Nearly every automaker has at least one EV in its portfolio, and some of the exotic crowd promising to go down this route in the near future, so drag races between all-quiet cars and those powered by dead dinosaurs are not something out of the ordinary anymore.
Most of the time, those head-to-head straight-line battles involve a Tesla Plaid either beating or being dominated by an ultra-powerful machine boasting a roaring sound. And it's the same here, with CarWow pinning the Tesla Model X Plaid, aka the most powerful version of the battery-electric crossover, against something rather different: a Porsche 911 Turbo S.
As everyone who has a thing for Teslas knows, the Model X Plaid has three electric motors, two at the rear and one at the front. In total, it boasts 1,020 horsepower and 1,420 Nm (1,047 lb-ft) of torque. The 911 Turbo S, on the other hand, uses a twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat-six with 650 hp and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft). It, too, has AWD and comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission delivering the thrust to both axles.
You know what you're probably thinking, that the Porsche cannot possibly stand a chance against the high-riding Tesla in a straight-line battle, right? After all, there's a huge gap in power between the two. Well, don't jump to conclusions yet, as there is a massive weight difference between the two, with the balance tilting in favor of the German machine, which tips the scales at almost 1,650 kg (~3,600 lbs). Due to the battery packs, the Model X Plaid is almost one ton (~2,000 lbs) heavier.
Price-wise, you're looking at £180,600 for the Porsche in the UK, where this small war between EV and ICE took place, or $230,205 at today's exchange rates. The Tesla is more affordable at £126,780 ($161,605). But what did the challenge comprise? It all started with a few good-old quarter-mile drag races from a standing start in a 2-out-of-3, which revealed that both crossed the line in just a little over ten seconds. Then they proceeded to do a couple of drag races from a standing start, and those had a completely different result. Everything concluded with a brake test from 100 mph (~160 kph), and you know which one aced it, right? Yep, that would be the 911 Turbo S, which is way lighter than the Model X Plaid.
We won't spoil the other results, as you'll have to watch the following video to see which one was deemed quicker, and you're one mouse click away from finding out. The footage is a little over ten minutes long, so you can finally take that short break and maybe open a small bag of chips while you're at it.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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