Is the battery on the $35,000 Model Software Limited?

[T-esla626]

I would love to buy a $35k model now, knowing I can save up and upgrade the range later.

Does anyone know the details on the batteries?

 

[kengchang]

Should be the same pack as SR+

 

[jerry33]

Elon said that it wasn't software limited. There would be too much material cost.

 

[Zoomit]

Elon said that it wasn't software limited. There would be too much material cost.

Can you provide a link where he said this? I don’t remember this being stated.

Either way, I would not buy an SR with the expectation of being able to unlock a larger battery capacity later. To many unknowns, especially with Tesla.

 

[jerry33]

Can you provide a link where he said this? I don’t remember this being stated.

Either way, I would not buy an SR with the expectation of being able to unlock a larger battery capacity later. To many unknowns, especially with Tesla.

It was in the transcript of the last call. Up about 10,000 posts in the investor discussions thread.

Gary Gastelu:
[00:43:16]
Elon, are the battery packs significantly reduced with cells or is this
more of a software restriction and then also the Autopilot and self
-driving hardware is is the final version or might these require an update down the road?

Elon Musk:
[00:34:31]
That the standard range pack has significantly fewer cells the long range
pack has on the order of 50% more cells as the range suggests. The uh yea. Um. It's not just a
software restriction otherwise our our our materials cost would be too high. Sorry what was the other question?

 

[insaneoctane]

I suspect Elon was playing with words a little. The standard and standard plus packs are definitely NOT software limited versions of MR or LR. That's probably what he referenced when he spoke. It doesn't mean that the standard and standard plus don't share the same pack and the standard is software limited from 240 down to 220. I don't know they are, but IMO, it's very possible. Once they see the take rate of the standard vs standard+ (I personally think a majority will justify the plus), they could choose to go into production of an actual 220 pack or just cancel the offering of non-plus altogether. $35K car offered. CHECK. Few people actually ordered it, CANCELLED. Again, purely my subjective opinion!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I suspect Elon was playing with words a little. The standard and standard plus packs are definitely NOT software limited versions of MR or LR. That's probably what he referenced when he spoke. It doesn't mean that the standard and standard plus don't share the same pack and the standard is software limited from 240 down to 220. I don't know they are, but IMO, it's very possible.

20 miles of range represents about 5 kWh of capacity. That's about $600-$750 worth of cells. That's not insignificant considering the razor-thin margins on the SR. I would be surprised if the SR pack is software limited -- I bet it actually has only 220 miles of range in it.