- Edmunds in contrast the Lucid Air Sapphire with the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid with the optionally available Monitor Pack.
- Collectively, the 2 American EVs produce over 2,200 horsepower.
We stay in fascinating instances. You would go browsing proper now and place an order for a four-door electrical sedan that goes the space, is snug and is critically quick–among the many quickest on the earth, in truth.
Two fashions match the invoice at present, they usually’re each made in america. There’s the unique Tesla Mannequin S Plaid, with its 1,020 horsepower and sub-2-second dash to 60 miles per hour. Then, there’s the newer, fancier and costlier Lucid Air Sapphire.
There have been loads of comparisons between the 2 EVs, however none fairly just like the one put collectively by our pals at Edmunds. As you’ll see within the video embedded beneath, Edmunds pitted the 2023 Tesla Mannequin S Plaid with the optionally available $20,000 Monitor Package deal in opposition to the 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire.
Tesla’s expensive add-on comes with carbon ceramic brakes and solid brake calipers, which permits the 4,810-pound EV to, you already know, brake correctly. Some fancy wheels are additionally included, as is a few “track-ready brake fluid.” The automobile’s firmware can also be barely completely different, to benefit from the brand new stuff.
Just like the Mannequin S Plaid, the Lucid Air Sapphire is powered by three electrical motors. Not like the Plaid, nevertheless, Lucid managed to squeeze out 1,234 horsepower from the setup, decreasing the 0-60 mph time to only 1.89 seconds, versus the Mannequin S Plaid’s 1.99 seconds. On paper, not less than.
Suffice to say, they’re very quick. Edmunds’ course consists of a quarter-mile drag race, adopted by a braking part, a U-turn after which one other dash towards the beginning/end line. It’s a quite simple format but it surely’s designed to check acceleration, braking and dealing with. Two runs are clocked and on the finish of the primary run, the drivers change vehicles to eradicate any potential benefit or drawback.
Within the Mannequin S Plaid, the battery was preconditioned for the Drag Strip mode, which took about quarter-hour to finish. The suspension was set to Sport and within the lowest journey top.
Within the Lucid Air Sapphire, Monitor mode was chosen, then the Drag Strip possibility–a bit of simpler than within the Mannequin S, however I’ll give Tesla credit score for making the entire operation a bit of extra dramatic, particularly on the subject of the Cheetah stance that the Mannequin S Plaid takes proper earlier than launch.
Now that the specs are out of the way in which, I’ll simply say this: the race you’re about to see within the video is intense. On the finish of the primary run, the Lucid Air was clocked at a velocity of 164 miles per hour. Let’s not neglect that each these vehicles are four-door household sedans, so experiencing this quantity of energy and velocity looks like dishonest physics a bit of bit.
The second run was a bit of completely different, with the Mannequin S set in Monitor mode as an alternative of Drag Strip mode within the hopes that the automobile would ship extra energy to the wheels when exiting the nook on the finish of the straight. Did it assist? Properly, probably not. For what it’s price, although, the Mannequin S Plaid, even with the $20,000 Monitor Pack, continues to be half the value of the Air Sapphire, which retails for a candy, candy $250,500. In the meantime, Tesla is asking $91,630 for a base Mannequin S Plaid with out the Monitor Pack.
So, is it price spending 1 / 4 of one million {dollars} on an admittedly very good EV? You be the choose.
