Tesla CEO Elon Musk was quoted as telling investors of his electric car company that "it won’t be long before we have a 400-mile (643km) range car", reports CBS News.
That's certainly the kind of talk South Africans who are interested in electric vehicles would like to hear. Currently Tesla's Long Range Model S Sedan has the longest real world range of around 600km according to Australian publication, The Driven.
Tesla does not have a footprint in South Africa yet, despite the South-African born CEO tweeting back in 2016 that the company would open a dealership in his former home.
The only electric car on sale in South Africa with more than 350km real world range is the Jaguar I-Pace.
Musk, speaking at the annual shareholder meeting in California, also said:"if you buy a gasoline car that is not self-driving, it's like riding a horse and using a flip phone."
READ: Is that a Tesla bakkie? Elon Musk speaks on new electric Pickup
The company's latest car is the Model 3, the cheapest ($35 000) and smallest car it has on sale.
Tesla is lining up its bakkie for release in the US in the third quarter of 2019, in 2020 the automaker will puts fully-electric semi-truck on sale in the US.
In 2018, Musk was removed by shareholders as board chair after the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Tesla $20-million for Musk tweets alluding to the company's results.