Tesla Model S Plaid at 55% Battery Still Dominates a Ferrari SF90 in the Half-Mile

I’ll be honest—when I saw the battery state of charge before this race, I thought the Tesla was in trouble. The Fast or Nothing half-mile event on the DragTimes YouTube channel brought together a Tesla Model S Plaid with the Track Pack and a Ferrari SF90 Stradale, and on paper the Ferrari had every reason to win. Then the flag dropped and I remembered why I never bet against instant electric torque.

The Tesla in this matchup was not some bone-stock family sedan. A standard Model S Plaid is quick off the line, but its top speed is capped at 163 mph in drag mode and 173 mph in track mode. That might sound fast, but in half-mile racing, serious exotics regularly blow past 200 mph. So Tesla’s Track Pack is a big deal here. It unlocks a 200+ mph top speed and adds carbon ceramic brakes, which are pretty handy when you need to haul a heavy EV down from big speeds.

What makes the Track Pack interesting is not just the higher top speed. Tesla also upgraded the brakes because 200+ mph in a heavy electric sedan creates a lot of energy to scrub off. In a half-mile event, that is a bigger deal than some people realize. You are not only trying to cover the distance quickly; you also need to slow down safely after the traps. The carbon ceramic setup gives the Plaid confidence that a stock setup would not.

Here is the kicker, though: the Plaid showed up with only 55% state of charge. That is not ideal. A low battery means reduced power, softer acceleration, and a lower trap speed. If this were a video game, the Tesla was basically playing with a debuff. Before the battery drained, this same car had already trapped an impressive 186 mph in previous races and even held its own against a 2,000-hp twin-turbo Lamborghini. Let that sink in for a second. A four-door EV was mixing it up with a 2,000-hp Lambo.

On the other side of the staging lanes sat the Ferrari SF90 Stradale. This is not your typical V8 Ferrari. It pairs a twin-turbo V8 with three electric motors, sending power to all four wheels for a brutal launch. With 986 horsepower and a 211 mph top speed, it is one of the fastest Ferraris ever built. The math looked simple: if the Tesla was down on juice, the Ferrari could use its top-end advantage and reel it in.

Except the race did not play out that way.

Even at 55% charge, the Tesla’s instant electric torque launched it ahead immediately. The Ferrari started gaining speed as the half-mile marker approached, but it simply ran out of road. The SF90 has a higher top speed, but half-mile racing is not a top-speed runway. The finish line arrived too soon for the Ferrari to close the gap.

I have seen a lot of drag races where the more expensive car gets reeled in by a faster-starting EV, but this one still surprised me because the Plaid was clearly not at full strength. The 55% charge is important because Tesla’s power output can taper as the battery drains. It still launched hard enough to put the Ferrari in catch-up mode, which says a lot about how brutal the Plaid’s low-end acceleration is.

The Tesla Model S Plaid dominated the Ferrari SF90 despite showing up at a less-than-perfect charge level. The race proved yet again that Tesla’s Plaid remains one of the quickest accelerating cars in the world, capable of embarrassing even million-dollar exotics in short-distance races. If the battery had been full and the conditions optimal, the Plaid would have been even quicker, making the win even more convincing.

Honestly, that is what makes this era fun to watch. Electric performance keeps shaking up the supercar world, and this race is another reminder that instant power is a major problem for high-end gas-powered competitors. The old-school exotic has the top speed, the badge, and the theater. But in a short drag race, none of that matters if you cannot make up the ground before the finish line.