THE ULTIMATE EV VS ICE DRAG RACE - TESLA MODEL S PLAID TRACK PACK VS BUGATTI CHIRON SUPER SPORT
A few years ago, when the world started looking for alternative power sources for cars and electric power ended up being the preferred choice, almost every red-blooded automotive fanatic seemed to get highly offended. How could electric power possibly compete with the good old internal combustion engine? The inconvenience of long charge times over being able to pull up at a petrol station and filling up in 3 minutes seemed like a terrible idea, and losing the soundtrack of a high-revving petrol-fed was unthinkable. There are still many who think like this, but in the last few years the technologies have evolved so fast that batteries are lighter, charge much faster and afford new cars a healthy range and the ability to generate loads of power, depending on which electric motors are chosen to power the vehicle. Tesla has been at the forefront of EV cars and production, and thanks to being amongst the earliest adopters of the technology, they have the right recipe locked. The result is a fleet of ridiculously powerful and fast EVs that can be optioned with different packages to unlock more power as is the case with the Tesla staring in this video. The most impressive thing about this specific Tesla is that while it costs a decent chunk of money in the Plaid spec with the Track Pack addition, to match the performance from other EV automakers you could buy a few Teslas. In this match-up, the Tesla Plaid costs £135,000 (a decent amount when converted to Rands at R3 200,000 which is still half the price of a decently-specced Lambo or Ferrari) while the Bugatti in this race is listed at an incomprehensible £4,000,000 (R95 000,000). You could buy nearly 30 Tesla Plaids for that same price, or just over 30 Audi e-tron GT RS cars, or 76 Audi RS3s.
When it comes to the specs, both cars in this have some unbelievable numbers associated with them. The budget car in this face-off is powered by three electric motors that send power to all four wheels to make it an all-wheel drive car. These combine to give the car an available power output of 760 kW (1,020 hp) with a typically high EV torque output of 1,424 Nm. Thanks to needing a decent 100.0 kWh lithium-ion battery pack made up of 7,920 cells, the Plaid is the chunkier of the two in this match-up, tipping the scales at 2,190 kg. The Bugatti sourced for this drag race is the current record holder for being the fastest series production car on the planet when test driver Andy Wallace took the hypercar to a top speed of a stupendously fast 490.484 km/h (304.773 mph) in August of 2019. The car is an engineering marvel and features what is likely the most technologically advanced combustion engine ever created. Under the engine cover is an 8.0-litre W16 lump with four turbochargers strapped on. This sends 1,193 kW (1,600 hp) and 1,600 Nm of torque to all four wheels via a 7-speed DCT transmission. Even with 16 cylinders and four turbos, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport is lighter than the electric challenger, tipping the scales at 1,995kg. The Plaid is claimed to hit 100 km/h in just 2.0 seconds and has a top speed of 322 km/h, and the Chiron can hit 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and has that aforementioned top speed that is almost 170 km/h higher. In this kind of testing those speeds won’t be reached, but we do expect some pretty serious performance on show. We’re massive VAG fans here at SXdrv, and Bugatti is the holy grail of the massive automotive group so that’s the car we placed our best on before watching the footage. Where is your money going?
Take a look at the YouTube video that shows off just how good electric vehicles are now by pitting an old favourite from the world of EVs, the Tesla Model S Plaid in Track Pack-spec versus the world's fastest ICE-powered car, the Chiron Super Sport that can do almost 500 km/h. It's a brilliant race but it shows just how fast electric vehicles have been progressing and if things carry on at the same speed all the ICE car records will start dropping like swatted flies: Bugatti Chiron Super Sport v Model S Plaid Track Pack: DRAG RACE | carwow
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News Mat Watson Chiron Bugatti Chiron Super Sport Plaid Track Pack Track Pack Plaid Model S Bugatti Tesla SXdrv Carwow Drag Race