After being named the quickest 0-60 mph production car ever and breaking the 9-second quarter-mile threshold, the Tesla Model S Plaid has also taken the crown of quickest-charging electric vehicle (EV) ever, according to Car and Driver.
The popular automotive publication recently tested the Model S Plaid’s charging speed at one of Tesla’s V3 (250 kW) Superchargers to see just how much faster (if at all) the all-electric luxury sedan charged as compared to the rest of Tesla’s offerings and other EVs.
Car and Driver found that the Model S Plaid is capable of sustaining a V3 Supercharger’s peak charging power of 250 kW for almost five minutes, which on its own is impressive, and charges from 10% to 90% in just 38 minutes. That’s some nine minutes (or 19%) faster than a 2021 Model S Long Range Plus.
Image: Car and Driver
The Model S Plaid also delivered the best average charging rate of all the EVs the publication has tested to date, at 125 kW. The Model S Plaid clocks in ahead of the Audi e-tron (121 kW) and Porsche Taycan (118 kW), and handily beats lower-end EVs like the VW ID.4 (82 kW) and Ford Mustang Mach-E (47 kW) in average charging rate.
According to the publication’s calculations, 38 minutes of charging a Model S Plaid will net you 224 miles (360 km) of highway cruising at 75 mph before you have to stop for another top-up.
Just two years ago, the Model S couldn’t even access the maximum 250 kW power output Tesla Superchargers are capable of delivering. Today, the Model S Plaid features a reworked battery pack that’s built using the same Panasonic 18650 cells but can squeeze the juice out of Tesla Superchargers in record time.
