Tesla told us back in December that a Tesla Roadster 3.0 was in the works which consisted of an upgraded 70kWh battery and aero upgrades for the Roadster. The current battery was state of the art back in 2008 but is fairly outdated today because battery technology is moving almost as fast as a P85D. As a result of recent advances, the upgraded Tesla Roadster battery is expected to be rated at 70 kWh and have 31% more energy. Despite the increase in capacity and performance, it will be the same size as the original battery and likely be a seamless retrofit into the Roadster.
Long time Tesla supporter and Roadster owner @bonnienorman on Twitter tweeted Elon Musk directly last week to ask when the new Tesla Roadster battery will be available. Shortly after Bonnie’s tweet, Elon Musk tweeted back this response: “New Roadster battery should complete safety validation by end of July, so likely available in August.”
@bonnienorman New Roadster battery should complete safety validation by end of July, so likely available in August
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2015
No information on what the new battery will cost or how long installation will take. But with almost 1/3 more power, Roadster owners should be smiling all the way down the Pacific Coast Highway and back again. More details as we get them.
Photo: Tesla Motors