Dubai: Until recently, drifting a vehicle in the desert has been the exclusive domain of powerful ICE four-wheel-drives.
Not anymore, apparently, with the entry of Tesla Model X fitted with a massive 90-kilowatt battery pack.
When it comes to off-roading, it’s the big 4x4s with powerful internal combustion engines (ICE) that rule the roost here.
Well, this Tesla Model X seems to have emerged as a challenger to the supremacy of ICE on the desert — by overcoming the shifting sands as the driver did some cool drifting tricks.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the wheel of this black crossover revving up its all-electric powertrain.
In the video, the all-wheel drive Model X P90 DL kicked up fine sand as was put through its paces.
There’s been an increased use of all-electric SUVs off-road — as well as winter driving — but this could be the first example of a Model X drifting in the desert.
In the past, numerous Tesla owners had uploaded videos showing off their luxe EVs tackling snowy terrain just fine.
It was the Tesla Owners Club of Saudi Arabia that sent to online EV magazine www.electrek.co the video showing the Model X drifting off-road in the desert.
The first 50 of 200 Teslas were rolled out recently in Dubai as part of the luxurious airport limo fleet.
Tesla opened its Dubai store in July, where it also runs its own service centre. Electrek reported, however, the Fremont, California-based EV maker has yet to officially launch in Saudi Arabia, where the cost of fuel is one of the cheapest in the world.
The magazine wrote it was an “impressed” with the footage.
A later model, the Model X P100 D, is even more powerful, and comes at a listed price of $159,000 (about Dh596,000).
