Another "W" for Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla.
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| Tesla Model S at the "Green Hell" |
Tesla is an American automotive and energy company currently located at Palo, Alto. The company was found in July 2003, by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, under the name Tesla Motors. The company's name is a tribute to engineer Nikola Tesla. Tesla Motors shortened its name to Tesla in February 2017. The company specializes in electric car manufacturing and, solar panel manufacturing through its SolarCity subsidiary. It operates multiple production and assembly plants, notably Gigafactory 1 near Reno, Nevada, and its main vehicle manufacturing facility at Tesla Factory in Fremont, California.
It all started when Porsche set a new speed record with its new Taycan electric car at 7 minutes and 42 seconds. He quickly tweeted that Tesla had something in the works that would enable its cars to outdo the Porsche. This is the Plaid Mode which uses three electric motors instead of two and will be available on Tesla's Model S next year. The Model S was Tesla's first mass-produced vehicle, first released in 2012. It set the benchmark for electric vehicle standards of today with better range and performance. This Model S, however, is fitted with 7 seats and the new Plaid Mode. It beat the record set by the Porsche's electric car roughly by 20 seconds at the iconic Nürburgring Nordschleife track in Germany. The racecourse nicknamed "Green Hell" is a famously challenging 13-mile racetrack on which automakers often test their cars and compare lap times[time taken to complete a lap] for bragging rights.
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| Porsche Taycan Turbo |
However, the lap times aren't entirely comparable because the Taycan completed its record lap in a final production version whilst the Tesla was heavily modified. According to eyewitnesses, most of the interior of the car had been removed, making the car lighter. The Taycan Turbo is available at a whopping $187,610 whilst a fully loaded Model S can top out at nearly $115,000.
Musk has tweeted that the upcoming Tesla Roadster will beat the overall record for any car, electric or gas, on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. So it now appears, Tesla is going after everyone.