Watch the new Tesla Model S Plaid rip to 100 mph in 5 seconds

Tesla kicked off deliveries of its Model S Plaid on Thursday.
It's the fastest Tesla to date, claiming a 0-60-mph time of two seconds and a 200-mph top speed.
Videos from Tesla's delivery event Thursday show the super-fast sedan in action.
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Tesla has started delivering its Model S Plaid, a $130,000 super sedan that Elon Musk promises is the "quickest production car ever made of any kind."

The company showed off the car for the first time and kicked off deliveries during an event on Thursday night at its Fremont, California, headquarters. It also gave attendees a taste of the car's raw power by taking them on rides around its test track.

Thanks to a handful of people who filmed the ridiculously fast ride-alongs, those of us not fortunate enough to get an invite can still catch a glimpse of what the Plaid has in store.

The standard Model S isn't a slow car by any means, but the Plaid kicks things into supercar territory. According to Tesla, the Plaid's three motors can churn out more than 1,000 horsepower and rocket the car to 60 mph in around two seconds. Tesla also claims a 200-mph top speed.

Understandably, that sort of otherworldly acceleration - quicker than the best Lamborghinis and Bugattis available - took people by surprise. In one video posted to Twitter, the Plaid hits 60 mph in a bit over two seconds and reaches 100 mph in around five before hitting a top speed of 104 mph.

-Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) June 11, 2021

Another video does a better job showing exactly how quickly the Plaid sprints to 60 mph and then to 100 mph. According to the in-video stopwatch, on this run the car hit 60 in 2.74 seconds and 100 mph in five seconds flat. That's a bit slower than Tesla claims, but having multiple people sitting in the car probably makes acceleration suboptimal.

Another clip shows what a launch looks like from a side view:

-Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) June 11, 2021

And in this one, taken from behind the car, one can hear the Plaid's tires screeching as it takes off into the distance:

-Viv (@flcnhvy) June 11, 2021

Does anybody actually need this amount of speed and acceleration? Almost certainly not. However, according to Musk, super high-performance EVs are key to replacing the world's gas-drinking fleet with sustainably powered cars.

"We've got to show that an electric car is the best car - hands down," Musk said during Thursday's event. "It's got to be clear [that] sustainable-energy cars can be the fastest cars, can be the safest cars, can be the most kick-ass cars in every way."

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