According to the latest reports, on Wednesday, local time in the United States, Elon Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla, responded to a fan tweet, claiming that electric vehicles have too much range to make sense.
On the same day, Tesla fan Whole Mars Blog posted that Lucid may be the first company to deliver an electric car with a range of 800 kilometers, but Tesla will be the first to produce such a car.
In this regard, Musk commented that Tesla could have had a Model S with a range of 960 kilometers on a single charge. However, Tesla decided not to pursue this industry-leading metric because of its negative impact on processing power, efficiency and overall performance.
We could’ve made a 600 mile Model S 12 months ago, but that would’ve made the product worse imo, as 99.9% of time you’d be carrying unneeded battery mass, which makes acceleration, handling & efficiency worse. Even our 400+ mile range car is more than almost anyone will use.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2022
12 months ago we could have produced a Model S with a 900km range, but in my opinion that would have made the product worse because 99.9% of the time, Musk tweeted.
You’re carrying the extra weight of the battery, which makes acceleration, handling, and efficiency worse. Even our 640-kilometer range is more than almost everyone needs.
As Musk also said, longer-range usually means more batteries are needed, which adds to the car’s dead weight and diminishes the EV driving experience. The Tesla Model S has a range of about 604 kilometers and even exceeded 640 kilometers at one point. One of the main reasons for the Model S Long Range Plus’ 647km range is the significant weight reduction.
Tesla explained in a June 2020 post: “Weight is the enemy of efficiency and performance, and minimizing the weight of every component is an ongoing goal of our design and engineering teams. From Model 3 and Model Y engineering design and Several lessons learned in manufacturing have now been applied to the Model S and Model X.
This opens up a new chapter in weight reduction while maintaining the premium feel and performance of both vehicles. Via Tesla Interior Seats Additional weight savings have also been achieved through manufacturing standardization and the use of lighter materials in our battery packs and drive units.