9:28 am, September 11, 2021
Tesla has set a new production electric car lap record at the Nurburgring with its new Model S Plaid, according to a tweet from CEO Elon Musk.
The Tesla boss’s tweet shows the new model, a halo version of the Model S, set a lap time of 7 minutes 30.909 seconds around the notorious 12.8-mile ‘Green Hell’.
Averaging 103mph, this time eclipsed the previous quickest EV lap time – set by the Porsche Taycan Turbo in 2019 – by 12 seconds.
Musk said that the car was ‘completely unmodified’ though he added that another modified Plaid with ‘added aero surfaces, carbon brakes & track tires [sic]’ would also be used in an effort to cut the car’s lap time even further.
The Plaid is a high-performance version of Tesla’s Model S – its largest saloon car. Equipped with three electric motors and capable of achieving the 0-60mph sprint in ‘under 2 secs’ according to Musk.
A more powerful version – badged Plaid+ – was penned to bring 1,100bhp but has officially been cancelled.
In July, Musk tweeted ‘Plaid+ is canceled [sic]. No need, as Plaid is so good’.
You can watch the lap record in the video at the top of this story
