Tesla squeezes 5% more power into 2021 Model 3 with hardware improvements

Despite announcing its entirely new 4680 cells at its long-awaited battery day event in September, Tesla hasn’t given up on improving its current crop of 2170 power units.

According to Electrek, Tesla has improved the energy density of its 2170 cells by around 5%. The 2021 Model 3 specification lists an 82 kWh battery — a 7 kWh improvement over the car’s current 75 kWh pack.

In reality, this means that Tesla can now squeeze 353 miles of range out of its Long Range Model 3, a nice 31-mile increase over the current (2020) version.

This news isn’t entirely unexpected. When the EV maker announced details of its 2021 Model 3, Tesla already confirmed it had an EPA estimated range of 353 miles.

At the time, it wasn’t clear how Tesla achieved the increased range, as the company has been known to issue software updates that have a similar impact. In this case, it seems we have a hardware improvement to thank.

[Read: Electric cars in Europe are three times cleaner than gasoline equivalents]

The improvement was revealed after new Tesla buyers in Europe shared their car specifications online. Tesla sends detailed car specification after purchase and registration of their vehicles, and as shown by some, it clearly lists an 82 kWh battery.

It should be noted that this only appears to be the case for the Long Range AWD Model 3 variant, but it wouldn’t be surprising if we see similar bumps in energy capacity in Tesla’s other vehicles.