Elon Musk Says Around 500 Km Range On One Charge Will Be The "New Normal" For Electric Cars

Tesla announced its Q2 results for the year 2020 after the market closed on Wednesday, zooming way past earlier market expectations for the company. With the US EV maker showing a record profit for straight up more than a year, its co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has hinted at a new normal for electric cars.

Speaking at a QnA webcast after the results, Musk stated that the team at Tesla, along with its partners, is constantly working towards improving battery cells used in the cars. The aim is to increase the capacity of the batteries while simultaneously bringing their cost down.

The cumulative result would be a larger range at the same price.

And that is exactly what the new normal is going to be. As per Musk, 300 miles, or around 500 km, is the ¡°new normal¡± for electric vehicle range. Musk says that this is the ¡°standard expectation¡± that electric vehicle drivers have.

Elon Musk, CEO - Tesla Inc (Image: Reuters)

¡°With regard to passenger vehicles, I think the new normal for range is going to be, you know, approximately 300 miles,¡± Musk said in the webcast.

¡°So I think people will really come to expect [that] as normal, you know, that¡¯s the standard expectation. Because you do need to take into account, you know, is it very hot outside, or is it cold, or are you driving up a tall mountain with a full load.¡±

He further added, ¡°People don¡¯t want to get to their destination with 10 miles range. They want some reasonable margins. So I think 300 (miles), close to 300, is going to be the new normal. Close to 500 km, basically.¡±

Moving forward

As per Musk, Tesla is already able to achieve around 300 miles of range on its Model 3 units being made in China. This is using a phosphate battery pack and several vehicle efficiencies.

¡°What we¡¯re seeing with our passenger vehicles is powertrain efficiency and tyre efficiency, drag efficiency. Basically our total vehicle efficiency has gotten good enough, with the Model 3 for example, that we actually are comfortable having an iron phosphate battery pack in Model 3 in China ¨C that¡¯ll be in volume production later this year.

Tesla Model S

¡°So we think that getting a range that is almost 300 miles with a phosphate pack, taking into account a whole bunch of powertrain and other vehicle efficiencies. And that frees up a lot of capacity for things like the Tesla Semi and other products that require high range density.¡±

Musk assured the listeners that more on batteries will be discussed on Battery Day.

As for the other Tesla models, Musk won a long standing argument with the EPA around the real-world range of the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus version. After months of to and fro, the Tesla car has now been given the 400-mile range certification, making it the first electric car to receive EPA range rating of above 400 miles (644 km).