News
Tesla’s 75 kWh battery pack removal opens doors to ‘Track Mode’ for Model S & X
In a recent update on Twitter, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would be discontinuing the 75 kWh variants of the Model S and Model X. Starting this coming Monday, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles would only be offered at 100 kWh and 100 kWh Performance versions, widening the price gap between the cars and the company’s newest offering — the Model 3.
In a way, retiring the 75D line seems to be the right decision for Tesla. After all, the Model S 75D, which is priced at $76,000 before options, pretty much overlaps with the price of a fully-loaded Model 3 Performance. That said, this change also results in the base price of the Model S and Model X increasing significantly. The Model S 100D — the vehicle’s base version starting Monday — would start at $94,000, while the Model X 100D would start at $97,000, far higher than the Model X 75D’s starting price of $82,000.
Starting on Monday, Tesla will no longer be taking orders for the 75 kWh version of the Model S & X. If you’d like that version, please order by Sunday night at https://t.co/46TXqRJ3C1
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2019
Apart from widening the gap between the more affordable Model 3 and the flagship Model S and X, though, the retirement of the 75 kWh battery pack also opens the doors to a very likely battery upgrade for the full-size sedan and SUV. The Model S and X, after all, are still equipped with 18650 cells, which are smaller and a bit older than the 2170 cells being used on the Model 3. These cells are also imported from Panasonic’s facilities in Japan, instead of being produced in Gigafactory 1.
By retiring the 75 kWh battery pack, Tesla would give itself an opportunity to roll out the newer cells to its flagship vehicles. The 2170 cells, for one, would probably even allow the Performance-branded Model S and X to handle extended track driving. Part of the reason behind the current generation Model S and X’s inability to be competitive on the track, after all, is their batteries, which have a tendency to overheat after a few laps around a closed circuit. This particular issue has been largely addressed by Tesla with the Model 3 and its 2170 cells, as evidenced by the vehicle’s dedicated Track Mode setting.
A Track Mode feature for the Performance Model S and X would make the vehicles even more fearsome than they already are. Even with their general inability to be driven on a racecourse, the Model S and Model X have nonetheless developed a reputation as monsters in straight-line races over the years. Equipped with a battery that has the same tech as the Model 3 — from its 2170 cells to its clever cooling systems — the Model S and X would be downright frightening.
Apart from opening the doors to Track Mode, an update to 2170 cells would likely result in more range for the Model S and Model X as well. This is something that Tesla could definitely use as a selling point for its flagship vehicles, considering that the competition, including the Porsche Taycan and the Jaguar I-PACE, are still pretty much competing against the bar set by vehicles that were created during the 18650 cell era. One can only speculate how much range a Long Range version of the Model S would have if it were equipped with 2170 cells. Perhaps even a 400-mile range? Such a scenario is plausible.
Hidden within this new update from Elon Musk, though, is something that bodes well for the company’s upcoming vehicle — the Model Y. Seeing as Tesla retired the Model X 75D, the company’s only SUV in its lineup now starts at $97,000. That’s very expensive, and this price notably reduces the size of the vehicle’s potential consumer base in an incredibly popular segment. By adopting this strategy at this point, Tesla appears to be hinting at the release of another, more affordable SUV that can compete more aggressively than the entry-level Model X. This vehicle, of course, would be the Model Y.
The Model Y has been in the rumor mill for some time now. In recent months, though, Elon Musk has provided a number of updates on the vehicle. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, for one, Musk mentioned that he had already approved the construction of the Model Y’s alpha prototype. Musk has also joked that the upcoming SUV would be unveiled this 2018, perhaps sometime in the first half of the year.
Tesla engineers deflected calls from Apple on a daily basis while the tech giant was developing its now-defunct electric vehicle program, which was known as “Project Titan.”
Back in 2022 and 2023, Apple was developing an EV in a top-secret internal fashion, hoping to launch it by 2028 with a fully autonomous driving suite.
However, Apple bailed on the project in early 2024, as Project Titan abandoned the project in an email to over 2,000 employees. The company had backtracked its expectations for the vehicle on several occasions, initially hoping to launch it with no human driving controls and only with an autonomous driving suite.
Apple canceling its EV has drawn a wide array of reactions across tech
It then planned for a 2028 launch with “limited autonomous driving.” But it seemed to be a bit of a concession at that point; Apple was not prepared to take on industry giants like Tesla.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives noted in a communication to investors that, “The writing was on the wall for Apple with a much different EV landscape forming that would have made this an uphill battle. Most of these Project Titan engineers are now all focused on AI at Apple, which is the right move.”
Apple did all it could to develop a competitive EV that would attract car buyers, including attempting to poach top talent from Tesla.
In a new podcast interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it was revealed that Apple had been calling Tesla engineers nonstop during its development of the now-defunct project. Musk said the engineers “just unplugged their phones.”
Musk said in full:
“They were carpet bombing Tesla with recruiting calls. Engineers just unplugged their phones. Their opening offer without any interview would be double the compensation at Tesla.”
Interestingly, Apple had acquired some ex-Tesla employees for its project, like Senior Director of Engineering Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, who eventually left for Archer Aviation.
Tesla took no legal action against Apple for attempting to poach its employees, as it has with other companies. It came after EV rival Rivian in mid-2020, after stating an “alarming pattern” of poaching employees was noticed.
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Celebrating SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Tesla Roadster launch, seven years later (Op-Ed)
Seven years later, the question is no longer “What if this works?” It’s “How far does this go?”
When Falcon Heavy lifted off in February 2018 with Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster as its payload, SpaceX was at a much different place. So was Tesla. It was unclear whether Falcon Heavy was feasible at all, and Tesla was in the depths of Model 3 production hell.
At the time, Tesla’s market capitalization hovered around $55–60 billion, an amount critics argued was already grossly overvalued. SpaceX, on the other hand, was an aggressive private launch provider known for taking risks that traditional aerospace companies avoided.
The Roadster launch was bold by design. Falcon Heavy’s maiden mission carried no paying payload, no government satellite, just a car drifting past Earth with David Bowie playing in the background. To many, it looked like a stunt. For Elon Musk and the SpaceX team, it was a bold statement: there should be some things in the world that simply inspire people.
Inspire it did, and seven years later, SpaceX and Tesla’s results speak for themselves.
Today, Tesla is the world’s most valuable automaker, with a market capitalization of roughly $1.54 trillion. The Model Y has become the best-selling car in the world by volume for three consecutive years, a scenario that would have sounded insane in 2018. Tesla has also pushed autonomy to a point where its vehicles can navigate complex real-world environments using vision alone.
And then there is Optimus. What began as a literal man in a suit has evolved into a humanoid robot program that Musk now describes as potential Von Neumann machines: systems capable of building civilizations beyond Earth. Whether that vision takes decades or less, one thing is evident: Tesla is no longer just a car company. It is positioning itself at the intersection of AI, robotics, and manufacturing.
SpaceX’s trajectory has been just as dramatic.
The Falcon 9 has become the undisputed workhorse of the global launch industry, having completed more than 600 missions to date. Of those, SpaceX has successfully landed a Falcon booster more than 560 times. The Falcon 9 flies more often than all other active launch vehicles combined, routinely lifting off multiple times per week.
Falcon 9 has ferried astronauts to and from the International Space Station via Crew Dragon, restored U.S. human spaceflight capability, and even stepped in to safely return NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams when circumstances demanded it.
Starlink, once a controversial idea, now dominates the satellite communications industry, providing broadband connectivity across the globe and reshaping how space-based networks are deployed. SpaceX itself, following its merger with xAI, is now valued at roughly $1.25 trillion and is widely expected to pursue what could become the largest IPO in history.
And then there is Starship, Elon Musk’s fully reusable launch system designed not just to reach orbit, but to make humans multiplanetary. In 2018, the idea was still aspirational. Today, it is under active development, flight-tested in public view, and central to NASA’s future lunar plans.
In hindsight, Falcon Heavy’s maiden flight with Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster was never really about a car in space. It was a signal that SpaceX and Tesla were willing to think bigger, move faster, and accept risks others wouldn’t.
The Roadster is still out there, orbiting the Sun. Seven years later, the question is no longer “What if this works?” It’s “How far does this go?”
Tesla engineers deflected calls from this tech giant’s now-defunct EV project
Tesla to a $100T market cap? Elon Musk’s response may shock you
