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I finally get my hands on the new Tesla Model S PLAID edition! Does it live up to the hype? Let's check it out.

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// Credits
Editing: Ben Sullins
Graphics: Ben Sullins
Producer: Katie Felton
Audio: Xijin Chan: www.xijin.co.uk
Writing: Ben Sullins

// Music by Epidemic Sound

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// About Tesla Palladium (Plaid)

The Palladium refresh was announced in January 2021 with initial deliveries in June 2021. The refresh included a new interior, new powertrain, suspension and thermal management amongst other improvements.[186] The refresh originally consisted of three models, the Long Range (LR), the Plaid, and the Plaid+, although the latter was cancelled shortly before deliveries began. The "Plaid" name is applied to the performance model and is a reference to the only speed faster than "Ludicrous" in the movie Spaceballs.[187]

The Plaid model includes one motor for the front wheels and one motor each for the two rear wheels (starting price $131,100).[188] At the core of the Plaid's performance are innovative new motors featuring a carbon-wrapped rotor to allow much higher motor RPM.[189] Musk claimed that this presented challenges, because carbon and copper (the rotor material) have different thermal expansion rates.[190] The Long Range model includes the front motor and a single rear motor (starting price $80k, but raised to $85k soon after deliveries began).[191]

The Palladium models have the lowest drag coefficient of any production car with Cd=0.208.[192] The new HVAC system uses a heat pump that Tesla claims provides 30% longer range and requires 50% less energy in freezing conditions than the previous Model S.[193] Charging was claimed to increase by 187 miles (301 km) in 15 minutes (on a 250 kW Supercharger).[192] The interior features a non-circular "yoke" steering wheel, a landscape-oriented center video screen, a video screen for the back seat, increased headroom and legroom, particularly in the rear seat area, lower noise via acoustic glass, a new, customizable user interface, and improved gaming (via the AMD RDNA 2 GPU).[192][194] The company estimated that deliveries will reach 1000/week in Q3 of 2021.[191]

The Plaid has 1,020 horsepower (760 kW) and 1,050 pound-feet (1,420 N⋅m) of torque. It was independently tested by Motor Trend to go 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 2.07 seconds (1.98 on a prepped drag strip) and cover a quarter-mile (400 m) in 9.34 seconds at 152.2 mph (244.9 km/h).[195] Tesla claims it will reach a 200 mph (320 km/h) top speed.[191]