One of the big changes announced for the new 2021 Model 3 last month was an increase in the range of all variants of the electric sedan. The biggest range increase was to the Long Range (LR) version, which went from 518km to 568km on a single charge.
Since all three variants had a range increase, it was assumed it was due to the inclusion of the new heat pump, meant to improve efficiency, especially in cold weather climates.
Now it appears as though Tesla was also able to increase the range in the LR and Performance variants by also increasing the size of the battery packs.
According to a user on the tff-forum, a customer in Europe waiting for his LR Model 3 delivery has received his registration information, where it shows a new 82kWh battery (via Reddit).
The new battery pack is about a 4% increase from the previous generation 78kWh batteries. That number lines up pretty well with the news we reported on earlier this year that Panasonic had been able to increase the energy density of its existing cells by 5%.
The first deliveries of the refresh Model 3 have already begun in both Canada and the US, but so far has been limited to the Standard Range Plus (SR+). Hopefully we see some Long Range and Performance variants delivered soon to see how the new battery performs, as well as if there is a change in charging speed.
This new battery pack follows the news we reported on just last week on the potential of a new software locked battery type discovered by Tesla hacker @greentheonly.
