Tesla Reveals Model S Plaid and Discusses Future $25K Car

I finally finished watching the Tesla Battery Day announcement last night, and am I glad I did! Lets start with the headline. Tesla announced and began taking orders for the Model S Plaid. Plaid is a reference to the movie Spaceballs for those perplexed by its use. In the movie, they have light speed, ridiculous speed, ludicrous speed, and after that, plaid. Seeing as Tesla has used Ludicrous in the past, anything faster would have to be plaid. What does a Plaid Model S entail? 520 miles of range, 0-60 in under 2 seconds, and a top speed of 200 MPH thanks to 1100 horsepower from its three electric motors. All that performance will set you back $139,990 before options, or $156,490 if you choose every option. The Lucid Air’s reign as longest range EV was short lived, its 517 mile range lasting 1 week. Though, deliveries of the Plaid Model S aren’t expected until the end of next year, so if Lucid sticks to their spring delivery schedule they may hold the title for longest range on the road for several months next year. For me, that’s all academic, I’m just excited to try and pick up a used one of these in a few years. In addition to a new more expensive Model S, Elon and company also discussed how the new battery cells they announced would allow for a $25,000 Tesla in about 3 years time. No images of the as-yet unnamed budget Tesla were shown. Check out videos of the Tesla Model S reveal, and its record setting 1:30.3 Laguna Seca lap below. Enjoy!