Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk says has a solution to end the most commonly cited criticism of electric cars, which the company will reveal during a press conference Thursday.
Range anxiety, or how far an electric car can travel before its charge expires, is often the first and primary argument made against the adoption of electric cars.
Though Tesla in particular has been working to alleviate that fear through its expanding network of cost-free Supercharger stations across the U.S. and Europe, Musk recently tweeted that Tesla is “about to end range anxiety” via an over-the-air software update, which will apply to the entire Model S fleet.
Tesla press conf at 9am on Thurs. About to end range anxiety … via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S fleet.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2015
No other details about the firmware update have been released, but rumors circulating the web include a navigation system update that tracks in real-time your ability to make it to a charging station, an emergency power reserve, a battery life extension or some combination of the above.
This isn’t the first time an OTA software update has significantly affected Model S performance. Earlier this year, Tesla engineers improved the Model S P85D’s 0-60 acceleration time by .1 second thanks to an improved algorithm, which the company released to the public for free. (RELATED: Tesla Is Making The World’s Fastest Sedan Even FASTER)