Elon Musk has hinted a sub-£20,000 / $25,000 Tesla electric vehicle could be here in three year’s time, thanks to a breakthrough in battery technology.
During the company’s ‘Battery Day’ livestream, Musk revealed new tech that’ll make the all-important batteries cheaper and more powerful.
The new larger cylindrical cells will provide a 16% greater driving range, as well as pumping out five times more energy, and six times more power. The tech also conforms to the body of the vehicle reducing the overall weight.
However, the new battery tech it isn’t ready for prime time yet and it’s likely to be a few years before it makes it into Tesla’s commercial vehicles. Musk told the audience the fully autonomous vehicle could launch “about three years from now.”
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“This has always been our dream to make an affordable electric car,” Musk said during the live stream on Tuesday (via BBC).
If Tesla is able to get the price down to £20,000/$25,000, it would finally get the cost of an electric car down to its fossil fuel-powered counterpart. The company’s current cheapest vehicle is the Model 3, which starts at around $38,000 in the US and £40,000 in the UK, so there’s still a long way to go towards parity.
Naturally, the announcement saw a massive fall in Tesla’s share price. Because there’s nothing that scares off investors like making an environmentally friendly technology affordable to the masses, apparently. In total, $50 billion was wiped-off Tesla’s value in the hours following the announcement.
Musk has long spoken of making an affordable version of his cars, which range up to well over £100,000. He first mentioned the prospect of a $25,000 Tesla back in 2018. Whether the affordable Tesla will arrive in 2023 or beyond remains to be seen.
Would you buy a Tesla if it cost the same as a standard petrol car? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
