Tech Alert

Tesla Motors Elon Musk announced an upgrade that sees the company claim the title of world’s fastest car in production!! The 100 kWh battery is supposed to make the car about 10% more powerful. Tesla’s new battery will bring the high-end version of its Model S sedan from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds.

This is 0.3 seconds faster than its current acceleration time. The price for this model begins at $134,500. The new battery extends the driving range of the vehicle to 315 miles, where it was previously 294 miles. Elon Musk compared the distance the new battery will allow you to travel non-stop as driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco. One of their top markets is in California, so this analogy is fitting.

Meanwhile, high end versions of the Tesla Model X crossover car can now accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. The new battery extends the driving range of the Model X to 289 miles, where it was previously 257 miles. Tesla is estimated to produce between 80K and 90K vehicles in 2016, whereas they produced 50,580 in 2015. That’s about 2,000 vehicles each week! While Tesla drivers and fans will be happy with this improvement, it is a new battery, not a new vehicle, so it should not make the stock price increase dramatically.