Tesla has been forced to delay deliveries of the Model S Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive (AWD) and Model Y Performance in the United States. Tesla instituted the delivery pause at the request of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to potential issues with the two vehicles’ range figures.
Last month Tesla updated the range ratings, lowering the figures for the Model S, Model X, and Model Y. Although Tesla didn’t publicly provide a reason for the change, internal communication to employees revealed it was due to two factors. One was because of changes to the EPA testing methods that resulted in “higher consumption and a slight decrease in overall range,” and the other was what Tesla referred to as “comfort and functionality improvements” that draw more energy from the battery pack.
Those “comfort and functionality improvements” were a fancy way of saying Tesla was introducing an “efficiency package,” something which it has done previously with the Model 3 refresh back in 2021. While we don’t know the details of the changes in the efficiency package and what new parts are being introduced, it is apparently a big enough change that impacts the range enough for the EPA to want to retest some vehicles.
Earlier this week we received a report from a reader who was informed their Model S delivery had been cancelled, and pushed back until February 28. The reason given was that there was an issue with the EPA and Tesla did not yet have approval to deliver the car.
Since then we have learned from our sources the delivery hold also applies to the Model Y Performance. From what we have been told, Tesla believed they had all the necessary paperwork in order to deliver these cars, but due to the efficiency package upgrades, the EPA has asked Tesla to pause deliveries to allow them to retest these two trims specifically.
As we mentioned, the delivery pause was initially expected to be lifted on February 28, but as of our latest information received this morning, that has now been extended to March 7 at the earliest.
We have yet to hear of a similar delivery pause for the Model S Dual Motor AWD and Model Y Performance in Canada.
Have you been impacted by this issue? Let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us at tips@driveteslacanada.ca.
