Tesla has announced a new version of Model 3 with a new Mid-Range battery pack and 260 miles of range that will sell for $45,000. That’s $4,000 less than the price of the Long Range battery pack version, which has a 310-mile range.

The rear-wheel-drive option will now only be available with the new Mid-Range pack, and the Long Range pack will only be sold with a dual motor AWD powertrain (Elon Musk says that RWD will still be available with the Long Range pack for a limited time).

Is this a step in the direction of the $35,000 base version that the company has promised?

“As Model 3 production and sales continue to grow rapidly, we’ve achieved a steady volume in manufacturing capacity, allowing us to diversify our product offering to even more customers,” Tesla says. “Our new Mid-Range Battery is being introduced this week in the U.S. and Canada to better meet the varying range needs of the many customers eager to own Model 3, and our delivery estimate for customers who have ordered the Standard Battery is 4-6 months.”

Musk tweeted that the new pack is not a software-limited Long Range pack. “It’s a long range battery with fewer cells. Non-cell portion of the pack is disproportionately high, but we can get it done now instead of ~February.”

Source: Electrek, CNBC
Image: mariordo59  (CC BY-SA 2.0)