Tesla held a short but sweet event today where they went into a bit more detail regarding the Model S Plaid. I took some rough notes that I have included below.

  • 9 years since Tesla delivered the first Model S
  • One of the motivating factors behind Plaid Model S was to show EVs can be the best cars out there (safest, fastest, etc)
  • No car up until the Plaid Model S has broken the 2 second 0-60 barrier
  • Specs
    • 420 miles of range give or take🙂
    • 187 miles of range in 15 minutes thanks to updated V3 Supercharging speeds
    • 1.99s 0-60
    • 9.23s 1/4 mile
    • 200 mph top speed
    • 1,020 hp peak power
    • 390 miles of range
    • All new battery pack
  • Carbon-sleeved rotors for the drive units
    • 1st time this has been done
    • Had to design the machine to do the winding
    • Carbon overwrap holds the rotor together because of the high RPMs
    • Up to 20k RPMs, maybe a little more
  • Lowest drag coefficient of any car ever made at 0.208
    • Important to note that this was achieved with wheels in motion
  • Heat pump & improved thermals
    • 30% better at colder range
    • 50% better range in freezing conditions
    • Radiator is twice as big for heat ejection
    • Back to back 0-60s and the car will not get winded
    • Nurburgring return teased
  • In 2012 there were 0 superchargers, now there is 25k superchargers (30 in last week)
  • Engineered for 5-star Safety
    • Tesla believes the refreshed Model S will have the lowest probability of injury ever tested (Tesla already has the top 5 in this category)
  • Ventilated front seats
  • Yoke steering wheel optimized for autopilot, better visibility
  • Auto shifting will remember overrides by geolocation so you don’t have to keep overriding it
  • Tesla was able to move the front seats more forward allowing for more room in the back seats
  • 36W USB-C for charging phones
  • Allows for multiple Bluetooth devices to be paired at a given time allowing multiple people to play music via their phones
  • Hidden air vents, invisible AC
    • Tri-zone (left front, right front, rear)
  • 2200x1300 resolution on the front 17” display
  • All new sound system developed by Tesla Audio, acoustic glass used to make it the quietest Tesla yet
    • 920 watts
    • Adapts based on input source
    • Software-defined that will get better with time
  • All new UI with V11
    • Waypoints coming according to Tesla (“God damnit” :))
    • Interfaces with calendar so if you just swipe down in navigate it’ll automatically figure it out
    • Allows for various apps and icons to be moved & placed as needed
  • PS5-level performance thanks to AMD SoC
    • Capable of playing CyberPunk
  • First deliveries happen today
  • Awesome power curve thanks to new drivetrain