Years within the making, the USAP-approved, limited-edition collab no person noticed coming drops in the present day and comes full of a slew of recent tech and options
In the event you thought your 2025 pickleball paddle funds was maxed out, we have dangerous information for you: Selkirk and Tesla simply teamed up for a collab paddle no person noticed coming – however many are prone to need (us very a lot included).
That is proper: the Tesla Plaid Pickleball Paddle by Selkirk is a really actual factor – and it isn’t designed to sit down on a shelf and acquire mud; it options new-age tech examined in a wind-tunnel to carry superior aerodynamics and precision efficiency to a courtroom close to you.
The limited-edition paddle is just out there on the Tesla Store web site.
How this collaboration got here to be
On the 2023 USAP Nationwide Championships, Selkirk Director of R&D Tom Barnes first encountered Tesla’s engineering workforce. Impressed by their assembly, Tom created a batch of customized black-and-white Tesla paddles to ship to Tesla workers.
It wasn’t till March of 2024 that Tom and a handful of Tesla designers, together with Tesla’s Director of Product Design Javier Verdura, began discussing how aerodynamics utilized in Tesla car improvement might be utilized to a pickleball paddle.
A collection of shared design classes led to early prototypes producedin Selkirk’s Idaho-based lab, the place each firms then carried out repeated rounds of efficiency testing.
Selkirk’s $1 Million Excessive-Tech Testing Lab Is Placing the Trade on Discover
The Barnes brothers talked to Inc. in regards to the magic sauce behind Selkirk’s 1,900 p.c income surge over 5 years, and why superior expertise and fast prototyping is the important thing to their continued success.
“This wasn’t merely a branding train. It was a real engineering collaboration,” Barnes mentioned.
“Tesla’s design group and our R&D workforce spent greater than a 12 months buying and selling knowledge, refining geometry and stress-testing prototypes.”
What makes this paddle completely different
The Tesla Plaid Pickleball Paddle borrows design cues from previous Selkirk paddles whereas additionally introducing a number of recent tech.
It is assembled in the USA and is USAP-approved. It retails for $350.
On Tesla’s finish, they centered their rigorous testing efforts on airflow habits across the paddle throughout numerous swing paths, evaluating “drag coefficients, turbulent wake patterns and the way particular geometry changes affected acceleration.”
These findings translated to the paddle’s elongated silhouette, edgeless perimeter, and throat gap – a signature function first present in Selkirk’s earlier fashions.
The Selkirk workforce mixed its PureFoam core expertise with a brand new TPU Energy Ring developed particularly for this paddle.
In response to Selkirk:
“The ring’s light-weight perimeter construction was examined to dampen vibration and stabilize the paddle face, working to stop the long-term crushing frequent in polymer honeycomb cores.”
The paddle additionally features a few of Selkirk’s current paddle improvements:
- The MOI Tuning System launched within the well-liked Boomstik mannequin, completely tuned for a bigger candy spot
- A two-ply carbon fiber face for management
- Their patent-pending InfiniGrit Floor for enhanced, longer-lasting spin
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Not like on the Boomstik, the place the MOI Tuning System protrudes out from the paddle’s edge guards, right here it is built-in into the edgeless design, making a flush edge throughout the perimeter.
“This mission is private to me,” Barnes mentioned. “I’ve at all times admired Tesla’s strategy to engineering. What began as a enjoyable thought between pals advanced right into a full collaboration with their design and aerodynamics groups.
“The Plaid Paddle displays the most effective of what each firms do. It’s engineered for gamers who need gear that performs on the highest degree.”
How one can get your arms on one
In the event you’re studying this, it is perhaps too late. This paddle was made in extraordinarily restricted portions, we’re instructed.
For extra data and to buy the paddle whereas provides final, go to the Tesla web site.
Simply be prepared for a contact of stick-shock: it retails for $350.
“This is likely one of the top-tier paddles that we offer. Quite a lot of work was executed with the composites to ensure it not solely seems to be distinctive, but additionally gives peak playability,” Tom Barnes instructed us.
“It follows the design languages of Tesla and Selkirk concurrently, and together with the Boomstik, that is our solely different full foam paddle at the moment available on the market.”
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