Could you please elaborate further....? thanks
We have seen consistent evidence for the latest delivered 90D and P90D packs being 100Ds, software limited. If Tesla did make a 100D model with the same pack configuration, it means it has 3,7Ah cells now. Which is 'very' impressive. 3,7Ah * 3,7 nominal voltage = 13,69Wh per cell. 13,69*7104 = 97200Wh. Tesla will call this 100D, limit it to 97% DoD so it will be 94.3kWh usable. Assuming ~320Wh consumption you'll be able to do 295mi per charge. Will most likely be rated 320mi + EPA range.
Anyway back to main topic. Larger capacity cells mean they can also discharge quicker at lower C rates, giving higher power outputs. Batteries love low C rates. (C rate is the discharge current as percentage of capacity. If a 3.1Ah cell discharges 3.1Amps, it is 1C. If it discarges at 15,5Amps, that's 5C) New pack will be 3,7*74 = 274Ah capacity. At fully charged voltage of 403V that means, at a 5C peak discharge rate, 552kW. This converts to better performance throughout.
We have also seen another P90D break the quarter mile record and complete it in 10.8 secs. We have also seen newer P90Ds supercharger quicker and taper off later, because the battery is actually larger. So a 50% is actually 45%, doesn't taper off early. We have also seen Dutch authorities approve and list 100D and P100D models.
It's just a matter of time. This is my take on it but if it's true, they've gotten the same cells so much better at chemistry. With the Roadster in 2008 AFAIK they've used 2.7Ah cells. 2012 Model S 85 packs were 3.1Ah. 3,7 would be more than 50% improvement over the course of 8-9 years. I attribute this mostly to the addition of silicon on the anode side. I don't know how they got around the silicon expansion problems but 4 years for a 20% improvement is very, very impressive.
Applying this 20% chemistry improvement to 21-70 cells we get ~5.2Ah cells. 5.2Ah * 3,7 = 19,24Wh. That means a 55kWh low-end Model 3 pack would only be ~2850 cells. Less than half of Model S low end pack. So much less construction costs + economies of scale + production techniques.
Latest 90 battery pack still read 4.2V at 100% soc via CANbus. So very likely not a 100 kWh package.
Voltage wouldn't increase with a new 100kWh pack because module count would still be the same as 90D. Cell capacity would increase.
