Yahoo Autos Tesla Improves Range to 370 Miles and Cuts Prices on Model S and X
The Standard Range cars, formerly known as 75D, have returned.
Prices have dropped and EPA-estimated ranges have improved significantly, to 370 miles on the Model S Long Range.
The changes are in effect for cars built April 23 and later.
After dropping the 75D in January, Tesla is reversing course-because why should Elon Musk commit to outdated concepts like model years?-by reintroducing the base Model S and X trims. It's also claiming more range through a host of hardware changes for cars built on April 23 and later.
The January announcement increased prices for the Model S and Model X by $18,000 and $15,000, respectively. Even Tesla's misleading "after savings" price on its configurator, which doesn't factor in the $1200 destination charge and optimistically assumes thousands in fuel savings, looked too dear. Now the base Model S, called the Standard Range, reaches an estimated 285 miles for $79,200, a $7000 discount from just months ago (but with less than the earlier base car's maximum 310-mile range). We'll remind you the older 75D was another $2000 cheaper, but with only a 259-mile range.
The former Extended Range option, renamed Long Range, is $89,200 (the price of a base Model S from early January until now). It boosts the range from the previous car's 335 miles to 370 while chopping the price by $5000. The Performance trim is $3750 less than before, at $100,200, while the $20,000 Ludicrous mode remains for a claimed zero-to-60-mph time of 2.4 seconds. The claimed range of the Performance trim also improves from 315 to 345 miles.
It's the same story for the winged Model X. The previous 75D, at 238 miles of range and $83,200, was replaced with a 270-mile base car in January that cost nearly 100 grand. The latest Standard Range trim is estimated at 250 miles for $84,200. The former Extended Range trim, at 295 miles, now hits 324 miles in Long Range trim for $94,200, a $3000 savings. Finally, the Performance trim has a milder range improvement, from 289 miles to 305, but with a significant cost savings of $13,000. It starts at $105,200 without the Ludicrous mode option. The current federal tax credit of $3750 per car will halve by July 1. There are also fewer interior choices and colors available, plus no more free Supercharging.
Tesla still uses the same 100.0-kWh battery as before but has now swapped the front axle's induction motor for a permanent-magnet switched-reluctance motor, which is a more efficient and expensive design. Tesla is also adding adaptive damping to its standard air suspension and lowers the ride height further at higher speeds-exactly the opposite of what Tesla did in 2014 when faced with a federal investigation of its Model S batteries rupturing from road debris and catching fire. Tesla said it redesigned the wheel bearings and chose new tires "for certain variants." The cars can also run on Tesla's forthcoming V3 Supercharger network, which can accept a 200-kW input (or 145 kW on current V2 Superchargers), which Tesla claims will recharge the battery in half the time.
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