Everyone is talking about Tesla these days either in the non-existent relation between the California automaker and the press after killing off its PR department, or about the latest releases and updates bestowed upon its self-driving technologies. But, how about the good old batteries?!
Well, the one thing we can tell you is that Elon Musk is a big character – so we’re not surprised about his company dropping a department or two along the way. Or coming up with a crazy thing in the meantime. So, its Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite just needs to be taken for granted – sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t, but everything will improve in time...
But there’s one area where Tesla has always excelled, and it’s also crucial to the whole electric vehicle debate – the battery pack. The U.S. company’s Japanese partner Panasonic invested another $100 million in Gigafactory Nevada this year, and part of the deal was to deliver cells with a 5% bump in energy density.
Well, if the latest report is correct, then Panasonic made do on its promise and Tesla’s facility has already started churning out vehicles with the new cells inside the battery packs. According to a thread on reddit, it seems the Model 3 in Long Range and Performance guises that are being shipped to Europe have them.
Bear in mind, there is nothing official from Tesla (remember there’s no PR, so there’s no one to discuss with at the HQ?!), but some German customers have already received their papers for the cars that are due for delivery later this month or the next.
As such, someone posted a picture of the registration papers on a German forum in the dedicated section for the Model 3, revealing the recently updated EV now has a battery pack with increased energy density and a total capacity of 82 kWh.
According to the same sources, the previous model years had a total capacity of 79 kWh on the same registration papers. That’s great news, because this always translates into an increased range rating – the one that helped Tesla’s 2021 Model 3 become EPA’s most efficient electric vehicle to date.
But there’s one area where Tesla has always excelled, and it’s also crucial to the whole electric vehicle debate – the battery pack. The U.S. company’s Japanese partner Panasonic invested another $100 million in Gigafactory Nevada this year, and part of the deal was to deliver cells with a 5% bump in energy density.
Well, if the latest report is correct, then Panasonic made do on its promise and Tesla’s facility has already started churning out vehicles with the new cells inside the battery packs. According to a thread on reddit, it seems the Model 3 in Long Range and Performance guises that are being shipped to Europe have them.
Bear in mind, there is nothing official from Tesla (remember there’s no PR, so there’s no one to discuss with at the HQ?!), but some German customers have already received their papers for the cars that are due for delivery later this month or the next.
As such, someone posted a picture of the registration papers on a German forum in the dedicated section for the Model 3, revealing the recently updated EV now has a battery pack with increased energy density and a total capacity of 82 kWh.
According to the same sources, the previous model years had a total capacity of 79 kWh on the same registration papers. That’s great news, because this always translates into an increased range rating – the one that helped Tesla’s 2021 Model 3 become EPA’s most efficient electric vehicle to date.