Pickleball is all the rage, and for some reason, premium car companies are getting in on it. First, we saw Lamborghini’s $5,400 BL001 paddle by racquet brand Babolat (yes, you read that correctly, $5,400). Now, Tesla joins the trend with the more affordable yet still not all that affordable Plaid Pickleball Paddle by Selkirk for $350.
Tesla’s take is far more grounded, relatively speaking. Co-developed with Selkirk, one of the most respected names in pickleball, the Plaid paddle is less about shock value and more about legit performance. The collaboration reportedly stemmed from a conversation between Selkirk’s R&D lead and Tesla’s head of design, with a shared focus on materials, aerodynamics, and weight optimization. It’s very on-brand Tesla thinking: reduce drag, balance mass, and obsess over the details, even if the end product fits in a gym bag instead of a garage.
The result is a high-end paddle aimed squarely at serious players, not novelty collectors. With an edgeless design, integrated MOI weights, a Florek carbon fiber face, and Selkirk’s grippy InfiniGrit surface, it’s engineered to play as good as it looks. At $350, it’s expensive by pickleball standards. But compared to Lamborghini’s effort, it almost feels restrained. Whether you need a Plaid badge on your paddle is another question entirely, but Tesla’s version at least makes sense where it counts: on the court. At the time of writing, the Tesla Pickleball paddle is out of stock. But Tesla’s shop has more info here.
