When Tesla started selling the Model S in 2012, the most affordable option came with a 40-kilowatt hour battery pack, for $50,000. Tesla killed the entry-level S within a year because no one wanted it. The next cheapest version, the 60-kWh Model S, died last year. Tesla replaced it with a 70-kWh model that starts at about $75,000.



And this year, Tesla replaced the 85-kWh battery pack in the range-topping Model S with a 90-kWh setup. The upside to steadily increasing the size of the batteries is cars with greater range (the 90D goes 294 miles on a charge). The downside? More expensive cars. So much for the “affordable” Model S Musk promised all those years ago.