New Tesla Model S Plaid competitor: the 1,305 hp HiPhi A

If the fierce criticism of the Cybertruck hasn’t made Elon Musk sweat, perhaps this 1,305 hp HiPhi A has. On paper, the Chinese electric car seems to be a serious competitor to the Tesla Model S Plaid.

HiPhi is an electric car manufacturer that is part of the Chinese company Human Horizons, a company specializing in electric vehicles and autonomous driving. HiPhi has two Brand experience centers has now cautiously set foot on European soil.

Does the Tesla Model S Plaid have anything to worry about?

The HiPhi A’s numbers don’t lie. The Chinese powerhouse has 1,305 hp more power than the Model S Plaid (1,020 hp) and the Lucid Air Sapphire (1,234 hp).

Nevertheless, the Chinese electric car cannot beat the Americans in the traffic light sprint. The Tesla accelerates in 2.1 seconds and the Lucid even in 1.89 seconds. That’s almost as fast as the Rimac Nevera (see our driving test with this hypercar).

0-100 km/h with the HiPhi A

Despite all the horsepower, the HiPhi can’t get under 2 seconds. Where manufacturers usually quote acceleration data as “less than” as many seconds, the Chinese brand quotes a 0-100 sprint time as “2.0+ seconds”. Well, our crazy drift Volvo can also do the same sprint in more than 2 seconds.

Top speed

You can expect a top speed of more than 290 km/h from the HiPhi A. For comparison: According to Elon Musk, the Tesla Model S Plaid only stops accelerating at 322 km/h and, according to Lucid, the Air Sapphire can even reach 330 km/h.

The HiPhi A is particularly characterized by its quite striking design. In fact, it is a more intense version of the HiPhi Z that we have already discussed in this article. The interior is also extravagant. The question is whether we Europeans can appreciate that.