2012 Tesla Model S Will Launch a Month Early, Have 265-Mile Range

Tesla Motors has moved up the on-sale date of its 2012 Tesla Model S to June, and the electric carmaker revealed that top-of-the-line Model S trims will have a range of up to 265 miles.

Due to quicker-than-expected approval by government agencies, Tesla expects to deliver its first retail Model S vehicles in June instead of its original July date.

The Model S is now fully certified with the EPA and the state of California, according to Tesla. On the company’s blog, the carmaker mentioned that the Model S with the largest battery pack, an 85-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, is EPA-rated as traveling about 265 miles per charge. This exceeds the range of any electric vehicle on the market today. No word yet on what the 40- and 60-kWh batteries will get, but Tesla originally stated ranges of 160 miles and 230 miles, respectively. The 85-kWh battery was originally estimated to get 300 miles per charge, about 12% higher than the EPA’s number.

Tesla is still awaiting approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but it expects the Model S to receive a five-star safety rating from the agency.

Tesla says it is already producing Model S vehicles and has built about 80 test units to date. The electric carmaker already has more than 10,000 reservations for the Model S and 1,000 reservations for its recently announced Model X crossover.

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