On the website page, Tesla states how far you can expect to go by charging 15 minutes on a Supercharger station under optimal conditions.
Previously, the manufacturer specified 299 kilometers for the Model 3 and 270 kilometers for the Model Y (see screenshot taken in September of this year).
Over the past two months, Tesla has quietly lowered that number: It’s now 275 kilometers for the Model 3 and 241 kilometers for the Model Y, respectively, bringing the declines to eight percent for the Model 3 and 10.7 percent for the Model Y.
What happened?
TU has He previously criticized the fast charging characteristics of the Model Y.. During tests, we charged 214 km in 15 minutes – not close to 270. Was the version lowered to give a more realistic picture of charging speed?
Or does it mean that new cars being delivered are now slower to ship?
After questions from TU, Tesla Norway investigated the case. Director of Communications, even Rowland Sandvold, says the following answers are given on a general basis:
Different battery cells have different fast charging profiles. When we make changes to the product related, for example, to the specific cell type or range, the shipping speed estimate will also change, he says.
– What has changed in the new models, eg the Model Y delivered in November/December compared to the Model Y delivered in August/September?
– We need to investigate this further, he says.
He says Tesla sticks to the numbers listed on the site at the time of ordering the car.
Does that mean the Model Y delivered these days was slower to ship than the Model Y delivered in August/September?
Our websites contain the latest product specifications, and these are the applicable specifications.
– I interpret that as the new cars are charging slower?
– I did not say that. Roland answers: What is written on the site is what applies.
No obvious changes
It is not easy to be wise with the answers. Roland’s answer should be interpreted so that changes are made to the cars which means they charge fewer kilometers in 15 minutes. But they don’t know what kind of changes were made – and they are being investigated further. At the same time, they do not want to confirm what seems so obvious: that new cars on a fast charger perform worse than they were delivered a few months ago.
Tesla is not in the habit of announcing all the changes made to production versions of cars. Nor have they announced any changes to the new Ys being delivered these days.
Another heavier battery, for example, could increase consumption so much that Tesla had to cut the mileage you get by charging for 15 minutes — even with the same charging curve. But there is no information about this.
The WLTP range of 507 kilometers is the same. It now indicates the estimated range of different wheel dimensions, but according to Roland, the numbers shouldn’t be different. No new WLTP tests are performed either.
Thus, the cars look more or less identical, which could mean that the lower express shipping number applies to cars delivered in August and November.
Shipping speed will vary
At the same time, we might not expect Tesla to admit that the reduction also applies to cars that were announced with better numbers, if that is the case. Tesla is legally obligated to be responsible for the numbers provided at the time the vehicle was purchased. If they had backtracked on this matter, it would have caused problems for them.
After all, the most important thing is how the cars charge in real life, which disappointed Tesla as I said in our tests earlier. We haven’t tested the cars that are being distributed these days.
In any case, we must point out that the range number that Tesla shows when charging for 15 minutes is somewhat hypothetical. It can only be achieved under optimal conditions. Actual charging speed may vary depending on, for example, battery charge level, available charging station capacity and weather conditions. The second part of the calculation – vehicle depreciation – also varies according to several different conditions.
“Web specialist. Lifelong zombie maven. Coffee ninja. Hipster-friendly analyst.”
