Photo: tesla
For electric vehicles, range is often the make it or break it trait as far as customers are concerned. Despite the roads being now littered with charging stations, the still long wait times needed for the batteries to fill up is making range essential to a successful, uninterrupted trip.
There are countless electric vehicles now on the roads, some very potent in this respect, but the majority of them less so. That means the average range of today’s EVs is of under 200 miles or so (322 km), and that heavily depends on a variety of other factors.
Knowing this makes Tesla’s Monday (June 15) announcement even more important. The carmaker said in a statement that as of this week, Model S vehicles in the Long Range Plus configuration come with almost double the average range of the global fleet: 402 miles (645 km).
The number is not some publicity stunt Tesla is trying to pull but an “an official EPA-rated range.” It is also a 20 percent increase over the 2019 Model S 100D that packs the same battery design.
This increase has been achieved through a number of improvements. First, Tesla reduced the weight of the car through things like the use of Tesla’s in-house seats, and lighter materials for the battery pack and drive units.
The new 8.5 inch-wide aero wheels also contribute to the increase in range, adding around 2 percent to the total mileage over the previous design. Additionally, the improvements of the gearbox led to another 2 percent gain.
Tesla is also implementing a new drive feature called Hold that allows regenerative braking to work at a lower speed and deceleration rate.
“This significant achievement reflects Tesla’s obsession with efficiency and energy frugality, and is realized through several changes, both iterative and transformational, in core hardware and system architecture development by the Tesla engineering, design and production teams,” said the carmaker in a statement.
“These changes went into production earlier this year when we first started manufacturing Model S Long Range Plus at our factory in Fremont, California. All Model S Long Range Plus vehicles will receive the new 402-mile rating.”
All these range gains are backed by a price reduction of $5,000. Presently the Model S Long Range Plus is listed on Tesla's configurator from $69,940.
Knowing this makes Tesla’s Monday (June 15) announcement even more important. The carmaker said in a statement that as of this week, Model S vehicles in the Long Range Plus configuration come with almost double the average range of the global fleet: 402 miles (645 km).
The number is not some publicity stunt Tesla is trying to pull but an “an official EPA-rated range.” It is also a 20 percent increase over the 2019 Model S 100D that packs the same battery design.
This increase has been achieved through a number of improvements. First, Tesla reduced the weight of the car through things like the use of Tesla’s in-house seats, and lighter materials for the battery pack and drive units.
The new 8.5 inch-wide aero wheels also contribute to the increase in range, adding around 2 percent to the total mileage over the previous design. Additionally, the improvements of the gearbox led to another 2 percent gain.
Tesla is also implementing a new drive feature called Hold that allows regenerative braking to work at a lower speed and deceleration rate.
“This significant achievement reflects Tesla’s obsession with efficiency and energy frugality, and is realized through several changes, both iterative and transformational, in core hardware and system architecture development by the Tesla engineering, design and production teams,” said the carmaker in a statement.
“These changes went into production earlier this year when we first started manufacturing Model S Long Range Plus at our factory in Fremont, California. All Model S Long Range Plus vehicles will receive the new 402-mile rating.”
All these range gains are backed by a price reduction of $5,000. Presently the Model S Long Range Plus is listed on Tesla's configurator from $69,940.
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