Going by a recent email to Roadster owners, Tesla will now be offering battery-pack upgrades to early model Roadsters, as well as to more recent models. Previously, Tesla’s battery-pack upgrade program for the electric sports car was limited to later model years only.
What this means is that all of those owing a Tesla Roadster who want to see their electric vehicle’s (EV’s) range substantially boosted can now do so. The battery-pack upgrade certainly isn’t free though, and actually runs as $30,000.
While the Roadster is probably still not necessarily the sort of car that you’d want to drive for 350-ish miles straight without stopping for a rest break, those wanting to do so now can. On that note — I’m fairly curious what will eventually end up happening with regard tofu true Roadster models and the company’s autonomous driving technology. Will the technology work as effectively in a Roadster sort of car as it will in a large, relatively tall vehicle like the Model X?
Here’s a screen capture of the email in question:
As mentioned above, while an upgraded Roadster would certainly work pretty well for those taking a cross country trip, it may well be a better choice simply to do such trips in a Model S. On that note, see: Coast To Coast In A Tesla Model S On Autopilot
(Hat tip to Electrek for this.)