Tesla launches Model Y with large battery and rear-wheel drive

That means there are now four variants of the Model Y available, at least in some European countries. The configurators show the long-range version is available in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Germany, and Norway, among others. However, it is not (yet) sold in France, the Netherlands, and the UK, for example.

The base version of the Model Y, called “Rear-Wheel Drive,” has a WLTP range of up to 455 kilometres and is fitted with an LFP battery. The new “Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive” version can go up to 600 kilometres between charges. It has the 2170 round cell battery known from the all-wheel drive models. The “Long Range All-Wheel Drive” accelerates faster thanks to the second motor (5.0 instead of 5.9 seconds to 100 kph), but only has a WLTP range of 533 kilometres. The top model is the Model Y Performance, labelled “Performance All-Wheel Drive” in the configurator.

As usual, Tesla provides hardly any information about the drive itself in its configurator. The apparently leaked type approval indicates an output of 220 kW with a torque of 350 Nm. Consumption is said to be 15.5 kWh/100 km, which enables the high range with the known battery. By comparison, the all-wheel drive model consumes 16.9 kWh/100 km.

An interesting detail: Tesla has only had one rim variant certified in the WLTP. For the Model Y “Long Range All-Wheel Drive,” for example, these were the 20-inch rims for those 533 kilometres. It was previously said that with the 19-inch rims with aero hubcaps, the EV has an “estimated” range of 565 kilometres. Tesla has had both versions certified for the “Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive,” with 600 kilometres being achieved with the 19-inch wheels and 565 kilometres with the 20-inch induction wheels according to WLTP. In other words, even if comparing the WLTP ranges on paper suggests that the rear-wheel drive model offers almost 70 kilometres more range, the difference is more in the region of 30 kilometres when comparing the same rims.

Beyond that, there don’t seem to be any other differences to the Model Y with the same battery and the all-wheel drive available to date – the equipment and charging performance are the same. However, the difference lies in the price. For example, in Germany, the new variant is about 6,000 euros cheaper than the all-wheel drive model. The omitted components for the front electric motor alone cannot explain this difference.

In other countries, the difference is significantly smaller. In Belgium, the new model variant starts at 49,970 euros and thus costs only 3,000 euros less than the all-wheel drive version. The same is true for i.e. Spain and Denmark.

The new version is also built in Grünheide. Availability is very similar to all other drive variants: These are specified in the configurator as 2-3 weeks, whereas for the new model it is 2-4 weeks.

tesla.com (configurator, Denmark), tff-forum.de (type approval, in German)