Elon Musk-Led Tesla Files For Model 3+ Trim In China With 500-Mile Range Amid Surge In Sales: Report - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

They do this every time indeed

500 mile range sounds great. They have to do it because there are a bunch of Chinese EV sedans with 500+ range and 130+ kWh batteries. I wish we had that kind of competition in America. Heck I wish they’d bring that trim to America, fire Elon, and hire someone competent.

However Tesla is known for overstating their range by over 20%. In Ecobest test Tesla with 700km WLTP range, got 554km. Most other brands were off by 10% and Chinese Leapmotor got 106% of WLTP range. https://ecobestchallenge.org/real-life-tests-of-the-2025-ecobest-challenge-reveal-interesting-evolutions-in-electric-mobility/

They need to be sued for lying about the range

They do heavy discounting and gaming the books at EOQ, it's not all due to slightly different models. As expected, first week of Q sales dropped hard.

Is it 500 real miles or 500 Elon miles?

What the article actually says is:- “The battery tech could lend the Model 3+ a range of almost 500 miles on a single charge.” So just a wild statement by the author. No source cited. Not even a claim from Tesla. Just the writer making wild claims for a change in battery chemistry based on “trust me bro” as usual.

Read the article. All it says is “The battery tech could lend the Model 3+ a range of almost 500 miles on a single charge.” So just an unsubstantiated claim/guess by the author based on pure speculation.

They switched the battery. What amazing innovation. And by way of comparison between the two types, the internet says: >Choose LFP if safety, long life, and affordability are your top priorities. Choose ternary lithium if you require higher energy density, better cold performance, and faster charging. Who wants safety, long life and affordability anyways?

Is it possible that Tesla is planning to use Quantumscape solid state batteries in that Model 3+ ? 500 miles range looks similar to solid state batteries range. Quantumscape (QS) company recently released their new ceramic seperator. [https://www.quantumscape.com/quantumscape-achieves-major-milestone-cobra-separator-process-enters-baseline-production](https://www.quantumscape.com/quantumscape-achieves-major-milestone-cobra-separator-process-enters-baseline-production)

Add it to the list!

All they have to do is just throw something out there and it works every time

He has to piecemeal everything. How can we generate revenue every step of the way while fucking the customer

That was the main thing I noticed as well. It could ... but it won't. Such a meaningless sentence.

Wow! With the new 500 mile range batteries, their cars might get the 350 miles of range they've been saying they get for years.

facts matter!

Lazy writers. Why not just claim 2000+ miles?

I don't know, but Elon definitely wouldn't walk 500 miles (he'd lie about it) and his car won't take you 500 miles, either.

A ‘surge’ in sales??? Where the fuck have there been a surge of sales for Tesla??

And is there really a “surge” in sales happening?

I think that’s actually the norm in China right? EVs there actually have much better ranges than the EVs sold here right? It’s the market no? I read something the other day that cars there are equipped with better batteries

I’m surprised they don’t just show some cooked books. Elon pretty much proved the SEC is toothless years ago.

The 'journalist' is a slop reporter who puts out extremely short articles near constantly. In the past 7 days, he's posted 50 articles on Bazinga alone, all quite short and uninformative. Dude likely just trolls the internet for news stories, mostly about Musk, then quickly summarizes them or uses AI to summarize them, then throws them up on Benzinga.

China uses the CLTC testing standard for their range tests. CLTC is significantly more optimistic than the US' EPA standard. Quick google search says the range results can be up to 30-35% higher than EPA. That would put the EPA range at about 370 - 384 miles. The EPA range on Tesla's US website is 363 miles in the RWD long range variant... which is what the Chinese version would be comparable to. So... it's an increase of between 13 (3.6%) and 21 (5.8%) miles versus the US version, if the 30-35% CLTC to EPA difference is accurate. Of course, that 30-35% is just an estimate. For all we know, this model 3 going on sale in China is identical to the one in the US; using the same ternary battery. Versus LFP batteries that they currently sell in the model 3 in China, the Ternary batteries use more expensive metals, including the heavy use of Nickel. I believe Tesla still uses a small amount of Cobalt in their ternary batteries, but could be wrong. LFP uses no Nickel, no Cobalt, and less lithium... so they're often significantly cheaper to produce... but they also have lower energy density and see less overall range.

China uses the CLTC range testing standard, which can give results that are 30-35% higher (on average) than the US' EPA range testing standard. Cars sold in China will always claim higher ranges than if the same car were tested using the US standard. I've noticed journalists have gotten really lazy about pointing this out. They're too happy to share massive range scores for Chinese vehicles at ultra low prices... as if to claim if China were to ship the cars to the US, they'd have the same range ratings as in China and the same low prices. They won't and wouldn't.

As someone who's been tracking the weekly Chinese sales figures in r/teslastockholders/ , this person's article about a surge in Chinese sales last week is not only misinformed, but frankly stupid. Tesla sold about 1,000 additional cars last week versus the same week last year (about 9% more, not necessarily a huge surge), but in the week prior to that they sold about 1,500 vehicles less the same week last year. So in the first two weeks of Q3, they've sold 500 less vehicles in China than last year. I started tracking the numbers 12 weeks ago, and over that period, Tesla's sales in China are down by 19,000. While Tesla's Chinese sales have held up better than in other regions like Europe, Canada, and California, they're still down versus last year. Globally, Tesla's H1 sales were down over 13% versus last year, and 2024 was down 1-2% versus 2023. So Tesla's trending to a big decline in sales versus 2023's and 2024's numbers. In early 2021, Tesla claimed they'd see vehicle sales growing at a 50% CAGR on average between 2020 and 2030, which pumped the stock price higher. Meaning every year, on average, they'd sell 50% more cars than the previous year. They've only exceeded 50% growth once since making that claim. In 2021! 2022 and 2023 saw lower than 50% growth, 2024 saw a decline in sales, and 2025 is heading towards a large decline in sales. If they were still sitting on the 50% CAGR line from 2020... that would mean they'd have needed to sell 2.53 million cars in 2024... they sold 1.79 million. In 2025, they'd have needed to sell 3.8 million cars. They're on course to sell 1.56 million. Less than half of where they guided they'd be. To be fair... they pulled (cancelled) this 50% CAGR guidance in late 2023. Musk essentially got on the earnings call and almost seemed to make fun of investors for believing a car company could grow at that rate... a rate that Musk/Tesla re-iterated for 2.5 straight years. You see.. it's not that Musk/Tesla blatantly lied to investors, it's that investors were too stupid to understand that it was impossible. Much like all the people who believed Musk when he got on stage in April 2019 and boldly and confidently claimed that FSD would be fully functional by the end of 2019, and a million robotaxis would be on the roads by mid-2020, with Tesla + FSD owners making $30k in profits on their cars at night while they slept as the car left their house and worked as an autonomous taxi... (If that were true, those Tesla + FSD owners would be up $150,000 right now, instead of them being up $0 and watching their vehicle value rapidly depreciate.) So... Musk can repeatedly lie. His companies can repeatedly fail to live up to his incredibly exaggerated sales and vaporware claims. Sales can drop. Revenues and margins on actual products the company sells can drop....suggesting no hypergrowth in their current product lines... The man can literally launch a robotaxi trial that proves without a shadow of a doubt that robotaxis are nowhere near ready for true autonomous service... Their autonomous humanoid robot can be years behind and still have major problems. AND they can lose all of their US tax credits and regulatory credit income... which could cost them $30+ billion in income through 2030... And yet, ironically, the stock price stays hyperinflated at a forward PE of 171.

Musk's involvement with Trump and his pro-nazi gestures and statements have hurt sales in Western nations. Not necessarily in Asia. However, Tesla's sales are being hurt in all regions on account of significantly more competition from other brands, especially in China. With so many significantly cheaper options, and with the overall lower cost of living in China, it really makes you wonder how Tesla's sales have held up as well as they have. (Teslas in China are priced nearly as high as they are in the US) The Chinese government has a long history of bailing Tesla out, so there's a very real chance that Tesla's sales this year are being supported by the Chinese government, and without that assistance, Tesla would have seen significantly lower sales than they have. When Tesla was hemorrhaging sales in the first half of 2024, the Chinese government stepped in and added Tesla to the list of brands Chinese government agencies could buy. Tesla's the only foreign brand on the list. It's also true that on account of Tesla's Shanghai plant producing 50% of their global vehicle volume, the Chinese government essentially has Elon Musk by the balls. If they tell Elon Musk to dance... Elon Musk dances. Which should really boggle our minds as to why this man has been allowed to amass so much influence in the US government, especially with US government and military contracts, and why he was given access to US government data on all residents and all employees.

I had an uber driver with a Tesla model X tell me that the actual range is closer to 230 miles than anywhere near 300 or over, at least that what his battery was telling him. He said he doesn't use it for long drives just short runs. I would be pissed if the advertised range is 340 and it's nowhere near that.

Ford Lightning gets 320 miles… 4 years ago. How has Tesla not doubled that of a full size pickup truck that costs less (fully loaded) than a base model x

Perfect analysis mate, nothing to add

"Could" and "almost" are doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

Their CLTC ranges are even higher. We’re talking about 150 kWh. That’s twice the size of a Model 3 LR. Even at 333 Wh/mile that’s 500 miles.

CLTC is a testing standard. It doesn't matter what the battery size is. A car range tested in China with the CLTC standard will typically show a range 30-35% higher than what an EPA test in the US would show for the exact same car.

Got to ask, do you not want Tesla to be around?

Not sure what that has to do with my comment. But there's a reason no one has doubled that range... because the battery technology, in terms of energy density, hasn't improved all that much. What's improved is cost, and that's largely from scaling battery production, from commodities dropping in price, from slight changes to chemistry to reduce Cobalt use in Ternary batteries, and by transitioning to significantly cheaper chemistries, like LFP, that has lower energy density than ternary batteries. Energy density of cells could see some big gains in the future, but as of yet, a lot of this new technology is either not on the market yet, or barely on the market. With battery tech, it's super critical to get a lot of long term testing, because as soon as you build out the plant to produce the cells, and lock yourself into a cell architecture and chemistry, and then start producing GWhs of the cells... if any problems arise with the cells requiring a recall, it could bankrupt a company or significantly harm their financials. See GM and the Chevy Bolt battery recall.

More garbage about TSLA - never ending stream of BS.

I know but the cars have friction coefficients that are similar to teslas.

No idea what that means or why you brought it up. I was just pointing out that the range numbers coming out of Chinese cars have to be considered in that they were measured with the CLTC test, and if they were sold in the US, their range estimate would be 30-35% lower that the range claimed in articles.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I agree with what Elon said years ago about a 500 mile car. Having a bigger battery is stupid, as a 5 time EV owner adding more range isn’t needed. What the world needs is the infrastructure everywhere to charge and faster charge times. Ive road-tripped all over the western US in EVs and driven across the US so many times. The reality is you want to stop every 3 or so hours to stretch your legs and pee or grab a drink. For most people you only need about 250 miles of actual range at 75-80 mph. The real issue is being able to charge that car back to a 250 mile range in 10 minutes. That’s the real breakthrough. Adding more battery just increases weight and does nothing for you the 99% of the time you are driving 20 miles from your home or sitting in your garage.

I don’t think there’s a legal definition of a “surge”. Going by his mileage claim, perhaps the author’s personal definition is “an extra 10 cars”. 🤣

No. The Chinese testing method is different, and generally gives higher figures than either the EPA or the WLTP ranges.

My original point is that multiple Chinese luxury EVs have hit the 500 mile range even after converting to EPA. Their battery capacities dwarf anything available in europe or america

I think this is true but I’m doing a lot of reading and while their testing methods results in significantly higher range estimates, it appears the batteries of the model 3 and model y in China have slightly larger capacities than those found in the U.S. The model 3 LR in China boasts a 84.85 kWh battery and the U.S. model has a 82 kWh battery

Elon « could almost» say the truth for once

Must be failing with a surge in sales. This sub finds a way to twist everything

You don’t know how batteries work

I don’t think you know how anything works.

America first my a**. When are they finally releasing anything 500+ mile in the US.

Not exactly, what it's really saying is that chinese market is much more competitive. EV's over there are growing much faster than State side. So Tesla is sweetening the pot so to speak to incentivize people to buy there superior cars. Once you get to an honest 450 miles of range on a charge that's the sweet spot. If it's 510 miles your getting 450 at least. The US is pouring coal on top of more gasoline and throwing away free money with solar panels so they can burn and spend more on gasoline and oil. China on the other hand has enough Solar Power over there to power 25-40% of the US annually. No one can really compete with Tesla here in the US but they can over there. The Chinese have much cheaper alternatives. The US is still burning that gasoline. Although I am not sure why... The new Models used are like 30K and waaaay more cost effective. (Besides potential Auto Insurance) Instead of the US incentivising more EV's they quickly got pushed away by the Trump admin for 4 more years of business as usual. Which is fine and all... but shits getting warm... But on the bright side, when Trump is done the battery market should be looking prime. New Solid State batteries and all kinds of new tech.... to... slowly.... every few years push EV's up to 600 miles a charge. Slowly though... Very slowly.... because this could have already been done now. BUT since the US didn't invest enough in grid management... and because gasoline is still the go to choice... Very slowly.... the US will eventually get EV's that will some day appeal to the mass market. Some people I talk to here are actually scared of EV's... because they don't use Gasoline. Afraid to try 1, like it's any different.

If the model X is showing 340 miles, he is getting 300+ miles on a full charge. Tesla's state side EPA is much more accurate now. However you don't want to continuously charge your EV to 100% unless you have a certain type of battery which is not in the Model X. 80% for longevity daily usage. Charge to whatever you want but if you want to maintain your batteries health you would limit your charge to 80-90% if your using it for Ride Share. It takes 10 minutes to charge the car to 60%.

That's not really accurate. The high end Lightening gets 320 miles. If your looking at advanced EV Trucks look to Rivian. They make the best EV Trucks on the market. The F150 Lightning is being scaled back on purpose for more profits and old IP. Ford CEO has stated recently they are scaling back there EV innovation and estimate sales for a few years. (While President Trump is in office.) Also Ford apparently was making there EV's very expensive according to an article I just read. They have an **extra mile of wiring** in there EV's comparative to Tesla and I am assuming Rivian. This would increase costs for there EV's, the US needs to bolster the grid anyway and that is not gonna happen on a large scale under current political climates.

Still 380 miles is legit. And by 2030 Solid anodes or metal anodes or Solid State batteries will begin to hit the main stream market. According to Tesla there is still a lot of improvements to be made with current lithium Ion batteries. Unless these diamonds or free gold bars end up under a rocky desert impossible to reach... for profits. The great Matriarch Mother Nature may come knocking on the door sooner rather than later.

Well even with the niche Cyber Truck, Tesla is still on par to hit 1.6 million vehicles sold in 2025. If Tesla made a fucking Truck without a Triangle that thing would have sold gang busters. Even still Tesla is doing quite well. I would like to redesign Cyber Truck 2.0, a gorgeous front end but that Pythagorean Theorem needs to get rectangular.

It was just small talk with the driver never saw him again. The man said his max range on full charge is 230, maybe his battery was garbage idk…

Solid state batteries 'should' be a game changer, especially if they can integrate the technology into cheaper LFP chemistries. The "According to Tesla" as if Tesla is somehow the spokesperson for everything electric and battery related is a bit funny. Tesla is by no means the expert. In the US, Panasonic is their main battery supplier. In China, it's a large group of companies, like CATL, LG, BYD, and Samsung. With regards to producing their own cells, their claim to fame is simply making a cell larger with the 4680 cell, and using a tabless approach. They've already admitted that dry electrode coating is essentially a failure, and was a mistake to pursue so vehemently. They built out large scale battery production infrastructure for the 4680 cell, without having a finalized product and process, that in the end, produced subpar cells that couldn't compete with other companies' newer and cheaper battery tech, and is now on a countdown to when it will be entirely superseded in cost, safety, and energy density by next generation solid state tech. Something that, AFAIK, Tesla has had no financial or technological interests in the pursuit of.