typical of most high-performance cars. Some of the fastest cars on the market including the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, which is reported to go from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s McLaren F1 (which he bought in 1999 and crashed a year later ), which can go from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds without a setup routine. However, MotorTrend told CNN that the process is not new to high-powered Teslas, and the latest model has even streamlined the process so that it doesn’t have to be repeated for every trip in the vehicle.
Tesla has already set a corresponding record with the vehicle. Jay Leno drove the car on his CNBC show “Jay Leno’s Garage,” where he said he broke the quarter mile land speed record for a production car.
According to MotorTrend, the Tesla achieved the fastest acceleration from 0 to 60 they have ever tested in a production car (0 to 60 in 1.98 seconds), but said most drivers couldn’t reach these speeds on a normal road. Tesla representatives asked MotorTrend to test the vehicle’s top acceleration speed with the sticky end at the start line of a racetrack – a surface most drivers will never come across. Typically, the magazine tests vehicles without offering them the extra traction.
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When the vehicle was later tested on a normal asphalt surface, it reached the 0-60 speed in no less than 2 seconds. However, MotorTrend found that the Tesla’s performance was still impressive. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from an insider.
To hit the 0-60 top speed, the car needs to be put into drag-strip mode, which can be found as a setting on the Tesla’s main screen, MotorTrend reported.
The driver then has to wait eight to 15 minutes for the vehicle to prepare for the exercise as it heats or cools the batteries to the required temperature and cools the vehicle’s electric motors, the publication said.
After completing the adjustment process, the driver can step on the brake with one foot and the accelerator with the other. With the brake and accelerator pedal all the way to the ground, the car achieves a “cheetah pose” in which the front of the Tesla falls down. As soon as the brake is released, the car reaches its maximum acceleration speed.
MotorTrend writer Christian Seabaugh told CNN that even without the drag-strip mode, the car still has an impressive acceleration speed. He said it can go from 0 to 60 in about 2.5 seconds by “just stepping on the accelerator”.
The Tesla Model S plaid began shipping earlier this month after Musk announced it would be the fastest production car ever.
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