“It will not be long” before Tesla will offer an electric car with 400 miles of range, Chief Executive Elon Musk said this week at the company’s shareholders meeting.
Musk didn’t elaborate on on a specific timeline, but some Tesla watchers believe updated batteries with such capability may arrive by the end of the year. The 2019 Model S is capable of 370 miles on a single charge.
Musk also took a moment to flex Tesla’s leadership in battery design.
“No electric car has exceeded the range of the first Model S that we came out with in 2012,” Musk said. “It’s a testament to the Tesla engineering team to be able to have made a car, seven years ago, that still has not been exceeded in range.”
And it seems as if Tesla believes it will be able to engineer significantly more range in the next couple years. Tesla originally touted the second-gen Roadster slated for 2020 as capable of 620 miles. It’s not clear, however, if the vehicle remains on the same production timeline.