Musk confirms new Roadster has a range of more than 1000km

Electric cars are coming but there is one major problem with making them viable in Australia. That might be about to change thanks to Elon Musk.

Elon Musk and Tesla may be close to putting an end to the electric car’s biggest restriction — range.

The outspoken Tesla chief confirmed on Twitter the coming open-top Roadster sports car will be able to travel more than 1000km between charges.

Range will be above 1000km

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2019

This range will best nearly all petrol or diesel vehicles and puts it on par with ultra efficient hybrids. It will easily accommodate long Australian road trips between the three major east coast cities.

Tesla will achieve this feat by producing a yet-to-be-seen 200kWh battery — double the current capacity of the Model S P100D.

Tesla Roadster will have a claimed range of more than 1000km.

The targa-top four-seater won’t have any direct electric competitors but would go up against genuine supercars like the Porsche 911 Turbo or Ferrari Portofino.

When the Roadster was first revealed in 2017 Musk said it would have unparalleled performance with three motors making more than 1000Nm. This supercar-beating set-up would enable the Roadster to be the world’s fastest accelerating vehicle, hitting 0-100km/h in 1.9 seconds on the way to a top speed of more than 400km/h.

We don’t expect to see the Roadster in production guise until about 2022 and it will most likely be priced well beyond the budget of the average electric car buyer.

Musk confirmed the Roadster’s extended potential range after revealing it has increased the range of the Model S and X by more than 10 per cent.

The Tesla Roadster won’t be on sale until at least 2022 in the US.

On the long-range S version, the claimed distance is boosted from 525km to about 600km. On top of that the cars are now capable of 200kW charging on the new Tesla V3 superchargers currently being rolled out. These two updates will virtually halve recharging times.

This update pushes the Tesla duo ahead of imminent competitors such as the Porsche Taycan, which is due in showrooms next year.

The dual-motor Porsche will have a range of up to 500km and can add up to 400km of charge in just 15 minutes thanks to its 800-volt battery.

Porsche has previously claimed the Taycan will be priced somewhere between the Cayenne and Panamera, which places it somewhere about $150,000, or similar to Tesla’s Model S.