Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) invited thousands of guests to visit its newly constructed Model Y factory at Giga Texas yesterday, the event was named Cyber Rodeo. This was a factory tour where all the visitors were free to roam inside the building wherever they wanted to go.
During this factory tour, people also came across a parked Model Y that looked like a normal one from the outside but it was different. This was a different variant of the Model Y, the Standard Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive with 279 miles (449 km) of range.
This new Model Y Standard AWD came under the radar last month when the EPA website added two new variants of the 2022 Model Y on its website for fuel economy comparison.
Tesla YouTuber Raj was the first one to spot the new Model Y AWD Standard Range variant at Giga Texas yesterday evening. He took a look at the screen and found out that it was actually a new variant that Tesla has not yet officially launched for sale.
When Raj checked this car’s state-of-charge (SoC), the battery remaining was 19%, upon toggling to miles, it showed 53 miles left in the pack. 53 miles at 19% translates to around 279 miles, the variant added by the EPA.
As Elon Musk confirmed last night in during his Cyber Rodeo talk, the Model Y SUVs built at Giga Texas have front and rear single-piece underbody castings, the structural pack, and the 4680 cells — hence the most advanced Model Ys are built at Giga Texas.
Later on, Tesla retail investor and social media influencer Omar aka Whole Mars Blog also posted a short video and pics of this new Model Y Standard AWD parked inside the factory in Blue color.
If we follow the Tesla VIN decoder instructions, we can see that the 11th digit that identifies the “plant of the manufacturer,” has “A” in the above screenshot denoting Austin (Giga Texas). This is a factory test car that clearly mentions it on the software update version which is 2022.4.103.5.1. This is not a public software release as I checked the TeslaFi firmware tracker.
Tesla will most probably soon launch this new Model Y variant as the Standard (lowest trim) because the price of the current basic variant Model Y Long Range AWD starts at $62,990 after two price increases last month.
This new Model Y Standard Range will make it easier for potential Tesla customers to afford the vehicle and who are happy with a 279-mile range.
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