The Tesla Model S Plaid set a 7:35.579 lap time at the Nürburgring in 2021.
The official time was recorded on September 9, 2021, over the 20.832-kilometre Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Swedish driver Andreas Simonsen drove the Model S Plaid, which Tesla presented as an official production-electric-car record run. The Nürburgring’s own records list the time and identify the car, driver, date, and circuit distance.
The Plaid was the high-performance version of the Model S, using three electric motors and an advertised output of about 1,020 horsepower. Its Nürburgring appearance demonstrated that Tesla’s performance claims extended beyond straight-line acceleration and included sustained high-speed cornering and braking.
A frequent source of confusion is the circuit configuration. The full Nordschleife lap is commonly reported as 20.8 kilometres, while some published times use a shorter 20.6-kilometre lap. Tesla also later recorded a quicker 7:25.231 time with a Model S Plaid equipped with a Track Package, but that is not the 2021 time asked about here.