Prototype Battery Powers Tesla Model S For 752 Miles On One Charge

[Cal1]

Let us know when they go into production with pricing. Tons of lab folks claiming they can do better than Tesla but they never see the light of day production.

 

[krsgio]

If there was a 3rd party that could sell a battery with increased mileage (think refresh MSLR) and still allow for supercharging etc I'd gladly pay that $20k over handing it to Tesla to give you a 'new' pack with similar specs as you had.

 

[vcor]

Except that third-party extended milage pack would likely be in the $40-60K range as Tesla has mass volumes of scale better than anyone else. What if it fails? Is there warranty repair in all states? What happens in a crash? Did the provider do any crash testing? What if a cell encounters thermal runaway - will it prevent the entire pack from catching fire? Can you trust they did the longevity testing properly? Can the pack even be integrated with Tesla's software or do you have to forgo any software updates for a rooted car? Does the replacement pack void Tesla's warranty? I see so many issues that make it unlikely to see the light of day.

 

[meomyo]

That's the hope. I for one expected greater 3rd party support, retrofit improvements, and greater sustainability to keep these vehicles in use for longer and while we haven't reached my expectations over the last 4 years, I hoping that it'll happen one day. I think the issue was that there's so much to invest and learn for a such a small niche market that it was too much for a company to invest in such a small potential market with the lurking issue that Tesla could also freeze them out or undercut them in cost and coverage. Now that Teslas are pretty ubiquitous, the issue seems to be inventory and Tesla's on-the-fly production revisions leaves a lot of puzzles to solve for the 3rd party mechanic/electrical magician.

we keep our model s very clean like new looking and will for the next 10 yrs so it would be sad to have the battery fail in 10 yrs and no replacements are around because tech is changing so fast - I just would rather put 20-30k into a new battery in 10 yrs then have to buy a new car

 

[maximizese]

we keep our model s very clean like new looking and will for the next 10 yrs so it would be sad to have the battery fail in 10 yrs and no replacements are around because tech is changing so fast - I just would rather put 20-30k into a new battery in 10 yrs then have to buy a new car

Same here. Sustainability is key for me. While I understand it's much harder to keep a vehicle in areas with snow, road salt, and extreme weather swings, it's really not hard to make a car last for 20+ years in coastal Southern California; most people just choose not to. I plan to keep our S for another 10 years and I have no problem buying an improved battery pack from Tesla though I'll keep an eye out for 3rd party mad scientists who might have a better product.