Tesla lowers Model Y base price in the USA

Tesla has reduced the base price for the Model Y in the USA by 3,000 dollars to just under 50,000 dollars. Besides, Elon Musk announced a further drive variant for the compact electric SUV.

The purchase price of the Model Y Long Range in the USA is now 49,990 dollars. The performance version has also become cheaper, but only by around 1,000 dollars to 59,990 dollars. The European prices remained unchanged online, but the Model Y is not yet here. The first Model Y for Europe will come from the Giga Berlin 4 in Grünheide – until then Tesla has plenty of time for possible price adjustments.

Also, further information is now available on the planned drive variants of the Model Y. According to Elon Musk, there will not be a ‘standard range’ version with a smaller battery like the Model 3, because “the range would be unacceptably low (<250 miles EPA)”. That would be the equivalent of a little more than 400 kilometres.

No, as range would be unacceptably low (< 250 mile EPA)

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2020

Instead, Model Y will offer a variant that has been discarded for the Model 3: with a long-range battery and rear-wheel drive. In the USA, the Model 3 had been available in this set-up but not anymore for the market launch in Europe. Here, only the two AWD versions with the long-range battery and later the “SR+” entry-level model went on sale.

Musk didn’t mention a possible range for the rear-wheel-drive Model Y on Twitter. The presentation of the Model Y in spring 2019, included a graph of 300 miles, i.e. the equivalent of 482 kilometres. At that time, $47,000 was mentioned as a possible price. Since the Dual-Motor-Model-Y was announced at that time with 51,000 dollars and is cheaper in the meantime, the new drive variant could also become a bit cheaper. According to Musk, the model should be offered “in a few months”.

Also, the Model S and X will be changed: On the US website, Tesla has corrected the information on the charging capacity upwards. The two large models should now be able to charge on the V3 superchargers with up to 250 kW. Musk confirmed on Twitter that they had increased charging power. One had to “make a few cables thicker” to reduce the heating, said the Tesla boss. However, it is not clear from which production date the thicker cables will be installed.

Information about the real charging performance of the vehicles with the latest specifications is not yet available. The 250 kilowatts should only be reached in a small window at a low charge level. Nevertheless, the upgrade for the older vehicles with minor changes to the cabling is impressive.

Tesla has now also achieved an important figure in China. On July 9, Gigafactory 3 near Shanghai said they had already built the 50,000th Model 3. Production had only started in December 2019. For comparison: In the same period, BYD has built 40,133 New Energy Vehicles – distributed over ten models as well as BEVs and PHEVs combined.

electrek.co, teslarati.com (both Model Y pricing), electrek.co, teslarati.com (RWD Model Y), electrek.co (charging performance), insideevs.com (Gigafactory)