No point being coy now, right.
The seemingly-unstoppable US electric carmaker Tesla has finally spilled the beans on the battery packs beneath their latest Model 3, after weeks of dodging questions and murky responses. After the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally released specs (which we covered here), Elon Musk opened up about the battery packs and their capacities in an announcement to shareholders.
Where EPA documents stated the battery capacity on the long-range model as 80.5kWh, Tesla clarified to them that 78kWh was a more reasonable figure. At the shareholder event, CEO Elon Musk shed light on the battery packs, saying that they were actually 75kWh for the long-range car, and 50kWh for the regular car.
The performance aspects of the Model 3 were also clarified, saying that the long-range Model 3 would be able to hit 60mph (96km/h) in 5.1-seconds, representing a .5-second lead over the standard-range car. Further, Musk went on to say that a Model 3 Performance model would arrive mid-2018, which is rumoured to pack the same dual-motor setup (and possibly even the same motor units) as those found in the bigger Model S P100D.
Musk also took a moment to brief shareholders that the sheer volume of demand for the Model 3 is pushing the Gigafactory (just a regular manufacturing plant with a funky name) to its limits, and that a lack of battery supply for the Model 3 is posing a potential issue for the compact saloons’ production. Described as “production hell,” Tesla is currently doing everything it can to push them out as quickly as possible.
Check out our article on the Model 3 at launch. For more information on Tesla, check out our Showroom.
