The Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan has had a dizzying array of battery offerings over its four-year life, and the Model X has had quite a few over less than a year.
Now it appears that we may be getting closer to the rumored 100-kilowatt-hour battery option for the top-of-the-line Teslas.
If a Dutch government website proves accurate, that pack may already have been certified by at least one government regulator.
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The news comes via a post on Kenteken.TV, which noted drily, "Normally this blog publishes postings in Dutch, but this posting might get some coverage internationally. For that reason English is used."
Indeed.
The information about a 100-kwh pack comes from the database of RDW, the Dutch agency responsible for type approval of new cars sold in The Netherlands.
Tesla Model S P90D pulls away from P85D on California drag strip, Oct 2015 [video: Danilo Crudele]
The agency now publishes complete type approval data for cars sold in the European Union, a process harmonized many years ago among members so a car can be sold in any EU country without requiring specific national modifications.
(Older readers may recall the special yellow headlamp lenses required for all cars in France, for instance; that rule was supplanted by the EU-wide type approval process.)
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As Kenteken noted, a flurry of rumors about a possible 100-kwh Tesla pack arose in March when a Tesla owner hacking into his car's software found a buried "badge" for a P100D model, presumably for use on the car's touchscreen display during bootup.
Now the EU database contains entries for six new 100-kwh cars, three each for the Model S and Model X, with the same motor outputs as the 90-kwh cars but longer ranges.
Tesla Model S P90D runs 10s at the drag strip
The motor output is given by Kenteken as 90 kilowatts (121 horsepower). That is the maximum output the Tesla motors can sustain over extended periods without overheating, and it is how the EU quotes powertrain output.
The ranges cited for both vehicles are 613 kilometers (381 miles), though the NEDC test cycles used to calculate that number are far more optimistic than the EPA test routines for the U.S.
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A more likely range for the new and larger pack might be 310 to 320 miles, but we'll likely soon find out from Tesla, which will choose to roll out information on its latest and largest batteries at an opportune moment.
The Kenteken site, meanwhile, contains a great deal of information on the EU vehicle type-approval process for those interested.
[NOTE: An earlier version of this article suggested that the quotation of 90 kw (121 hp) for the Tesla's motor output was a typo or an error. We thank our reader Vigge50 for pointing out that EU requirements appear to require quoting maximum sustainable power over a long period, rather the peak outputs quoted by Tesla in North America. We've corrected the error.]
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