Tesla's Model S Plaid is the fastest car MotorTrend has ever tested
Edmunds
Tesla's Model S Plaid is the most impressive car on the road today. It's not just that it looks great, but it has some serious power underneath the hood... or frunk. Recently, MotorTrend tried the Tesla Model S and declared it the fastest car they have ever tested. That's saying something.
MotorTrend first appeared on magazine stands in 1949. With more than 70 years of experience driving thousands of cars, the Model S Plaid beat them all.
0-60 MPH in 2.3 Seconds
The Tesla Model S Plaid is a high-speed car, and the stats back it up. According to MotorTrend, the Model S accelerates from 0-60 MPH in an astonishing 2.3 seconds.
"When experiencing the acceleration of a Plaid, it's abundantly clear that virtually the only force you feel is the Tesla's seatback hurling you forward to a degree that genuinely makes the horizon the floor. Except that floor is rushing up at you far faster than any free fall ever could."
Earlier in the article, the author explains that a free fall speed equates to accelerating from 0-60 in 3 seconds.
The Tesla website says the Plaid can go faster than MotorTrend reported, with a 1.99 second 0-60 time. Its three mighty electric motors, two in the back, power the all-wheel drive system producing a ridiculous 1,020 horsepower and 1,050 ft-lb of torque. The top speed is pegged at 200 MPH; for comparison, the maximum speed in NASCAR last season was recorded at 190.7 MPH.
Tesla Model S Plaid Specs
Spec
Value
Curb Weight:
4,816 lbs
¼ Mile Time:
9.3 seconds at 152.2 mph
Motor Layout:
Tri-motor, one front, two rear
Maximum Horsepower:
1,020 hp
Maximum Torque:
1,050 lb-ft
Top Speed:
200 MPH
Cost:
$119,990
Model S Plaid Does the Quarter Mile in 9.3 Seconds
The power curve on Tesla's Model S Plaid speaks for itself
Tesla
Tesla's Model S also laid down a blistering quarter-mile to earn the title of the fastest carMotorTrend has ever tested. The blue Plaid devoured the quarter mile time in 9.3 seconds. It should've been a red Model S because this car was burning the record books and lighting the track on fire.
It's not just the motors; the cutting-edge software and aerodynamic design also contribute to its superior acceleration.
60-0 MPH Braking in 104 Feet
In addition to its blistering quarter-mile time, the Model S is able to achieve 60-0 mph braking in just 104 feet, while providing a maximum lateral acceleration of 1.02 Gs. This makes it one of the quickest cars ever produced and gives it the performance capabilities that rival some of the world's top supercars.
In other tests, the Plaid had a record stopping time as low at 98 feet. The impressive stopping power of the Model S can be attributed to its combination of powerful brakes and low center of gravity. The regenerative braking system also helps reduce wear on the brakes and allows for maximum braking performance. In addition, the Model S also features an advanced stability control system that helps to keep the car stable and in control during hard braking maneuvers.
Top 10 Fastest Electric Cars
Car
0-60 MPH Time
2021 Tesla Model S Plaid
2.3 Seconds
2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S
2.4 Seconds
2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance
2.7 Seconds
2022 Audi RS E-Tron GT
2.9 Seconds
2022 Mercedes-AMG EQS 4Matic+ Sedan
3.0 Seconds
2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1
3.0 Seconds
2022 Rivian R1T Launch Edition
3.1 Seconds
2023 Kia EV6 GT
3.2 Seconds
2023 BMW iX M60
3.2 Seconds
2022 Rivian R1S Launch Edition
3.2 Seconds
The Tesla Model S Plaid, which added track mode in 2021, has pushed the performance boundaries and set a new standard for high-performance electric vehicles. Its quarter-mile time of 9.3 seconds is remarkable, and its ability to reach 0-60 mph in just 2.3 seconds is extraordinary. Elon Musk wrapped it up best, responding to a tweet about MotorTrends results. He tweeted: Plaid is sickkk.
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Less than ten days since the last FSD update, Tesla has started rolling out FSD v12.3.6. Not only does this update include improvements to FSD itself, but it also adds the new Autopark and High Fidelity Park Assist to vehicles with ultrasonic sensors.
As Tesla continues to ramp up its AI training capacity, the average number of miles driven on FSD continues to climb at an increased rate.
Computing Power
Last week, in the earnings call deck, Tesla revealed that it’s set to increase its core AI infrastructure capacity “in the coming months.” Tesla stated it has quadrupled its capacity since September 2023.
To further improve our end-to-end training capability, we will continue to increase our core AI infrastructure capacity in the coming months. - Tesla
Musk said on Sunday that the company will spend “around $10B” throughout 2024 in “combined training and inference AI, the latter being primarily in car”. “Any company not spending at this level, and doing so efficiently, cannot compete,” he added.
Tesla's computing power has drastically increased
Expansion to China
In an unexpected 24-hour trip to China, Elon Musk visited Beijing to meet with Premier Li Qiang to discuss the rollout of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and permission to transfer driving data overseas. Since Tesla uses fleet data to continuously improve FSD, being able to use data gathered in and outside of China will be crucial to its continued improvement.
Elon Musk meeting with Premier Li Qiang today in China.
On the same day, Tesla models produced at Giga Shanghai were listed among the EVs that meet China's data security requirements for smart cars, an important hurdle for Tesla to surpass.
When Musk was asked on X about Tesla releasing FSD in China, Musk simply said “It may be possible very soon.”
Regarding additional markets such as Europe and Australia, Musk said he believes that v12 is “ready for supervised FSD in LHD countries” while RHD like the UK or Australia “will take a bit longer”.
Internal FSD Is 3 to 6 Months Ahead
Earlier this month, Tesla disclosed that the team knows “roughly” how the software will perform in “3 to 6 months”. He added that it takes “a few months to fix those bugs and complete safety tests” before releasing the version to the Tesla employees and then to the general public.
Major FSD Updates Coming
On X, Musk teased that the next major update to FSD will be v12.4, saying “it’s awesome,” and that it’s “another big jump in capabilities.” Musk said that Tesla’s computing constraint has been much improved, and likely may be a factor in this further being another big improvement.
In mid-March, Elon Musk announced that Tesla will reintroduce Smart Summon and Autopark to its vehicles. Tesla has now delivered on the Autopark promise, but we’re still waiting on the improved Smart Summon feature. It’s possible we’ll see in FSD v12.4.
On Sunday, Tesla started rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) V12.3.6, the latest version of its FSD software. This update includes the highly anticipated new Autopark and High Fidelity Park Assist feature for additional vehicles. FSD v12.3.6 replaces v12.3.5 which had only been rolled out to a small portion of the fleet.
The new Autopark (tap to park) and High Fidelity Park Assist features are now available for vehicles with ultrasonic sensors (USS). Since October 2022, all Model 3 and Model Y vehicles no longer include ultrasonic sensors, instead relying solely on Tesla Vision to provide Autopilot, Park Assist, and Autopark features. However, the vision-based Autopark has been limited to the U.S. and Canada so far.
New Autopark
When driving at low speed, the new Autopark highlights potential parking spaces allowing the driver to pick their preferred spot. Tesla vehicles with ultrasonic sensors (USS) can now take advantage of the new Autopark feature, which is a significant improvement over the previous iteration.
Although the new Autopark feature is expanding to vehicles with USS, it appears to still be geographically limited to the U.S. and Canada. We expect Tesla to continue the feedback loop and release the feature in Europe and other regions in a future update.
Vehicles without USS outside of North America have never had Autopark of any form since they don’t support the older Autopark version that relies on USS and have yet to receive this latest revision of the feature.
For vehicles with the Intel-based infotainment unit, the visuals will look like the video below, where it doesn’t display a 3D environment of the vehicle’s surroundings. Instead, the visualization just highlights parking spaces available. However, the limitation for Intel vehicles is just in the visualization itself, the vehicle is just as aware of its surroundings as vehicles that display 3D renderings of objects on the screen.
With Tesla update 2024.3.25 (FSD v12.3.6), Tesla is also releasing High Fidelity Park Assist features to vehicles with ultrasonic sensors. However, as initially suspected, it’s limited to vehicles with the most recent infotainment processor that includes the Ryzen chip (MCU 3). Unfortunately, Intel Atom based vehicles don’t include the 3D visuals of High Fidelity Park Assist.
The feature provides drivers with a 360-degree 3D reconstruction of their vehicles’ surroundings while parking while traveling at low speeds. It even accurately displays lane markers in parking lots helping drivers visualize the environment around them when parking. The feature was added as a late addition to Tesla’s 2023 holiday update. However, at the time, it was limited to vehicles without ultrasonic sensors (USS).
For vehicles that have ultrasonic sensors, users will have a choice to either continue using their vehicle with USS sensors that display exact distances to objects or use the new High Fidelity Park Assist feature and forego the display of distances.
We were hoping that when Tesla finally released HiFi Park Assist to vehicles with USS, it would merge the two features and display the updated visuals with distance measurements, however, that is not the case in this update.
For owners with USS, the new Park Assist option is located under Controls > Autopilot and allows you to choose between “Standard” or “Tesla Vision.” Tesla Vision being the new HiFi Park Assist and Standard representing the USS version with arcs and measurements.
Tesla’s director of Autopilot, Ashok Elluswamy had previously set expectations and stated that HiFi Park Assist would “eventually” go to vehicles with ultrasonic sensors back in December 2023. The new Park Assist feature is available in various regions around the world, including North America and most of Europe.
Tesla continues to double down on vision and Musk revealed that it's becoming “very clear that the vision-based approach with end-to-end neural networks is the right solution for scalable autonomy”.
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![Tesla Brings New Autopark and High Fidelity Park Assist to Vehicles with Ultrasonic Sensors [Video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2024/high-fidelity-park-assist.jpg/e251c440bdf5d0f742e1993e1610afe8.jpg)
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