Tesla Releases Range Estimates for its Model S Electric Car
Tesla has released the range estimates for its new electric car, and they are truly impressive. the Model S is looking like the first electric vehicle that you could safely drive without range anxiety.
So how far can you expect Tesla’s Model S to go? Well, averaging 50-70 Mph, the Model S lasts between 250-350 miles on a single charge. At lower speeds that approaches 400 miles per charge. This is truly impressive since most electric vehicles can’t seem to go more than 100 miles.
The Leaf, for example, is somewhere between 79 miles and 109 miles per charge, depending on who you ask. So the Model S will be able to go 2.5 times as far as the most popular electric vehicle on the road today.
How does it do this? Efficiency boosts and a bigger battery pack. Tesla’s previous Roadster had a 55 kWh battery on board. The Model S has an 85 kWh battery. Despite all that extra weight, the Model S only consumes 10% more energy than the Roadster did, which is why its range is so great.
Of course, take these numbers with a pinch of salt. These aren’t EPA numbers, only figures produced by Tesla themselves. In addition, the range assumes that the rolling speed is constant and the terrain flat. Introduce some hills into the mix and you quickly start cutting back on the range.
But even it the range does prove to be less than 300 miles, well, that’s still incredible. Most of my life I spent in a commuter area, where driving 40-60 miles to work everyday wasn’t seen as strange. But most of the country doesn’t do that, going less than 40 the entire day. With a range of even 200 miles per charge, this car becomes viable to an entire segment of the car market previously missed.
If Tesla can just keep the cost of the Model S down, it might have a winner on its hands.
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