Avalon Airport in the southwest of Melbourne, Australia, witnessed an interesting race recently. Between Qantas’ Boeing 737-800 aircraft and a Tesla Model S P90D electric car. The Model S and 737 raced the airport’s 3 km runway; the Model S with its dual electric motors’ all-wheel-drive had an advantage at the start, while the 737 even though can generate over 50,000 pounds of thrust, took a while to get moving for obvious reasons. The Model S raced with “Ludicrous Mode” – Ludicrous speed decreases the 0-100 km/h time for Model S 10% to 3.0 seconds with a quarter mile time of 10.9 seconds. Time to 250 km/h is now 20% faster than a standard Model S Performance.
From Qantas: “The Tesla was hard to catch off the start. But the 737 narrowed the gap as it barrelled down the runway. Both traveled neck and neck as the 737 reached its take-off speed of 140 knots (~260 km/h) and the Tesla reached its max at around 250 km/h.”
Qantas pilots Captain Steve Gist and Captain Kevin Tonge were in the 737, while the Model S was driven by V8 Supercar driver Tony d’Alberto. “The Tesla was in the shadow of the aircraft as it pulled up at the end of the runway – the clear early winner on the ground, just overtaken when the aircraft did what it was designed to do: fly.”
All this was part of a new partnership program between Qantas and Tesla for the benefit of their customers. During the coming months, Qantas and Tesla will introduce the following services and benefits for customers:
- Exclusive events for Qantas frequent flyers, enabling them to experience new Tesla vehicles and technology;
- Qantas Club membership for Tesla Model S owners;
- Tesla High Power Wall Connectors at Qantas Valet facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide allowing Model S owners to charge whilst they travel.
- Additionally, Qantas will become Tesla’s airline of choice in Australia and offset all the car maker’s domestic corporate travel emissions as part of Qantas’ Future Planet Program.
Qantas’ Head of Environment and Fuel, Alan Milne, said the collaboration was a meeting of minds.
“Both our companies are passionate about continuing to push the boundaries of customer service, innovation and sustainability in the transport industry. We’re huge admirers of the way Tesla has transformed the electric car sector as a premium brand and we look forward to sharing our understanding and advance the work we started in 2012 on biofuels as an alternative to jet fuel”
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