Elon Musk held Tesla’s big battery event Tuesday night and made big promises of a $25,000 car and the announcement of a new, faster version of today’s Model S, according to CNN.
“Tesla is aiming to be the best at manufacturing of any company on Earth,” Musk said.
Musk said the $25,000 Tesla electric car would be available in about three years. It would be the cheapest of any Tesla cars that have been made to date. Musk also promised the car would be capable of being fully autonomous. This could prove to be difficult because the sensors and equipment needed for even partial autonomous driving are expensive. Musk insists the goal is to make the price of the car as competitive as possible without losing any money, according to CNBC.
Musk has also been known in the past to be overly optimistic. Tesla said years ago there would be a $35,000 Tesla Model 3 electric car, but it only stayed at that price for a brief period of time.
Musk also confirmed during Tuesday’s event that Tesla has designed and is producing its own battery cells at a facility in Fremont, California. It’s part of the goal to make some of the company’s cars affordable for the mainstream. Musk also announced Tesla is now taking orders for the new three-motor Tesla Model S with “Plaid Mode,” which can produce 1,100 horsepower and go from zero to 60 miles an hour in under two seconds. It costs around $140,000.
