London - Arab Today
Tesla is offering customers of its Model S and Model X electric vehicles new higher capacity batteries that would increase the range of the cars to over 300 miles.
The new batteries, of 100-kilowatt-hour capacity add 45 miles’ range to Model S, taking it to 315 miles — and 39 miles’ range to Model X.
“Range anxiety has long been one of the biggest obstacles for the adoption of electric cars,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director for industry insights at Edmunds.
“By developing vehicles with longer range batteries, Tesla is moving the ball forward not just for itself but the entire EV industry.”
Currently, Tesla hopes to make around 200 of the 100 kWh packs a week or around 10 to 12 percent of its overall battery pack production.
The availability of lower-cost Tesla models with the new packs will depend on consumer demand.
Existing owners will be able to upgrade to the higher-capacity battery pack for $20,000, a conversion that requires a new physical battery pack rather than merely a software upgrade.
The possibility of the more powerful battery pack was first floated in March by a hacker who discovered a reference to the P100D model in the code of his personal Model S.
Source: Arab News