The trend of recent months is the increase in prices for electric vehicles, in the secondary market since July last year, prices grew up one and a half times, as statistics show. In this context, a surprise was the appearance in the configurator on the Tesla website for European markets of a new version of the Model Y crossover with rear-wheel drive and a range of 455 km at a price of 42,000 euros excluding taxes.
Image Source: Tesla
Formally, as explained Electrek, in the Netherlands, such an electric car costs 50,000 euros including VAT, but it is a whopping 16,000 euros cheaper than the most affordable option that has so far been offered to local Tesla customers. Previously, the crossover was available here only with a drive on both axles, and the power reserve of the most affordable version in the WLTP cycle reached 533 km.
As the authors of the publication argue, at the current conditional parity of the euro and the dollar, such a rear-wheel drive electric car would cost $20,000 less in the US than the most affordable Model Y crossover for the local market. In some European markets, the new Model Y version is even cheaper than the younger Model 3 version. The company is ready to deliver the new Model Y variant to Europe by December this year or February 2023.
This electric car has two most likely sources of supply. Either Tesla will assemble the most affordable version of the Model Y at a new facility in Berlin by December, or the Shanghai facility will be able to export them in sufficient quantities, provided they are equipped with cheaper CATL-branded LFP batteries, which are commonly used in the production of basic versions of Tesla in China. The second option seems more likely so far.
It is interesting that the company at one time refused to supply the Model Y Standard Range in the United States, since Elon Musk called the range of no more than 393 km achieved by an electric car according to the EPA cycle too modest, and sales quickly curtailed. Apparently, on the European continent, such distances overlap with the ability to replenish the charge of the traction battery more successfully, so this version of the Model Y is offered to local customers. Moreover, in Europe, a more “optimistic” WLTP cycle is used, which ultimately gives 455 km of conventional cruising range without recharging.
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