Elon Musk: "We Could’ve Made A 600 Mile Tesla Model S 12 Months Ago"

It would be some 100 miles more than in the case of the Lucid Air.

By: Mark Kane

Mar 2, 2022 at 3:11pm ET

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded today to a tweet from one of his prominent supporters - Whole Mars Catalog - related to the range of electric cars.

Whole Mars Catalog wrote that Lucid delivered the first series-produced electric car with a range of roughly 500 miles (EPA range), but Tesla "will be the first to mass-produce one."

The longest-range version of the Lucid Air has an EPA Combined range of 520 miles (837 km). The longest range Tesla Model S has an EPA Combined range of 405 miles (652 km).

Well, Elon Musk responded that a 600-mile (965 km) Tesla Model S could've been made 12 months ago (let's assume February 2021), but "that would’ve made the product worse."

Elon Musk pointed out that it would essentially require a higher battery capacity, which would mean a bigger, heavier, and more expensive battery pack. This battery would be "unneeded" on a daily basis, as even the current 400+ mile range is more than enough. Handling and efficiency would be substantially affected too with a bigger battery.