The World’s Fastest Tesla

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Dec 27, 7:06AM EST · Published Dec 26, 8:03AM EST

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The World’s Fastest Tesla — © MikeMareen / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Most of the 10 fastest cars in America are electric vehicles (EVs). At least, that is what the auto media claim. Many speed tests involve how quickly a vehicle moves from a standing stop of 60 MPH. Five seconds is impressive. Four seconds means the car is among the fastest people can buy from a dealership. Under three seconds is insane. The fastest street-legal car people can buy in the US is the Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model S Plaid. According to the Tesla, “Model S Plaid has the quickest acceleration of any vehicle in production.” The Plaid can go from zero to 60 in 2.1 seconds.

The Model S Plaid has a base price of just under $110,000. While expensive, it is much less expensive than many superfast gas-powered cars. A Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS can cost $240,000. It runs on a Twin-turbo six-cylinder horizontally opposed engine. It will go from zero to 60 in 3.1 seconds, according to MotorTrend. It also gets about 16 MPG. A full tank of gas for the Porsche costs about $70. People can charge a Tesla Plaid in their garages for about $15. (This car has the worst gas mileage.)

Why is the Plaid so fast? It is primarily because of how EVs are configured. The Plaid has three fairly small electric engines (gasoline-powered cars have one). These generate an extraordinary 1,020 HP. Another reason is based on torque. Car and Driver writes, “Electric motors’ inherent advantage in their ability to quickly deliver maximum torque from rest is the major reason so many EVs are quick. “ The power of engine rotation is defined as “torque.” The Plaid is also AWD, meaning the engines can engage all four wheels.

When Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk introduced the Model S Plaid in 2021, he spoke about the nine years that the Model S had been produced at one of Tesla’s earliest plants. He talked about the ongoing improvements of the Model S. Ultimately, his answer about why Tesla produced the Plaid was simple. His company produced the fastest car because it could. It was simply part of the evolution of America’s largest EV company.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.