Tesla’s Giga Texas will be building the Model Y Standard Range All-Wheel Drive. During the grand opening of Giga Texas, TeslaRaj explored one of the new Model Ys — the one that I mentioned in a previous article that was beautifully wrapped with the Cyber Rodeo logo emblazoned on the front.
Troy Teslike notes that this was confirmation that Giga Texas is making the Model Y Standard AWD version, and you can clearly see in Raj’s video that this is a Model Y Standard Range. The Model Y is also a dual-motor vehicle despite being the Standard Range trim, whereas Standard Range Model 3 vehicles have historically been single-motor vehicles.
The reason Giga Texas is building a Model Y Standard Range with 4680 cells instead of a Long-Range version is that 4680 cell production is slow and SR has a 68 kWh battery instead of 82 kWh for LR. So, fewer cells are needed which means they can make more cars. pic.twitter.com/LM7NvAXjab
— Troy Teslike (@TroyTeslike) April 7, 2022
Troy Teslike also postulated that the reason Giga Texas is building the Model Y Standard Range with 4680 cells instead of building a Long Range version of the Model Y with them is due to the slow pace of 4680 cell production at the moment. Since the Standard Range Model Y has a 68 kWh battery instead of an 82 kWh battery, fewer cells are needed and the more cars Tesla can manufacture. He could be onto something here.
Just a couple of days after Raj’s and Troy’s tweets, Twitter user @Tesla_Adri found something interesting and shared a couple of images of code from Tesla’s website. Each image has a separate date — April 8 and April 9. They noted that it seemed as if Tesla was preparing the order page for the Tesla Model Y Standard AWD and pointed out the updated range and acceleration, which matches the values from the EPA document.
Seems like Tesla is preparing the order page for the Texas Model Y Standard AWD.
MTY14 was a while back a Long Range AWD, then it changed to a Model Y AWD (with same figures as the LR AWD).
Today they updated the range and acceleration to match the values from the EPA document pic.twitter.com/RRbjG8Rgfv
— Tesla_Adri (@tesla_adri) April 9, 2022
A couple of days ago, Drive Tesla Canada reported that a Tesla employee took delivery of a made-in-Texas Model Y with 4680 battery cells. Regan Janssen, an Engineering Process Technician at Giga Texas, said in a LinkedIn post that she was one of the first to receive the new made-in-Texas Model Y. In her post, she confirmed that these Model Ys have structural battery packs and 4680 cells.
The article noted that the reason that the first Model Ys were delivered to Tesla employees is that customers can’t order one yet. Although DriveTeslaCanada pointed out that they didn’t know the price, they estimate that the new trim will start at $59,990, which is around $3,000 less than the Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD.
WholeMarsCatalog shared a thread on Twitter about Tesla’s all-wheel-drive Model Y and noted that it’s Tesla’s first car with high-nickel 4680 cells and Tesla’s structural pack. He added that it will be the lowest priced Model Y, starting at under $60,000. The range is 279 miles EPA and it accelerates from 0–60 mph in five seconds.
Some people asked why the first Model Y with 4680 cells and a structural pack has less range.
This is because Tesla chose to start with a version that has a smaller battery pack (less energy capacity) than the existing long range.
long range 4680 Y is coming in the future too pic.twitter.com/8e5o6PbZch
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) April 13, 2022
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