Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

Well, now that the Model 3 production is so well covered, time now to think about what happens in 2019 and 2020 with the new cars coming. Unlike traditional cars, electric vehicles are on an amazingly rapid timeline. While many of the changes (like full self driving) are mainly software improvements there are some key hardware changes that are coming.
So getting on the electric vehicle “bus” is a great thing, but here are some longer term things to look for if for instance you have 1-2 years to go on your lease and are wondering what to do. Right now it looks like we are hitting some sort point where you can actually think about having an EV for 4-5 years instead of seeing major improvements every 2-3 years.
What are some things to look for. Well first there are new models, the Model Y is targeted for production in 2020 (I can’t believe that is just 1.5 years away!). And it’s a nice form factor as a smaller crossover vehicle.
But even for the Model S and X, there are changes coming.
There is already MCU2, the higher performance media computer that shipped in March 2018.
Both the Model S and X are probably going to get style changes to be more like the Model 3. So don’t the enthusiasts think this change is coming soon.
Besides aesthetics, one big change is moving to new battery 2170 technology which makes a 120Kwh battery possible.
Also there is a bump to 200Kw for super charging from the current 120Kw we see. It’s not clear if these two will happen, but if they did, it would mean ranges of 400 miles or so. And while 200Kw charging will have to taper (120Kw starts to taper at 60-65% on a 100KwH S/X as an example), this would still reduce charging times.
Finally, they say that MCU2 is enough performance to get to fully automated, but I do wonder what processor updates are needed for the future.