Leaked documents lay out Tesla Model Y production data

Tesla appears to operate on an aggressive timeline for producing the Model Y, internal documents leaked to Business Insider show. Tesla sent said documents to engineers ahead of the Q3 earnings call in October and so a Tesla spokesperson called these to be “outdated” by now. Still they reveal ambition.

Perhaps production will not progress just as aggressively, assuming that Tesla usually plans a little too ambitiously. But let’s start at the beginning. At the end of October Elon Musk had indeed revealed that he had approved the final prototype of the Model Y for production to begin by 2020. The Tesla boss also figured that the electric SV would be made in China too reportedly.

This is also what the leaked documents confirm that specified to set up a pilot line in the Gigafactory 1 in Navada by June 1, 2020 and to manufacture 2,000 Model Y per week there from September 2020.
A pilot line in the Gigafactory 3 China should be ready by the beginning of October 2020, and by the end of 2020 around 2,000 Model Y should be produced there every week.
Production figures for Model Y were then to rise to 7,000 per week in Nevada by December, 20, 2020 and 5,000 units per week in China by February 2021.

Moreover the documents show that the Model Y will utilise the Model 3 platform yet with some changes. This includes a third row of seats for example.

So we guess you can call this ambitious and it remains unclear of what exactly has changed to date. Business Insider sent an email to Tesla inquiring about the changes and received the following response: “The timelines and information shared here are outdated. When we have details to announce, we will certainly share them. In the meantime, we remain focused on Model 3, which we are excited to bring to Europe and China early next year.”

So this looks like we will have to wait for more reliable information until March 2019, when Tesla plans to introduce the Model Y electric car officially.

On a truly official note: EPA published their rating for the “mid-range” Tesla Model 3 and says it is 260 miles (418 km).

businessinsider.de, insideevs.com (EPA rating)