One reason that Dodge is unleashing the Challenger Demon upon us could be because of situations like these, when a Hellcat lines up against the Tesla Model SP100D and not only does the Dodge lose the race, but also its drive-shaft all over the track.
Correction: An eagle-eyed gentleman by the name of Eric who is definitely not at all a pedantic twat pointed out that the Tesla red-lighted the start, and because of that the Hellcat didn’t actually lose, and we were “wrong.” In this race, in fact, there are only losers. Boy do we feel like a bunch of those right now. We deeply regret the error, ERIC. The original post continues below. - M.B.
On paper, both the Challenger Hellcat and the Tesla P100D should be fairly evenly matched. But it’s also an old-school V8 engine sending power to the rear wheels against a battery powered hyper-sedan with electric hubs at all four wheels, and that seems to drive people nuts for reasons that don’t seem to make any sense.
Despite the Tesla’s technological complexity it actually delivers the power to its wheels with fewer parts, whereas the Hellcat has a few more links chain for its 707 ponies to run from the motor to the rear tires.
Sometimes those old-school mechanical parts fail….spectacularly. Of course with a new drag racing EV video popping up on on the internet every week, it’s probably only a matter of time before we see some fried electric motor hubs.