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Correct now, the longest-range Tesla Model S or X yous can purchase has a 90kWh battery within information technology, merely that could be about to change. Tesla has periodically updated its top-stop vehicles with higher capacity batteries, and the company may exist prepping to do it over again — this time by bumping its 90kWh vehicles upwardly to 100kWh.

These rumors spread earlier this year when a Tesla fan constitute mention of a P100D product buried in the vehicle's firmware, but this time we've a more than official source. RDW, the company that certifies Tesla vehicles for sale inside the European union, recently published listings for new Tesla variants including a 100D and 100X — and that would be in line with Tesla's current product line-up and classification. Last year, Tesla appear that it expected battery capacity to improve by roughly 5% per twelvemonth, and so introducing a 100D would betoken an acceleration of that timeline — though whether or not the company can maintain the pace is a matter of conjecture.

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I have doors that open up like *this!*

A 100kWh battery would be an 11% comeback over current models and would give the Model S a range of up to 381 miles, according to the EU'due south regulations, which aren't as strict as ours in the US. The EPA rates the Model S's 90AWD variant at 294 miles; a linear increment in mileage based on the battery's boosted chapters would be 326 miles. Obviously the existent-earth increase would probably be smaller, but it's a useful ballpark figure.

Historically, Tesla has used these periodic chapters bumps as a method of differentiating between its current products and putting older hardware out to pasture. Non long after it introduced the 90kWH variant, Tesla stopped selling the 85kWh variants it had previously offered.

Tesla has run into trouble over the past 12 months with high-profile failures of its Autopilot system and rumors of launch problems surrounding the Model Ten. With the latter at present near a twelvemonth old, the bugs and early launch issues appear to have been resolved, but a newer high-capacity vehicle would still put some additional shine on the visitor and demonstrate that information technology continues to iterate on delivering higher capacity batteries. Such gains are critically important to the company's long-term plans for its Model 3, which targets a much lower $35K price tag and will demand to satisfy consumer concerns over range anxiety while simultaneously striking a 200-mile range. That's tiny as information technology is — and every pound will count when it comes to hitting the target. No word withal on whether or not Musk plans to resurrect the Amphicar and offer the Tesla Model S: Canoeing Edition.