It was a big day for Tesla yesterday on a number of fronts. One of the biggest was the update provided during the Q4 earnings call on Model Y range and production.
As noted in their Q4 earnings report, and later elaborated on by Tesla CEO Elon Musk during the earnings call, the Model Y got a big boost in range, now getting 507km for both the Long Range (LR) and Performance version of the electric SUV, up from the previous 451km and 486km for the LR RWD and AWD versions respectively.
It is also important to note that the LR RWD version is no longer available on Tesla’s online configurator. There has been no confirmation what the fate of that version will be, but it could now just only be available off-menu, similar to the Standard Range (SR) Model 3.
This increase in range extends the lead the Model Y has on the competition as the most energy efficient SUV in the world, now able to achieve 4.1 miles per kWh. In their earnings report, Tesla provided a graph showing just how impressive the efficiency of the Model Y is compared to several other similar vehicles.
Tesla’s continued dominance in the area of battery technology is truly impressive. Despite releasing all their patents, the competition still hasn’t been able to match Tesla in terms of efficiency and range. The perfect example is the Porsche Taycan and the Model S, which have similar sized batteries, but the Tesla gets almost twice as much range.
Also updated yesterday was the delivery schedule for the Model Y. Musk revealed that limited production has already begun, and the first deliveries in the US will begin in March 2020. According to Tesla’s website, the first deliveries in Canada will begin in “mid-2020”. This was after the first Model Y spotted in Canada happened yesterday morning in downtown Toronto.
