Tesla preps larger 2025 Model 3 RWD battery with longer range on a charge

Tesla will be equipping its most affordable 2025 Model 3 version with a new, larger battery, according to regulatory database filings.

The 6M pack comes with the same number of cells as the current Model 3 RWD battery, indicating that they will offer a new chemistry or more efficient packaging with increased energy density.

In Europe and the UK, Tesla already introduced a Model 3 Long Range version with a record 702km (436 miles) of distance covered on a charge, a significant bump over the previous 390-mile rating.

The Model 3 RWD range increase there will be way more modest, though, as the regulatory filing reveals 520km (323 miles) on a charge, just a few miles over the current rating with the 19-inch wheels.

Tesla is achieving this with a new 62.5 kWh LFP battery pack from the same supplier CATL that fits in the same footprint in terms of size and weight, though. It is not some revolutionary chemistry, either, as the energy density suggests that the new Model 3 RWD battery pack won't be of CATL's manganese phosphate type.

2025 Model 3 RWD battery and range specs

• CATL 6M 62.5 kWh LFP
• Same 3D7 Motors since 2021 (208kW / 350Nm)
• 19" WLTP 520km declared (528km actual)
• 19"WLTP 138Wh/km declared (132Wh/km actual)

Most probably, Tesla is looking to cut costs by using CATL's new LFP battery packing that offers slightly better specs at what is likely to be a greatly reduced price tag.

Battery-grade lithium prices have hit their lows this year as EV demand plummeted, and CATL is surely offering enticing packs to Tesla for its China-made vehicles that are then exported globally to places like Europe.

The same battery pack could be used in the Model Y Juniper refresh to keep prices low, speculates the source, and the charging curve could be receiving a boost as well. We won't know until Tesla launches the 2025 Model 3 RWD officially later this month, or next quarter, with an official range increase to 520km (323 miles) with the larger and more expensive wheel set.

Tesla doesn't sell a base Model 3 version with LFP battery in the US any longer, as it is not getting federal tax credit for it, but it recently bumped its own range estimate for the LR version on the 19-inch set of wheels, so it seems that is definitely trying to improve the 2025 crop of its most affordable vehicle.

Get the 80A Tesla Gen 2 Wall Connector with 24' cable on Amazon