Tesla Model Y
 

The Model Y is set to be revealed next week, unless someone slips the cover early...

Tesla Model Y caught without camouflage – CarTests
https://i2.wp.com/en.cartests.net/wp...size=800%2C445
Different headlights to the 3, that's for sure.
It has a face. But... White mirrors?

For only $1000 extra, you can get body color matched mirrors.

Speaking of mirrors, it would be nice if Musk pushed state and federal laws to allow cameras instead of mirrors. Eliminating them will go a long way towards improving the range of these EVs.

On second thought the above picture may not be the Model Y but a clever PhotoShop job of a Model X...
https://st.motortrend.ca/uploads/sit...ront-end-1.jpg
Paste the 3's bumper and non-grille, done?
https://icdn2.digitaltrends.com/imag...ro-720x720.jpg

It would be strange if Tesla used the same style headlights as the X, but fractionally smaller as the car is more narrow, while each model had unique headlights up to now?
And even then, why not the 3's headlights?
So I don't know. Ah well, in 6 days we will know.

The model Y will be built in Gigafactory 1 by... robots?
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-mode...ought-factory/

It did not work with the Model 3. You cannot experiment too much if you are desperate to raise the output at the same time.
But time has moved on and lessons have been learned. The Model Y offers a clean slate with less pressure.
This could be interesting.

Oh my...
https://www.teslarati.com/used-tesla...blue-book-kbb/
https://media.licdn.com/media-proxy/...aQMDZVEuy2Nf6w
lolcopycats.

Still - white mirrors?

Giga 1 is here in RENO? There's room for the line, but he still has to build and empty some of it. Wonder where the people to work it come from.

Since paying off the last bond in cash, where is needed investment cash coming from?

Production would start somewhere next year at the earliest, so there's still time for all of that.
Some of the robots used in the first attempt to robotize the Model 3 production line should be available, with upgrades.

30-something states already don't require outside mirrors, but since the FMVSS do, you have to have them to sell a car here. Stupid.

That's almost certainly a photoshop. The teaser pick on Tesla's site doesn't match any of it's lines.

https://www.tesla.com/modely

Not sure. It could still be a Windows Paint job... ;)

The Model Y page announces a 14 march livestream of the unveiling.

Remember the Semi reveal? It had a surprise (the Roadster V2).

I expect something extra coming with the Model Y reveal too.
Maybe this?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-08/tesla-bull-left-shares-photo-of-what-he-says-is-the-new-model-s
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/...v2/1000x-1.jpg

EDIT This is branded a '2022 Model S'. More pics here: https://www.topspeed.com/cars/tesla/...-ar182122.html
https://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/cr...12_1600x0w.jpg

https://www.cdrinfo.com/d7/content/tesla-releases-new-model-y-teaser
https://www.cdrinfo.com/d7/system/fi...?itok=kxdnBYFs
It has mirrors now, and the headlights do look like the Model 3.

In fact nothing looks dissimilar from the Model 3.
Did they just raise the suspension and called it a day?

I hope so, the Model 3 is a fine looking car, and is fairly aerodynamic.

Mirrors
 

I believe that Tesla has been petitioning the DOT since before they ever went into production,to allow 'camera' systems,because of the associated drag reduction which would be realized.About Cd 0.01.

aerodynamic
 

While not the lowest drag car ever offered for lease in North America (Cd 0.197 GM EV1),at Cd 0.23,the Model 3 is the lowest drag car ever offered for sale.

Because the Volkswagen XL1 was only available in Europe...

Tesla teases 'Nice Try'
 

https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/03/09/t...ssage-model-y/

Enhancing the contrast on the shady picture reveals a secret message!

You can buy a garage full of Model 3s and a lot of electricity before you come close to paying for one of those.

Lowest drag coefficient ever offered for sale in North America, not lowest drag. If I'm not mistaken, that honor still belongs to the original Honda Insight by virtue of its small cross-sectional area (it's a full 3" shorter and 7" narrower than the Model 3).

ETA: I remembered, and double-checked just now, that Tesla now advertises CD .23 for the Model S as well, while the Model X has been bumped up to CD .25 with the fixed spoiler.

What about one top spec Model 3, a PowerWall 2, an oversized solar roof and home improvements (isolation, heat pump).
For the price of one XL1 you could be a net supplier of energy and have a faster car.

Makes you wonder what VW was trying to achieve with the XL1...
Of course, if mass produced the price would have come down. But it would never be a mainstream car. So it wasn't viable.

They aren't the only manufacturer petitioning. So far the NHTSA isn't budging.

Here is the latest test: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.do...518_v3-tag.pdf

Model Y reveal this coming Thursday.

Any predictions about things that might wow us in the reveal? Musk usually has something radical to reveal besides the car itself.

He will explain why he changed his mind and is keeping the Tesla dealerships open?

Probably self-explanatory. They thought they'd save money shutting them all down, then quickly realized they'd lose more sales income than the money they'd save by closing down.

There could be data or dates about the Semi and the Roadster, or the pickup we've seen wrapped on a trailer may show up, the Model S is getting long in the tooth so it may get a revamp, and then there's the 2 or 3 years in the future when Tesla would reveal a smaller $25,000 model...

And the model Y... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGDYL3Lu4XM

Mystery solved. The Wall Street Journal did some digging in Tesla’s latest quarterly report. It would cost Tesla $1.6 billion to break their leases and close all of their stores. Leases are 5 to 10 years.

Might as well convert them to sales/service centers and have loaner cars for those needing service, and the same cars could be demo units for test drives too.

Tesla will keep many of its stores open, even if sales move exclusively online.
Moreover, they will raise the price of the luxury models some starting March 18th.
I expect a rush of sales of those this week...

Here's straight from the horses mouth:
https://www.tesla.com/nl_NL/blog/upd...ng?redirect=no

There won't be a reveal of the pickup truck coming Thursday.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/...nieuw-model%2F
(apparently)

Tesla's teaser enhanced and edited:
https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content...2-1024x555.png

https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content...dit-render.jpg

Cd vs CDA
 

You're correct.The drag index of the 1st-gen Insight probably trumps that of the Tesla.
CAR and DRIVER attributed a higher Cd to the Insight,than what Honda claimed,(I think Cd 0.30,( re:'Drag Queens' article,from A2 wind tunnel testing),but the Honda's frontal area is just a bit above the 1st-gen CRX,so it's overall drag is pretty sweet!
Shame about the XL-1.VW could have done it in stamped-steel and glass,and mass-produced it, as a plug-and-play-optioned car for $10,000-up.It would still get over 100-mpg HWY,even with gasoline power.
Didn't know Zika-virus had hit Germany so hard!:(

Revealed
 

https://www.tesla.com/modely
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knaskUXb12A
A Cd of 0.23... for a SUV!

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-y-specs-batteries-range-price/
https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content...c-1024x469.jpg
https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content...c-1024x683.jpg

So they took the Model 3, sliced it horizontally, added a couple of inches, then called it a day. It looks dated already 2 years from launch.

At least Musk is being honest and saying the base model won’t be available for at least a year from launch.

This design will pull a LOT of sales from the Model 3.

Ha. If that looks dated, I'd like to be its date :)

The design may look similar to the 3, but there are important differences.
The Model Y is a hatchback.
See the line over the rear quarter panel between the tail light and the side window, and high up on the rear window.
The hatch lid is huge. You can move house with that.

It seats 7 (optionally). The doors seem set slightly forward, the chairs probably are too; it must have higher seats, winning leg room.

Judging by the 230 mile range for the Standard range, it probably uses the same pack as the lighter and lower 264 mile Medium range Model 3 (62 kWh).

Don't worry for the Model 3 though. It is cheaper, that will never lose appeal.
The Model Y Standard range won't be built until 2021. Lease drivers can't wait for that when their new lease is due.
Model 3 versions cheaper than €50,000 will come available soon; our lease market will go crazy for them, especially since diesels are on their way out.

YAWN.

still vapourware, and wouldn't buy one even if I could.

0-60 in 3.5 seconds in a CUV is yawn?

I don't know you you get out of bed then.

If Tesla can make these performance machines, I hope we'll soon see the "economy" version of EVs. Where are the $20k EVs?

You think they can't build it? Having 75% of the parts in common with the Model 3 they've built 220,000 times already?

Oh I get is it was a joke ;)

Obviously a reasonably ranged(200 miles?) battery pack still precludes the $20K EV. However my thoughts are that a lot of the creature features that these vehicles include could be done away with.

You guys have to help me out here but the only model 3 I was in had power everything....windows, locks, etc. Any base EV's that don't have power stuff(i.e. extra little motors)? I say go old school and make those manual again and eliminate all the little motors and solenoids that will likely wear out faster than the manual version in the first place..

I would imagine that software costs more than hardware up front and that over time it becomes much less expensive than the hardware since it can be installed in tiny little spaces in on board memory. But I really don't need(or want) a car that parks itself, drives itself, talks to me or anything else that that I can easily do myself.

While I'm sure everyone appreciates the massive amounts of acceleration and power of Tesla's motors, they simply do not need to be that powerful. Look at the vehicles we had in the past with their fifty or sixty hp engines. Unless they were severely under powered they did just fine for basic transportation. So smaller motors mean less expensive motors and less weight in the car and less expensive controllers. Basically all power control components can be sized down and then cost less.

I don't know what sort of equipment comes in other EV's so I can't comment on them but in general it just seems to me that EV cost is so high simply because they have too many gadgets even for the low cost versions. No one wants just a base package, bare bones unit anymore.

It is possible the reason EV's are so much more expensive than comparative ICE vehicles is because they have to perform so much better than ICE vehicles just to be accepted by the general public. Even today I still here the same old tired arguments against EV's. What happens if your battery gets too low? Well the same thing that happens if you run out of gas. You're stuck until you get a recharge or a tow. I will say I wouldn't want to pay $30 K or even $20 K for an around town car. That's what a used Leaf is for.

JJ

Looks like it does have a liftback-type rear opening. I was a little worried that, in order to keep the glass roof profile, they'd just make it a taller model 3 with a trunklike opening in the back. But it seems to hinge right above those C windows in the back.
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1552677338