Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk confirmed that a press event to be held this Thursday evening will demonstrate battery-swapping for the Tesla Model S.
The mode of communication was his favorite medium: a tweet.
“Seeing is believing,” wrote Musk, saying that the company will do a live demonstration of pack-swapping at its design studio in Hawthorne, California.
UPDATE: At 3:30 am Pacific time on Thursday, 17 hours before the event was to kick off, Musk tweeted a photo (above) of what he said was the “fastest gas pump in LA” competing with “Tesla battery pack swap.” The photo appears to be from a video that could be shown tonight.
Last month, Green Car Reports detailed the case that Tesla would offer battery-swap capability for the Model S.
The announcement will come Thursday evening at 8 pm Pacific time, or 11 pm on the East Coast.
And Tesla’s pack-swapping will be revealed just three weeks after Israeli startup Better Place filed for bankruptcy.
That company had delivered only 1,000 or so electric cars over more than a year, despite offering more than 50 battery-swap stations throughout the country.
Tesla has discussed battery-pack swapping since well before Model S prototypes were first revealed in 2009.
And in fact the Tesla Model S electric luxury sport sedan was designed from the outset to offer the ability to drop the pack easily and quickly out from under the floorpan.
More than a month ago, Musk had broadly teased the concept, tweeting, “There is a way for the Tesla Model S to be recharged throughout the country faster than you could fill a gas tank.”
UPDATE: In response to a tweeted question, Musk later tweeted, “Battery pack swap works with all Tesla Model S cars, past and present. It was always there.”
We’ll find out on Thursday night exactly under what circumstances Tesla Motors plans to offer battery swapping to Model S owners.
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