Musk Criticizes "Range Above All": It's Easy for Tesla to Make a 1000 km Range, But it's Ineffective for the Product and Society.

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Electric cars with a range of over a 1000 km are no longer a rare sight.

But for Tesla, the industry benchmark, there hasn’t been any mass-produced model with a range exceeding 700 km. Is it because Tesla lacks the ability to do so?

Now Musk has finally come forward to prove otherwise:

A range of 600 miles (1000 km) is something Tesla could have achieved a year ago, but I just wouldn’t do it.

The haughty academician Musk even gave his reasons:

An overly extended range would mean nothing except the waste of efficiency.

Musk: Longer Range Does Not Equate to Better Performance

Musk publicly disses “range is everything.”

Here’s what happened: Recently, a Tesla superfan took to Twitter, stating that while the American EV manufacturer Lucid has delivered its first electric car, with a range of over 800 km (500 miles), only Tesla could achieve mass production of electric vehicles with insanely long ranges.

The tweet even directly mentioned Musk.

But that didn’t sit well with Musk, as he quickly replied:

We could have made an electric car with a range of over 600 miles (1000 km) a year ago, but it just wouldn’t make sense.

Musk later gave two reasons against manufacturing cars with such ridiculously long ranges: product and efficiency.

Musk stated that having an overly long range meant the vehicle would have to carry a heavier and larger battery pack, compromising the vehicle’s acceleration and handling. Plus, it would result in wasted battery range, as in the majority of cases, users don’t drive more than 400 miles (643 km) at a time.

This isn’t the first time Musk has expressed his opposition to producing EVs with ultra-long ranges.

Before this, Musk had already stated that keeping the EV range around 400 miles (643 km) was already sufficient, and there’s no need to develop vehicles with an even longer range.

This is because going beyond 400 miles (643 km) requires drivers to take breaks, and during the break time, the vehicle can also be recharged for more power.

“The longer the range of an electric vehicle, the better” is not a belief shared by many industry insiders, and Musk is not the only one who thinks so.

Feng Sihan, CEO of Volkswagen China, has also expressed that tirelessly pursuing higher range is not a good idea unless battery technology undergoes a fundamental breakthrough.

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As for the reason, like Musk, the requirement for high-endurance in electric cars means that heavier batteries are necessary; thus, lighter car bodies must be partnered with said batteries to decrease the weight of the vehicle, though this leads to an increase in the overall cost.

However, WM Motor’s founder and CEO, Shen Hui, argues against this practice, preferring to focus on energy efficiency instead of only focusing on endurance.

Shen Hui posits that the network for charging pure electric cars will be completely built out within a few years, and that the technical challenges surrounding changing the battery and fast charging will be resolved, rendering it moot for one to carry a 1000km range extension battery with them in their travels.

Shen Hui even said:

“If all of the mainstream electric vehicles in the country come equipped with 1000 km driving range batteries, that is definitely a huge waste for society.”

Additionally, the founder of XiaoPeng, He XPeng, expressed a prediction in an interview that in the future, the range on electric vehicles will decrease, as the focus will shift towards resolving the issue with energy efficiency, and it will no longer be relevant to have a very long driving range after said efficiency challenges have been effectively addressed.

It’s ironic, however, that one of the highlights of the XiaoPeng P7, which was heavily promoted upon its release, was its “extra-long 700 km driving range,” even being marketed as “the electric car with the longest driving range.”

What then are the trends in the industry?

As a C-end user, what do people think about driving range?

Most users still seem to be very concerned with driving range when searching for electric cars on social media platforms. The biggest problem is still limited charging facilities and slow charging times, making extended driving range an important issue for alleviating this concern.

Thus, ultimately speaking, energy efficiency is key.

Internally, the industry is therefore focusing its efforts in this area, with the focus being on fast charging and battery swapping.

After 2021, many domestic main factories such as BYD, Geely, Great Wall, GAC, XiaoPeng, and NIO have or plan to release their 800V high-voltage platform technology.

The construction of supercharging energy replacement networks is also rapidly expanding.

At the same time, new automotive options based on 800V high-voltage tech are being proposed by various car companies and are being added to the time plans.

Recently, Ideal disclosed during their earnings conference that two pure electric vehicles equipped with 4C fast charging batteries and supercharging platforms are slated to be released in 2023.

As for battery swapping, other than the main factory of NIO, which selected this path from the beginning, third-party operators like Audong New Energy and Boton Technology, and battery giant Ningde Times, recently announced their formal entry into the battery swapping business by launching a battery swapping brand called EVOGO.

On the other hand, there are still technical difficulties in supercharging technology and battery swapping, such as battery life, and the deployment of the entire energy supplement network also takes time.

So, everyone understands the reason, but longer range is still considered a key selling point by major car companies, and recently released models are becoming more and more focused on range.

For example, the Great Wall Salon Mecha Dragon, which was unveiled at the end of last year, has an official data of up to 800 kilometers in range.

The recently launched Mercedes-Benz EQS, known as the S-Class of electric cars, also has a range of more than 800 kilometers.

NIO, which uses battery swapping technology, has not given up pursuing ultra-high range. It released a 150 kWh battery pack at NIO DAY in early last year, and the maximum range can be up to 910 kilometers.

Li Bin, the founder of NIO, once confidently stated that there is no significant technological content in making electric vehicles with long range.

This… can only say that actions speak louder than words.

Entering 2022, the range of car companies has also reached a new high – 1000 kilometers.

The achievement is reached by AION LX Plus, which was released by GAC in early January this year. It is equipped with a silicone sponge negative electrode battery and has an official range of 1008 kilometers. It is called the world’s first pure electric vehicle with a range of more than 1000 kilometers.

one more thing

In fact, Musk did not oppose ultra-long range from the beginning.

For example, the official range of Cybertruck, Roadster, and Semi-truck, which Tesla released, are all above 800 kilometers.

Musk even publicly stated that the range of the Roadster and Semi-truck can be increased to more than 1000 kilometers.

However, as you may have noticed, all three models were cut by Musk for several years, and they are still not in mass production…

In addition, these models are mostly using Tesla’s self-developed 4680 battery, which has longer range under the same volume, and except for the supercar Roadster, they all have “freight” and “commercial vehicle” attributes.

In any case, as Musk has explicitly expressed his opinion on the issue of range, it is inevitable that there will be a wave of arguments in the industry next, from both sides.Do you think having a range of over 1000 km is necessary in China? Or what is the appropriate range for electric vehicles?

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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.