Elon Musk says 500 mile range electric car will soon be possible

Elon Musk explains why the Tesla Model S has twice the range of the Nissan Leaf and why Tesla will soon have electric cars with 500 mile range

Tesla Electric cars have the highest energy density battery in the world, twice that of the Nissan Leaf. But their range is more than twice that of the Leaf so we come into other factors: what’s the drag co-efficient of the car, how much does it weigh, what’s the efficiency of the motor and gearbox, what’s the rolling resistance? All those factors affect the range.

Recently Telsa Model S was assessed against a whole bunch of other cars for drag efficiency, in a drag queen contest! Our car came out best with a drag co-efficient of 0.24.

Elon says it will be possible to have a 500-mile range car. In fact we could do it quite soon, but it would increase the price. Over time you could expect to have that kind of range.

Telsa cars will always be pure electric. Telsa will not make hybrid cars. Tesla will keep improving battery technology and even with Model 3 they expect a range of over 200 miles with a price of around $35,000.