While Tesla had recently revealed the specifications of its Tesla Model 3, simultaneously delivering more than 30 copies to its owners at a glittering function at the company’s facility in Fremont, California, it had still not revealed the capacity of the battery packs made available in both the Model 3 variants.
Now, following an EPA leak on Monday, Elon Musk has confirmed that the Model 3 ships with either a 50-kWh battery or a 75-kWh battery.
Musk had shared the information regarding the battery capacities of his company’s Model 3 during a conference call with his potential investors. Musk had specifically mentioned that the entry level Model 3 has just over 50 KWh capacity while the Model 3 long range has about 75 KWh. By comparison, EPA had estimated the Tesla Model 3 long range’s battery pack capacity at 80.5 KWh, even though Musk had revealed that nothing more than 75 KWh battery could fit into the sedan.
In fact, the EPA filing had revealed that the Tesla Model 3 in its Long Range guise with rear-wheel drive, delivers power equivalent to that of 258 hp.
Keeping battery capacity of the Model 3 secret for so long represents a significant change for the automaker. Usually, Tesla names its models and their variants giving a hint about the underlying battery size. In fact, all its Model S and Model X vehicles denote the battery size in the name (e.g. Model S 100D). This move basically asserts that this is just one example of Tesla aiming to simplify its range and charge ahead with production.
As per reports, Tesla will initially be focussing on building the Long Range version of its Model 3 before the company starts producing the more affordable variant. To keep up with the requirements of enthusiasts, Tesla is also planning to launch a dual motor and performance oriented variant of Model 3 by the end of next year.
[Source: Carscoops]