Issue 15  June 10th 2016

Tesla is releasing two new lower-cost versions of its all-electric Model S sedan. The new Model S 60 and 60D start at $66,000 and $71,000, respectively, and are already available on Tesla's website. The new base version, the rear-wheel drive Model S 60, has a top speed of 130 miles per hour, can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds, and is capable of going 210 miles on a full charge, according to Tesla. The 60D is all-wheel drive, has a range of 218 miles, and does zero to 60 in 5.2 seconds.

Both new models will come equipped with the hardware for Autopilot, Tesla's self-driving technology, but buyers will still have to pay extra to enable the feature. Tesla stopped making batteries with different capacities for its lowest-end models, instead opting to put a 75kWh version in all of those cars and limiting the capacity with software. As is the case with the Model S 70D, buyers of the new 60 and 60D will have the option of paying Tesla ($9,000, in this case) to unlock that extra capacity down the road.

Ron Baron, the billionaire founder of Baron Capital, was on CNBC this morning to discuss his latest favorite investment: Tesla Motors (TSLA). The mutual fund manager said that he sees Tesla becoming one of the largest companies in the world and he sees his fund holding it stock for the next 10 to 20 years.

During the CNBC interview, Baron said: “I think this could be one of the largest companies in the United States and the whole world,”

He added that he visits the factory almost every quarter to see how things are going. He now estimates that the competition is not anywhere close to Tesla and that incumbent automakers might have been a problem “4 or 5 years ago”, but that at this point, they “can’t catch up”. Baron also said that he is investing in the people at Tesla and especially CEO Elon Musk. The billionaire investor seems to share similar views on economics with Musk.

[Tesla] won the AutoPacific award for the highest satisfaction rating of any premium brand – building on its Consumer Report survey score of 97%. AutoPacific gave out its annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSAs) based on its car owner survey responses. For this year’s report, the group based the rankings on responses from 65,000 owners of new 2015 and 2016 model year cars and light trucks.

“Tesla was new to the survey results in 2015 and won the top premium brand award by a considerable margin (23 points). They hold the top spot this year, though Cadillac has closed the gap considerably with the highly satisfying Escalade and increases in owner satisfaction across their lineup,”

‘Lithium’ battery capacity degradation is one of the main concerns of electric vehicle buyers and potential buyers. Since the resurgence of electric cars is relatively recent, meaningful long-term data on large battery packs is fairly rare. Only Tesla has battery packs with a capacity higher than 30 kWh on the road in any significant number and they only have been in operation for a few years (Roadster aside).

But a few Tesla owners have accumulated impressive mileage on their vehicles and the data provides an interesting look into potential battery capacity degradation. Data shows that the Model S’ battery pack generally only loses about 5% of its capacity within the first 50,000 miles and then the degradation significantly slows down with higher mileage. Plug-in America’s data shows several vehicles with over 100,000 miles driven and less than 8% degradation.

CEO Elon Musk once referred to a battery pack Tesla was testing in the lab. He said that the company had simulated over 500,000 miles on it and that it was still operating at over 80% of its original capacity.