Tesla increases Model Y range to 315 miles, production begins now with deliveries in March

Tesla increased the range of the Model Y with the announcement of the production version. The electric SUV will now have up to 315 miles of range on a single charge.

With the release of its Q4 2019 financial results, Tesla said that it improved the energy efficiency of the Model Y:

“Due to continued engineering progress of the Model Y all-wheel drive (AWD), we have been able to increase its maximum EPA range to 315 miles, compared to our previous estimate of 280 miles. This extends Model Y’s lead as the most energy efficient electric SUV in the world.”

During a conference call following the financial results, CEO Elon Musk said that the Model Y will be the most efficient SUV with 4.1 miles of range per kWh.

This is going to increase Tesla’s already large efficiency lead over the competition:

The company is announcing the range increase as they confirm that they already started the production ramp at the Fremont factory:

“Model Y production ramp started in January 2020, ahead of schedule”

The new range is now displayed on Tesla’s updated Model Y online configurator:

As you can see, Tesla also updated the timeline in the configurator with “first deliveries begin in March 2020.”

In its shareholders letter, the automaker guided deliveries to start at the end of the first quarter of 2020.

Tesla also updated the wheel options available on the Model Y, which now comes standard with the new 19″ Gemini wheels that Tesla was already offering with winter tires on the Model 3.

Electrek’s Take

This is very interesting.

The timing is about what we expected following the most recent comments from Elon and the supply chain reports, but we now have a better idea of the efficiency of the Model Y.

When we got a hold of Tesla’s CARB filing for the Model Y Performance we speculated that the vehicle was more efficient than we thought, but it was dependent of the type of wheels CARB used for the testing.

The updated configurator hints toward the 19″ Gemini wheels, which are now standard for both the Model Y Long Range and Model Y Performance.

The Model Y is proving to be quite efficient on those wheels, but the efficiency quickly goes down to 280 miles of range on a single if you choose the new 20″ or 21″ wheel options.