Tesla Model S (Photo : Reuters)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk hopes to tackle the problem of electric cars' range including for its own line of eco-friendly automobiles, by 2020. This is based on a yearly 5 to 10 percent improvement in battery capacity technology, which could boost the Tesla Model S's city range from 500 miles (800 kilometers) to 750 miles (1,200 km), while lighter materials could increase it further. Although city-to-city tips are possible in today's electric vehicles (EVs) and more charging stations are being rolled out, "range anxiety" is a major concern of on-the-fence e-car buyers.
The current Model S has a range of up to 500 miles (800 km) on a single charge, at a moderate driving speed. Musk believes green cars' range will increase to 620 miles (1,000 km) by next year, according to Hot Hardware.
Tesla's CEO is also a big supporter of self-driving cars. Next month Tesla will roll out an auto-driving update that will include auto-steering on basic roads and highways.
Tesla's chief executive believes that fully autonomous vehicles will be available near 2018, which is quite surprising due to many bugs in today's prototype models, according to Engadget.
However, Tesla's chief executive believes that driverless cars would hit the roads one to three years afterwards. That would be due to regulatory roadblocks.
Musk predicted that the transition to electric cars will be long-term due to factors such as two billion cars on streets and freeways needing to be replaced gradually, and perhaps by safer e-cars. E-cars could be the status quo of the auto industry in about 15 years.
