The folks at Teslarati ran a story on June 16 that claimed Tesla has equipped a few Model 3s with 100 kWh battery packs. If so, the cars would almost certainly have a range of more than 400 miles. The report was based on a tweet by Tesla enthusiast and white hat hacker Zeus M3.
Look carefully in the left column 2 lines above the Factory Mode language in red and you will see the words “Pack Energy — 100 kWh.”
Teslarati took those two tweets and ran with them, speculating that the Model 3 with the 100 kWh battery pack could make an appearance at about the same time as the company decides to refresh both the Model S and Model X to bring them in line with the manufacturing advances Tesla has instituted with Model 3 and Model Y production. Elon Musk responded to the rumors with a rather definitive tweet of his own.
End of story. Or is it? Manufacturers are constantly pulling items out of the company parts bin and doing a little mix and match to create cars that are not planned for production. You don’t think Bill Ford has a Ford GT somewhere in his garage that packs a few more ponies than the stock version?
A few years ago, Porsche needed a super fast chase vehicle to service its factory-backed entries in the Paris to Dakar rally. They wound up stuffing an engine from a 911 Turbo into the back of a Volkswagen Transporter, thereby creating the baddest, meanest VW minivan in history. That car probably still exists somewhere near Porsche’s famous Wiessach test track today.
Are there a few Model 3s with 100 kWh battery packs running around? Probably. But that doesn’t mean you should hold off buying a Model 3 until they go on sale. Somewhere, there are some Tesla engineers with huge grins plastered all over their faces. For the rest of us? We can still dream.
CleanTechnica's Comment Policy