What just happened? If there’s one thing that electric vehicle companies are renowned for, it’s exaggerating the official ranges of their EVs. This is something that Tesla has been accused of doing on several occasions – Elon Musk’s company is believed to be the worst offender of the bunch – which could explain why the automaker has just lowered the range estimates for several models in the US.
Tesla’s online configurator has changed the range estimates for the Model Y Performance trim from 303 miles to 285 miles, a decrease of 37 miles, writes Electrek. The Model Y Long Range has also seen its range drop, from 330 miles to 310 miles. The cheapest version of the Model Y, the Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive, keeps its original 260-mile range rating.
Other Teslas have also seen their ranges reduced. The Model X Plaid is down from 333 miles to 326 miles, while the Model S Plaid configuration with the 19-inch wheels is down from 396 miles to 359 miles.
The ranges of Tesla’s Model 3 and Cybertruck remain unchanged. In the case of the latter, the AWD Cybertruck’s 340-mile range has been criticized in light of Musk promising a 500-mile range in 2019. Tesla will likely point to the extra battery pack range extender that supposedly pushes the truck to 470 miles (and takes up around a third of the truck bed).
What’s interesting is that range changes have not appeared on Tesla’s UK or European websites.
Electrek posits that the new ranges, which are about 6% lower on average, could be related to a change in the way Tesla carries out its EPA testing. The publication believes that the new figures still aren’t a true reflection of Tesla vehicles’ ranges, but they’re closer to the truth than before. We’ll have to wait and see if the rest of the EVs also have their online ranges updated to something more realistic.
In other Tesla news, it was revealed last month that one of its engineers at the company’s gigafactory in Austin, Texas, suffered serious injuries when an autonomous machines sank its metal claws into his back and arm, leaving a “trail of blood” along the facility floor.