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Tesla Preps Bigger 100 KWh Battery For Model S and Model X (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Tesla will soon offer a 100 kWh battery for the Model S and Model X that will allow for increased range -- perhaps as much as 380 miles for the Model S. Currently, the 90 kWh batteries are the company's largest capacity. Kenteken.TV is reporting that the Dutch regulator that certifies Tesla's vehicles for use in the European Union, RDW, has recently published a number of new Tesla variants. RDW's public database now includes entries for a Tesla "100D" and "100X," which are titles that follow Tesla's current naming system based on battery capacity. The listing for the 100D claims the vehicle has a range of 381 miles or 613 kilometers. The motor output is reported as 90 kilowatts (121 horsepower), which is the maximum output the Tesla motors can sustain without overheating. Autoblog notes that EU range estimates tend to be more optimistic than those issued by the U.S. EPA. A more realistic range might be 310 to 320 miles.
Those mileage figures need to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. Based on my own experience with my 70D (my real world range estimate = 200 miles) I estimate a 100D would have a range of around 285 miles. Which is still excellent.
I think 381 miles will only be possible driving 30mph on a flat road with no wind.
For me, I don't have a charger at home (live in a condo with garage parking). I charge at work. So having the extra range means I don't need to fight for chargers as often. Right now, with a 85kWH battery, I find myself charging about twice a week (including the weekend trips) at work. If I can knock that down to once a week, it'd make a big difference to me.
In dense urban places, that kind of mentality is probably pretty common.
The other benefit of a bigger battery is that superchargers will give you more range before going into the trickle-charge range. That should make refueling on a road trip faster.
I think people who actually need to tow things are the niche market since most people don't. Most people here go from home to work, home to drop the kids at school, home to the store etc and for that the range of the Tesla is good enough. On top of that, instead of 2-5 minutes filling up, you can fill up overnight or use one of the higher power chargers at the shopping mall (Several malls here in Montreal have them) and have a full charge when you are done shopping or eating. If you think about it, it's actually a more efficient use of your time since you no longer have to supervise the car while it charges. It's just a matter of not thinking of "refueling the car" as a separate task the way we do now. If we can get the low hanging fruit of small car needs, we will vastly reduce how much crap we put unto the air and reduce the money we are sending to crazy Monarchies in the middle east who then use a bunch of that money in ways that cause us trouble.
Well with that the range will about catch up with my M3, but the horsepower and refuel time remain lacking.
1. A Tesla has more HP than a M3.
2. The "refueling" happens in your home, while you get on with your life, rather than waiting in line at the gas station.
For long trips, you either pre-plan so that your recharges coincide with a meal at a nice restaurant, or just use your spouse's car (or maybe your mom's).
Regardless, as somebody who actually likes driving, I would still never buy one.
Have you ever actually driven a Tesla?
"niche market" is kind of an overstatement. In fact, your usage scenario -- according to statistics -- is the "niche market". Very very few people actually need the ability to get into an 8000lb truck and drive 600+ miles before needing to refuel.
Most people need to drive 5-40 miles twice a day with a ~8 hour gap in between. Hardly a "niche market".
As for hauling and towing...it depends on your fleet size. Electric motors are actually far more ideal for the job of towing due to the flat torque curve. But if you're a one-truck-shop and can't swap trucks out to recharge (like larger businesses can) then ya, electric would be very impractical.
I could totally see shipping trucks being an ideal situation for electric. Regular schedules, a lot of dead-time and regular routes where chargers could be installed.
Realistically, gas cars *are* the niche market. The cost is what's keeping electric sales down. But battery cost/kWH is actually dropping quite a bit in recent years due to all the advances made for smartphones.
Unfortunately not everyone is as luck as you with their commute, and some people do things on the weekend. 40 mile range is laughable. If it didn't also have gas engine it would sell as well as electric bikes...
What would be cool, is a quick way to add batteries. 150 mile standard, and add/remove battery where you can add multiple 25lb batteries under the back seat to get up to 300.
300, which isn't high(comparing to gas) is respectable and 20 min charge times are not much longer than normal fueling.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
Or have they figured out how to pack more kilowatt-hours into the same physical space?
That one.
Tesla is changing the battery format it uses now that the Gigafactory is open and they produce their own cells. This new cell design is optimized for the needs of Tesla, and not other things like laptops.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".