New Tesla Battery Will Last 1 Million Miles, Going Into Production Next Year

Tesla Inc. is currently developing a battery pack for its electric vehicles (EVs) that will have a service life of one million miles.

CEO Elon Musk said this groundbreaking battery pack, the first that will reach this incredible distance, is meant to last as long as the other major components of the Tesla EVs now in operation.

“The new battery pack that is probably going to production next year is designed explicitly for 1 million miles of operation,” said Musk.

Musk said Tesla EVs need to be durable in order for the economics to work.

“The cars currently built are all designed for a million miles of operation,” he pointed out. “The drive unit is design, tested, and validated for one million miles of operation.”

He did admit that the battery packs now equipping Tesla EVs aren’t built to last one million miles.

Musk previously said if Tesla built the Model 3 to last as long as a commercial truck, which is supposed to last for a million miles, the battery modules should last between 300,000 miles to 500,000 miles. These batteries then need to be replaced by new ones.

A really long lasting battery is also vital to Tesla’s future fleet of robotaxis, which he discussed at the Tesla Autonomy Event on Tuesday. Musk said Tesla is optimizing every aspect of its EVs, including the tires, in order to achieve minimal maintenance to create an “hyper-efficient” electric robotaxi.

“I feel very confident predicting autonomous robotaxis for Tesla next year,” said Musk. He also predicted Tesla will be making cars with no steering wheels or pedals in two years.

Musk then repeated his claim Tesla will have over one million robotaxis on the road by 2020.

Musk revealed Tesla robotaxis won’t be “in all jurisdictions, because we won’t have regulatory approval everywhere, but I am confident we will have at least regulatory approval somewhere, literally next year.”