The 2024 Model Y Update Is Here!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The Tesla Model Y is seemingly themost boring vehicle in the company lineup.
It doesn't have the sleek sports carlines of the Model S and Model three.
It doesn't have the theatrical flash offalcon wing doors like the Model X.
But is the Model Why the mostimportant vehicle for Tesla. In this
video, we're going to take acloser look at the vehicle that dethroned the

(00:22):
Toyota Corolla as the world's best sellingcar, and exploring some new features that
will make the Model Y even betterin twenty twenty four. The interesting thing
about the Model Y is that Teslahas used this vehicle as an experimental platform
for nearly the entire life of theproduct. Model Why was Tesla's first implementation

(00:43):
of large casting components when it wasreleased in spring twenty twenty. By later
that year, the Model Y wasupgraded to single piece castings in the rear
end courtesy of Tesla's first Gigapress machine. The year after that, we started
to see full front end giga castfor the first time, and in twenty
twenty to the Model Y was thefirst Tesla to receive forty six eighty battery

(01:03):
sales and the company's structural battery pack. So all that to say that the
Model Y is a vehicle in aconstant state of evolution, and that can
make it a bit tricky to everknow what you're going to get when you
click that order button, because weall know that Tesla does not do model
years the way that average carmakers would. They're much more apt to just make

(01:25):
a significant production change on the flywithout really giving much notice or explanation.
So here's the way things look onthe Tesla website. As of right now.
The Model Y is currently available toorder as one of three variants,
starting with the single motor rear wheeldrive Model Y with a claimed two hundred
and sixty miles of range. Thisvariant starts at around forty four thousand dollars.

(01:49):
It undercuts the now discontinued standard allwheel drive variant by almost five thousand
dollars. The next version in thelineup is the dual motor all wheel drive
long range variant, which gets animproved three hundred and thirty mile estimated range
and starts at almost fifty thousand dollars, and for roughly three thousand dollars more,
you can get the Model Y allwheel drive performance. Estimated range on

(02:13):
this drops to three hundred and threemiles, but it can now sprint to
sixty miles an hour from a standstillin three and a half seconds. Top
speed seeds a bump as well,going from one hundred and thirty five miles
per hour on the other two variantsto one hundred and fifty five, which
is very impressive for a car thatstill weighs over four thousand, three hundred
pounds. However, where your ModelY is being manufactured can have an impact

(02:37):
on the range your car comes with. Specifically the entry level rear wheel drive
variant. Cars manufactured at Gigafactory Texasin the United States have an estimated two
hundred and sixty mile range, butcars manufactured at Gigafactory Shanghai in China see
a drop in range to two hundredand forty five miles. This is important

(02:58):
to be aware of because to uslasmade in China are no longer just destined
for the Asia Pacific region anymore.For example, if I buy a Model
Y rear wheel drive in Canada,I'll receive a vehicle made in China,
even though I'm physically much closer toTexas than I am to Shanghai. So
why is Tesla selling the same carwith two different ranges? Well, the

(03:21):
answer is battery chemistry. The carsbeing produced in China are using the lithium
iron phosphate battery pack, while thosecoming from Texas are using the nickel cobalt
aluminum battery pack. Okay, withoutmaking this a battery pack video, here's
what you need to know about thesetwo types of batteries. Tesla has always
been using NCAA battery packs in theirvehicles. They are energy dens, can

(03:44):
charge quickly and serve the purpose ofan electric vehicle very well, but nickel
and cobalt are expensive materials and usuallyhave ethical concerns attached to their mining.
To solve this dilemma, the LFPbattery was introduced. While the raw materials
needed for its production are far cheaperand easier to acquire, it does have
an energy density that is up tothirty percent less than the NCAA battery packs,

(04:09):
and that is at the heart ofthe lower range achieved by LFP equipped
model ys. So. While theUSA model Y order page still lists the
NCAA battery range, Tesla's European andCanadian operations are only selling the LFP versions
manufactured in China. Speaking of batteries, the Model Y used to be available
for a short period of time withTesla's new forty six eighty battery cell and

(04:32):
structural battery pack in the Model Yall wheel drive variant, but with that
version no longer available to order,there are still very few available to buy
from Tesla inventory. But it lookslike we won't be seeing that particular battery
option for the Model Y return anytimesoon. It's fair to assume that all
forty six eighty cells have been redirectedtowards the cyber truck and upcoming customer deliveries.

(04:57):
But this doesn't mean that the dreamof an ultra high performance forty six
eighty powered Model WHY is dead.It's just in hibernation. We'll come back
to new feature predictions in just aminute. On the face of it,
the Model Y might appear to bethe most boring of the Tesla lineup,
but the numbers tell a completely differentstory. Early in twenty twenty three,
the Model Y became the United States'second best selling car for the year,

(05:20):
with only the Ford to f oneto fifty pickup truck having higher sales.
Tesla broke a thirty five year recordin Iceland by becoming the best selling car
with oney three hundred and sixteen ModelWhys sold. It also became Australia's best
selling car in June twenty twenty three. Over in Denmark, it broke another
record for most sales in a year. The crowning glory though. The Tesla

(05:45):
Model Why is the world's best sellingcar for the first half of twenty twenty
three, and it looks set tomaintain that position till the end of the
year. Not just electric cars,but all cars. It's beating the Toyota
Corolla and four other Toyotas in thetop five. That's not just a huge
achievement for the Model Hy, butfor electric cars in general. Ev acceptance

(06:09):
is at an all time high.Now, let's talk about the potential for
the Model Y in twenty twenty four, because we know that some major changes
are coming across the board, andthere are even a few that have already
arrived overseas. This is expected todovetail with Tesla's major refresh of the Model
three, which is often referred toas the Model three Highland. It is

(06:31):
the most drastic visual redesign of anyTesla vehicle yet, but the Highland update
also brings in a wide ranging newfeature set for Tesla's mid tier platform.
Naturally, we would expect the ModelY to follow suit with the same exterior
and interior redesign as the Model three, since both vehicles share a very similar
platform. The fully refreshed Model Yis often referred to as Project Juniper,

(06:56):
but unlike the early Highland prototypes,there have been zero sightings of a redesigned
Model Y in the real world,though we have gathered some evidence that Highland
features are slowly making their way intoModel Y production at Gigashanghai. Tesla recently
unveiled a soft update to the ModelY in China, with deliveries commencing in
the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. The update includes a redesigned set of

(07:20):
black nineteen inch wheels, new ambientled lighting, and textile replacing the wood
trim on the dashboard. The caris also now equipped with Tesla's hardware four
point zero self driving computer, whichpromises improved autonomous driving capabilities through higher quality
cameras, faster processing power, anda high definition radar unit. Reports also

(07:42):
state a reduction in noise, vibrationand harshness levels in the updated car,
likely coming from an upgraded suspension system, and this all matches up with what
we've already seen in the Model threeHighland. But there is one very fascinating
standout feature for this new model Ythat we can can't quite put our finger
on. Tesla's China website lists thezero to sixty miles an hour time for

(08:05):
the rear wheel drive variant at fivepoint nine seconds. That's an improvement from
six point six seconds in the nonupdated cars, or a fourteen point five
percent increase in acceleration performance. Instinctively, we might go first to the battery
pack for an explanation. We knowthat Chinese Teslas have access to a much
wider range of products from nearby batterypartner COATL, who has been making significant

(08:30):
advancements in LFP battery technology over thepast few years, But the performance upgrade
seems to be limited to acceleration,while range on the standard vehicle only increased
by one point seven percent. That'slikely attributed to the more aerodynamic new wheel
design than it is to any batterychange, so it's possible that Tesla is

(08:52):
experimenting with a new and more powerfuldrive unit in the Model Y at Gigishanghai.
Currently, these updated vehicles are onlylisted for sale in China, but
with Gigafactory Shanghai now manufacturing the majorityof Model y's for the world, we
can expect to see these filter tothe rest of Tesla's market before a major
model revamp. Okay, now,let's spend a little more time with that

(09:15):
idea of a Model Y redesign.It's fair to say that the Project Juniper
Model Y will get all of thenew features and changes from the Model three
Highland. Most noticeable is that crispnew lines straight across the front bumper and
the lower drag coefficient that it brings, plus the compact headlights and tail lights.
Moving to the interior, the biggestchange is the redesigned steering wheel with

(09:37):
the capacity of touch controls taken fromthe Model S and Model X, and
of course the removal of the controlstocks with those functions transferred to touch controls
on either the steering wheel or thecenter screen. So we are left with
one big question, will Tesla dareto go one step further with the Model
Y. This vehicle may have startedoff as a plus sized Model three with

(10:01):
a hatchback, but in the timesince its release, Tesla has been steadily
differentiating the Model Why into something thatis very much its own vehicle. We
have come to expect a little morefrom the Model Why, and for one
brief shining moment, we saw apreview of what that vehicle could be.
Front and rear gigacastings linked by astructural battery pack and loaded with Tesla's new

(10:24):
forty six eighty battery cell format.In theory, the new cell and pack
design was going to add thirty percentmore range with even higher power output.
It was going to improve handling,rigidity, and safety, while at the
same time decreasing the vehicle weight,speeding up production time, and reducing manufacturing
costs. Essentially the perfect electric car. In practice, though, Tesla's first

(10:48):
attempt at a forty six eighty ModelWhy was worse in just about every performance
metric, and it didn't even costvery much less than a normal Model Why.
So there's a reason they stopped makingthese things and are still struggling to
offload the last few that are kickingaround the factory. The company got ahead
of themselves and put out a vehiclebefore it was ready. The forty six

(11:11):
eighty battery cells just were not readyfor mass production. But if we are
looking at Elon Musk's recent optimism withthe release of the cyber truck, he's
talking about moving pretty quickly to alevel of building two hundred thousand trucks per
year, then it would stand toreason that Tesla believes they will have the
batteries to back that up. Soif we combine that with this new electric

(11:33):
motor that Tesla seems to be experimentingwith in Shanghai, then maybe the reason
that Project Juniper seems to be movingat a much slower pace is that Tesla
has a little bit more going onthan just a new bumper and some headlights.
Maybe the new model why is morelike a new car altogether. The
evolution of the electric vehicle that wewere promised so many years ago at Battery

(11:56):
Day twenty twenty four is shaping upto be a very big year, So
you'd better stay tuned.