2022 Tesla Model S

Vehicle Overview

The Palladium refresh was announced in January 2021 with initial deliveries in June 2021. The refresh included a new interior, new powertrain, suspension and thermal management amongst other improvements.^[140] The refresh originally consisted of three models, the Long Range (LR), the Plaid, and the Plaid+, although the Plaid+ was cancelled shortly before deliveries began. The "Plaid" name is applied to the performance model and is a reference to the only speed faster than "Ludicrous" in the movie Spaceballs.^[141]

The Plaid model includes one motor for the front axle and two motors for the rear axle; its starting price was $131,100.^[142] At the core of the Plaid's performance are innovative new motors featuring a carbon-wrapped rotor to allow much higher motor RPM.^[143] Musk said that this presented challenges, because carbon and copper (the rotor material) have different thermal expansion rates.^[144] The Long Range model includes the front motor and a single rear motor; its starting price was $80k, but it was raised to $85k soon after deliveries began.^[145] "Track Mode" allows for adjustment from 100% FWD to 100% RWD in 5% increments, traction control strength in 21 stages and regenerative braking strength from 0% to 100% in 5% increments.^{[citation needed]}

At its debut, the Palladium models had the lowest drag coefficient of any production car, with Cd=0.208.^[146] The new HVAC system uses a heat pump that Tesla says provides 30% longer range and requires 50% less energy in cold weather conditions than the previous Model S.^[147] Charging was said to increase by 187 miles (301 km) in 15 minutes (on a 250 kW Supercharger).^[146] The interior features a non-circular "yoke" steering wheel, a landscape-oriented center screen, a screen for the rear passengers, increased headroom and legroom, particularly in the rear seat area, lower noise via acoustic glass, a new, customizable user interface, and improved gaming (via the AMD RDNA 2 GPU).^[146][148] The company estimated that deliveries will reach 1000/week in Q3 of 2021.^[145]

The Plaid has 1,020 horsepower (760 kW) and 1,050 pound-feet (1,420 N*m) of torque. It was independently tested by Motor Trend to go 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) in 2.07 seconds (1.98 on a prepped drag strip, ex. with PJ1 TrackBite) and cover a quarter-mile (400 m) in 9.34 seconds at 152.2 mph (244.9 km/h).^[149] Tesla said it will reach a 200 mph (320 km/h) top speed

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