Tesla Model Y deliveries begin in Europe

Tesla has handed over the first Model Ys to customers in Europe. As social media posts show, the first handovers are in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. There are also new rumours about the battery technology of the Model Y to be built at Giga Berlin.

+ + Kindly see our update below + +

In view of the first deliveries in Europe, Teslerati writes the “Model Y invasion in Europe begins”. The exact date of the start of deliveries was not communicated by Tesla but had been hinted at after the presentation of the Model Y in Berlin and other cities.

In the meantime, several deliveries have been documented with social media posts by Tesla salespeople or customers in Germany, for example, in Dortmund-Holzwickede, the Frankfurt area or Kiel. However, it is unclear how many vehicles have been delivered so far.

In addition to Germany, the first Model Ys were also handed over to customers in Norway. According to the Norwegian news agency tek.no, Tesla has rented an exhibition hall in Lillestrøm, east of the capital Oslo, to deliver the Model Y there. A Norwegian Tesla manager also said that the vehicles unloaded in Oslo would be distributed to various locations around the country.

A Model Y has also already been delivered in the Netherlands. According to Twitter user @M_Steinbuch, their white Model Y Long Range was the first one in the country. Twitter users at a showroom event from the UK reported that local staff said a right-hand drive variant could also be expected in the next quarter.

With deliveries in August, customers received their vehicles just one month later than initially promised – with one major change: vehicles from Gigafactory 4 in Giga Berlin were actually promised to start deliveries in July. Now, it’s quite clear the vehicles are being built in China.

Meanwhile, there are rumours that Tesla will initially use 2170-cells instead of 4680-cells for the Model Y vehicles produced in Texas and Giga Berlin and will rely on LFP cells from China for the standard-range variants of the Model 3 and Model Y produced in Fremont from 1 October. This information comes from @TroyTeslike, who writes on Twitter without specifying sources.

The rumor is,

• Fremont will start using LFP cells from China for Standard Range Model 3/Y from Oct 1st, 2021 and
• Model Y production in Texas/Berlin will start with 2170 cells instead of 4680.

— Troy Teslike (@TroyTeslike) August 21, 2021

Both rumours seem fundamentally plausible. The LFP cells from CATL, which Tesla already uses in the Gigafactory Shanghai, are likely to be significantly cheaper than the round cells that Panasonic manufactures in Gigafactory 1 in Nevada – Tesla has so far used these cells to assemble smaller packs for the standard range models built in Fremont.

Tesla may need the 2170 round cells from Nevada elsewhere: The Model Ys built in the new gigafactories in Texas and Greenheath should have the new 4680 battery format with structurally integrated battery packs. But since the 4680 cells are still not being produced on a larger scale, the 2170 cells will probably be used first. So what was previously rumoured to be a plan B now seems more likely – but none of this has been confirmed. Elon Musk also spoke of a “backup plan” to not jeopardise the vehicle ramp-up in Austin and Giga Berlin.

It may well be that US customers could benefit from the changeover: On the one hand, the range of the Standard Range models could increase with the introduction of the LFP batteries (based on the ranges of the Chinese models), and on the other hand, there could then also be a Model Y Standard Range in the USA – this has so far only been built and offered in China. Most recently, there had been rumours that the battery size of the Standard Range models built in China could increase from 55 to 60 kWh.

Update 17 October 2021:

The Tesla Model Y is available to order in the UK & Ireland as was announced by Tim Findlay, UK & Ireland Market Leader at Tesla on LinkedIn. In both countries, the electric car is orderable online on the company’s respective country websites.

teslarati.com, twitter.com, electrek.co

Update UK & Ireland: linkedin.com, tesla.com (UK), tesla.com (Ireland)