Tesla Model S Plaid receives 348-mile EPA rated range on 21-inch wheels

The new Tesla Model S Plaid has received its first official EPA rating with a range of 348 miles on a single charge, but that’s for the bigger and less efficient wheels.

The EPA is slowly releasing the new ratings for the new versions of the updated Tesla Model S.

Earlier this week, they released the new rating for the updated 2021 Model S Long Range, which received a 120 MPGe (highway and city driving combined) and a range of 405 miles on a single charge.

We noted that the range was lower than Tesla originally announced, but the efficiency did improve compared to the previous version of the Model S Long Range trim.

Now the EPA has released its first rating for the new Model S Plaid, but only for the version with 21-inch wheels.

It’s getting a range of 348 miles on a single charge and an efficiency of 101 MPGe highway and city driving combined:

In the image above, we compared it to the previous Model S Performance, which the Plaid replaces, with 19-inch and 21-inch wheels.

As you can see, the Plaid shows an efficiency increase consistent with the one seen on the Long Range, but the range increase is more significant over the previous version.

The EPA has yet to release the range for the Model S Plaid with 19-inch wheels, but Tesla has been guiding a range of 390 miles.

That’s a significant 42-mile difference just based on the wheels, which people often underestimate in terms of impact on efficiency.

As we reported yesterday, Tesla has actually reduced the energy capacity in the new Model S compared to the previous version, but it’s still getting a longer range based on the better efficiency alone.

Tesla has been focusing on efficiency since it directly affects battery supply and enables them to make more electric vehicles with the same amount of batteries.

Thee new Model S starts at $80,000, but the Model S Plaid with 21-inch wheels, which just got its EPA rating, starts at $134,500.