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Will Tesla Roadster's 620-Mile Range Remain? Or Is 400 Enough?

Back when the Tesla Roadster was announced, company CEO Elon Musk proudly proclaimed that it was going to have...

Will Tesla Roadster's 620-Mile Range Remain? Or Is 400 Enough?

Back when the Tesla Roadster was announced, company CEO Elon Musk proudly proclaimed that it was going to have a one-charge range of over 620 miles or 1,000 kilometers. Many were skeptical upon hearing the number for the first time, but Musk restated it several times and it became the official estimated range number for the future electric two-door.

However, more recently Musk expressed his view that 400 miles (around 640 km) was more than enough as an electric vehicle’s maximum one-charge range. He did so after announcing that the Tesla Model S Plaid+ had been cancelled, with the main reason cited being the fact that the standard Model S Plaid was already good enough.

The Model S Plaid has not been officially rated by the EPA, but Tesla is expecting a range of around 390 miles. The Plaid+ was expected to have even more range, over 520 miles, courtesy of a larger capacity battery pack. So now that Tesla’s boss has announced he sees no need for EVs to go further than 400 miles on one charge, where does that leave the Roadster?

Well, Musk didn’t directly mention the Roadster. In order to achieve 620+ miles on a single charge, Tesla said the Roadster needed a 200 kWh battery pack. Yet putting such a massive pack in a relatively small sports car surely didn’t help handling, braking and everything else, so maybe the manufacturer is going to reduce the Roadster’s battery pack size too.

Keep in mind that we’re just speculating here right now and the manufacturer has made no mention of this, but it would certainly make sense to not have to weigh down a sports car with batteries and give it more range than anybody would ever really need. Let us know in the comments below if you feel 400 miles is enough range for any EV and if you think it would also be a good range number for the Roadster. Would a drop from 620+ miles to 400 miles be a deal breaker?


8 Jun 2021Electric