Elon Musk announces Tesla is canceling Model S Plaid+, don’t really need more than 400-mile range

Elon Musk has announced that Tesla is canceling the new Model S Plaid+ as he believes that the new Plaid version is “just so good”.

But what about the 520 miles of range?

When Tesla first unveiled the new Model S in January, the company introduced a new Model S Plaid+, which replaced the previous Plaid as the new top performance version.

The Model S Plaid+ was advertised as having over 520 miles of range on a single charge and a 0-60 mph acceleration in less than 1.99 seconds.

As for the Model S Plaid, it replaced the Model S Performance and Tesla said it would get 390 miles of range and a 0-60 mph acceleration in 1.99 seconds.

At first, the automaker said that the new Model S Plaid would come in just a few weeks and the Model S Plaid+ would come in late 2021.

However, Model S Plaid deliveries were delayed to now a delivery event to be held on June 10th and the Model S Plaid+ was delayed all the way to mid-2022.

Tesla even stopped people from placing new pre-orders on the new Plaid+ last month:

Now as Tesla is sending out invites to the delivery event later this week, CEO Elon Musk announced that the Plaid+ is canceled:

When Electrek asked Musk to clarify the statement, the CEO told us that Tesla is not seeing a need for a range of more than 400 miles anymore:

“What we are seeing is that once you have a range above 400 miles, more range doesn’t really matter. There are essentially zero trips above 400 miles where the driver doesn’t need to stop for restroom, food, coffee, etc. anyway.”

The biggest difference between the Plaid and Plaid+ was the ~120 more miles of range that the latter was supposed to have.

Tesla also said that it would have faster acceleration, but it didn’t elaborate on how much faster it would be.

Electrek’s Take

Well I do agree with Elon that you practically never see someone drive for 400 miles without stopping, 400 miles of EPA range is not real-world range in every situation.

For example, people who live in colder climates would like a longer range for winter driving when your car becomes 20-50% less efficient depending on the temperature and conditions.

Also, a 500-mile range does wonders to help break the psychological barrier that some people have when it comes to electric range – even if they don’t need that much range.

But other vehicles could help achieve that, like the new Lucid Air, which had a bit of a rivalry with the Model S Plaid+ when it was first announced, and maybe the new Roadster?