Elon Musk commented final evening that Tesla might have had a Mannequin S that was able to 600 miles of vary on a single cost. Nevertheless, Tesla determined to not pursue the what can be an industry-leading metric, as a result of it might affect dealing with, effectivity, and general efficiency negatively.
“We might’ve made a 600 mile Mannequin S 12 months in the past, however that may’ve made the product worse imo, as 99.9% of time you’d be carrying unneeded battery mass, which makes acceleration, dealing with & effectivity worse,” Musk mentioned in a reply to Complete Mars Weblog, who acknowledged Lucid might have been the primary to ship a 500-mile EV, however Tesla can be the primary to supply it. “Even our 400+ mile vary automotive is greater than nearly anybody will use,” the Tesla CEO added.
We might’ve made a 600 mile Mannequin S 12 months in the past, however that may’ve made the product worse imo, as 99.9% of time you’d be carrying unneeded battery mass, which makes acceleration, dealing with & effectivity worse. Even our 400+ mile vary automotive is greater than nearly anybody will use.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2022
The battle of assuaging vary nervousness amongst new electrical automobile homeowners is one thing that may finally subside altogether. Nevertheless, there are completely too many individuals who nonetheless deliver up considerations of the place they are going to be capable of cost their vehicles, arguing that gasoline stations are on each nook however EV chargers should not. Whereas that is true, EV chargers are extra out there than many might imagine. In even rural South Central Pennsylvania (the place I stay), there are about seventeen EV chargers, together with an eight-stall Tesla Supercharger. All are inside ten miles of my home.
Even nonetheless, the considerations of how a lot vary is sufficient nonetheless flow into via the neighborhood of potential EV consumers. Every part would require sacrifice. And whereas most passenger gasoline vehicles can journey round 400 miles on a full tank of gasoline, ABC Information says the common American solely travels sixteen miles per day for work. U.S. Census data suggests Individuals spend round 27.6 minutes driving to work a method. A whole bunch of miles of vary should not utterly obligatory.
As Musk additionally mentioned, extra vary normally means extra batteries, which provides to mass and takes away from the enjoyable driving expertise that EVs have been counseled for. The Tesla Mannequin S has 375 miles of vary, and at one time had over 400 miles of vary. The Mannequin S Lengthy Vary Plus had 402 miles of vary, and one of many major causes was “vital mass discount.”
“Mass is the enemy of each effectivity and efficiency, and minimizing the load of each element is an ongoing objective for our design and engineering groups,” Tesla mentioned in a blog post asserting the 400-mile Mannequin S in June 2020. “A number of classes from the engineering design and manufacturing of Mannequin three and Mannequin Y have now been carried over to Mannequin S and Mannequin X. This has unlocked new areas of mass discount whereas sustaining the premium really feel and efficiency of each automobiles. Further weight financial savings have additionally been achieved via the standardization of Tesla’s in-house seat manufacturing and lighter weight supplies utilized in our battery pack and drive models.”
Structural Battery Pack
Tesla’s Structural Battery Pack compartmentalizes the concept mass distribution can be utilized in an advantageous approach. Throughout Battery Day in September 2020, Musk outlined the concepts for the Tesla Structural Pack, and the way it was designed.
“The non-cell portion of the battery has unfavorable mass,” Musk mentioned. “We saved extra mass in the remainder of the automobile than within the non-cell portion of the battery. So how do you actually decrease the mass of the battery? Make it unfavorable.”
The density of the pack not solely will increase structural rigidity and security, however it additionally improves mass and vary by strategically inserting cells in areas the place they’d praise the automobile.
What about Tesla’s deliberate greater than 400-mile vary automobiles
Curiously, Tesla has a number of automobiles on the best way that characteristic vary estimations of over 400 miles. The Cybertruck’s Tri-Motor powertrain, which can take a backseat to the rumored Quad-Motor variant, had a 500+ mile vary ranking when Tesla nonetheless had the configurator for the automobile out there. With the brand new 4680 battery, Tesla’s automobiles will probably be capable of attain the 400-mile threshold with out sacrificing an excessive amount of of the efficiency or effectivity that Musk spoke of.
The following-gen Roadster, which has sat on Tesla’s backburner for a number of years, additionally has an unimaginable vary estimation of 600+ miles. The Roadster could also be a particular exception to the vary rule, however with the astronomical expectations for the automobile, including the ability to hover, extreme battery weight might take away from the Roadster’s 1.1-second acceleration from 0-60 and its dealing with attributable to its small, sporty body.
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