sandpiper
Active Member
Tesla wants to save money and share parts as much as possible across their vehicles. The 90 and 75 had the same modules, just different numbers of them. The small pack had 14 modules and the large pack 16. The 100 pack has a denser module with more cells and is actually 102 KWh. If they make a pack with 14X modules used in the 100 KWh pack, it would come out to about 89 KWh and it will actually be higher capacity than the old 90 pack which was around 86 KWH.
I think this is just Tesla consolidating production to only make 1 module again and package them with 14 or 16 modules. Just the improvement in the pack alone would explain the acceleration increase in the 75 announced on July 1.
The 75 has been limited by the power the pack can put out. The 90 was mostly limited by the motors. The 100D got a slight improvement maybe because of the new drive unit and inverter, or it might have just been the larger battery pack that could deliver more current. In any case, people don't generally decide on a 75 or 90 based on the performance, people bought the 90 for range and the 100D will continue to be the range king. I expect once they reveal the new 75 is really an 85 (really 89 and they could market it as a 90), it should have around 300 miles range. The entry level S should also have better range than the top of the line Model 3.
They may raise the price of the new 85 (or 90) when they announce it to bring it a little closer to the 100.
I've been expecting a new 85 or 90 since late last year when the 100 was introduced. When the old 90 was discontinued, I knew the end of the 75 was not far behind.[/QUOTE]
Your comment makes a lot of sense; I had forgotten that the 100 and 75 used different modules. So it's just addition of cells. But it's still a marketing problem. The 100D base price is a third more than the 75D. That's a bit crazy as it is. But when the 75 is an 85 (89), that's not at all sustainable.
Will they push up the price of the 75/85, or drop the 100? Is it even possible to sustain the price of the S with the M3 in the mix? I'd say it's possible to sustain the price on the S, if there were a substantial cosmetic upgrade. But not otherwise.