A 2017 Tesla Model S P100D accelerated from 0 to 60 miles per hour (mph) in just 2.275507139 seconds while being put through the paces recently by the auto junkies over at Motor Trend.
This is apparently the first time that a production car has ever done 0 to 60 mph in under 2.3 seconds while being tested by the magazine’s experts, making for a new “record” of sorts.
Pretty impressive for a 4,891 pound chunk of metal when you think about it.
In addition to doing 0 to 60 mph faster than any other production car ever tested by Motor Trend, the 2017 Tesla Model S P100D also, predictably, notched the fastest 0 to 30 mph, 0 to 40 mph, and 0 to 50 mph times.
“Predictably” because the great advantage that the Model S has over its competitors is its very impressive torque — one of the most notable performance advantages of electric vehicles.
Despite owning the acceleration range up to 0 to 60 mph, the 2017 Model S P100D does get outcompeted slightly at higher speeds by some of the much more expensive supercars out there. Motor Trend provides more:
“The Tesla does not hold the advantage forever, though, because higher speeds give the advantage to horsepower over instant torque. The Ferrari LaFerrari hits 70 mph a tenth of a second quicker; the Porsche 918 and McLaren P1 pull ahead at 80 mph, and these hypercars all continue to pull away at higher speeds. But around town, everybody has long since lifted off the accelerator pedal.
“Indeed all-wheel-drive cars capable of face-warping launches such as this latest, most ludicrous Tesla Model S P100D and November’s wheelie-ing Porsche 911 Turbo S have us examining a lesser-known physics term: jerk. It’s the rate of change of acceleration. Think of it as the difference between being accidentally pushed by a clumsy person and being aggressively shoved by a jerk.
“Launching a Model S P100D (weighing 5,062 with gear and driver) in full-on Ludicrous Easter-egg mode snaps your body in a manner that is utterly impossible to replicate in any other street-legal production car on normal tires and dry asphalt at a mid-$100,000 price point. We regard 0–30-mph acceleration times as the benchmark for how hard a car launches, and this new Tesla gets there 0.05 second ahead of the next quickest (aforementioned) 0.92-second 911 Turbo S. The two run pretty even through 40 mph, after which the Tesla pulls ahead, maintaining a 0.2-second lead from 60 mph through 90 mph. The two cross the quarter-mile mark together at 10.5 seconds, at which point the Tesla is running 125.0 mph, and the Porsche is traveling 6.8 mph faster.”
Rather than quote the whole article, I’ll simply say that if you’re a speed junkie, and you have the time, then the full article is worth a read. Motor Trend goes into great depth comparing the acceleration of the 2017 Tesla Model S P100D with the other supercars out there, making for a very interesting comparison.
