AlphaAtlas
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2018
- Messages
- 1,713
Tesla previously announced that they're discontinuing the 75 kWh battery pack for their Model S sedan and Model X SUV, and Elon Musk mentioned that the company needs to keep prices more competitive than ever if Tesla is to survive. Now, Electrek says that Tesla is launching variants of the Model S and Model X with software-locked battery packs. The base and "extended range" versions of the electric sedans come with the same physical 100 kWh battery, but the lower end models shave off about 8% of the battery capacity via software in exchange for a price tag that's about $8000 lower than the fully enabled model. Thanks to cageymaru for the tip.
For those of us in the community who were expecting a hardware upgrade, especially a harmonization of Tesla's battery architecture based on Model 3's 2170 cells, this is disappointing. From a business standpoint, it makes sense. Tesla is streamlining the lineup significantly by basically making a single version of Model S and Model X with the exception of a slightly more powerful powertrain for the performance versions. They are now more clearly differentiating Model S and Model 3 with now even the base version of Model S having as much range as the top version of Model 3. From a customer standpoint, I would choose those software-locked versions over the "Extended Range" versions any day.
For those of us in the community who were expecting a hardware upgrade, especially a harmonization of Tesla's battery architecture based on Model 3's 2170 cells, this is disappointing. From a business standpoint, it makes sense. Tesla is streamlining the lineup significantly by basically making a single version of Model S and Model X with the exception of a slightly more powerful powertrain for the performance versions. They are now more clearly differentiating Model S and Model 3 with now even the base version of Model S having as much range as the top version of Model 3. From a customer standpoint, I would choose those software-locked versions over the "Extended Range" versions any day.