Musk: Tesla Model S Plaid Uses New 4680 Batteries, Structural Pack

During Tesla Inc's TSLA battery day event, CEO Elon Musk revealed the new Model S Plaid.

It's a powerful fully electric vehicle with 520-plus miles of range and a zero-to-60 mph time of under 2 seconds that starts at $139,990. Beyond that, few details were shared.

Now Musk has said on Twitter that the Plaid Model S will be using Tesla's new 4680 battery cell technology. These cells are more energy-dense, allow faster charging, better power and performance and a lower cost. 

The cells will also be packed into the vehicle in a new way, using Tesla's structural pack approach. This allows the cells to be built into the structure of the car, saving space and increasing safety. The Plaid Model S is expected to be released at the end of 2021.

Benzinga's Take: While some may have assumed this news was true, it's nice to see the confirmation. Tesla is working on several types of batteries.

For comparison, the current Model S has a range of 402 miles and a zero-to-60 time of 2.3 seconds. Increasing the range by well over 100 miles with this change is impressive. 

Photo from Tesla's battery and investor day Sept. 22.