It’s never really a shock these days when we hear that Tesla are ‘working on something’ that could send shockwaves through the automotive world; it’s what they do……

That lack of shock (some may call it apathy), could be part of the reason why the recent announcement from the Silicon Valley giant around its work on a new generation of batteries has bareley caused a ripple on the EV pond. Amazingly, the claim is that the new power source will kick out five times more energy and – wait for it – will cost HALF as much as their existing technology. Yep, you read it right the first time; half, 50%!

Tesla Boss, and Everyone’s favourite South African Californian, Elon Musk, says that the new system, which will be produced in-house by Tesla and will rely upon larger cylindrical cells, will ultimately mean that Tesla are going to be able to launch a car with a price tag of £19,500. Again, there’s not something illegal in your coffee, you read that right – £19,500 British Pounds. Less than a VW T-Cross, less than a Ford Puma, less than a Peugeot 2008 – you get the picture. We obviously don’t yet know what the car will look like or be called (maybe the ‘Y Wouldn’t You’), but it’s a stick on guarantee that we’ll be looking at some pretty significant numbers in terms of pre-orders and sales when the time comes.

Musk was recently quoted as saying that he is troubled by the fact that Tesla don’t produce a truly affordable car. He followed that up by saying this is something that Tesla will have in the future and for that to happen, “we need cheaper batteries”. All encouraging stuff, and even more so when you consider that Musk added that serious, high-volume production of this new model would probably take place in 2022. That escalated pretty quickly didn’t it ?!?

On the road map to wider EV adoption, the significance of this huge signpost can’t be overstated. The demographic of potential buyers who will be able to afford this proposed machine is enormous and it will mean that when it comes to dreaming of owning an EV, aspirational and achievable no longer need to start with a capital ‘A’.

The timing of this announcement – when viewed with the UK Government’s news last week around petrol/diesel new vehicle sales being prohibited from 2030 – is also pretty significant. EVs for the masses is the kind of tune that we love to hear, the crescendo is building……