Tesla Model Y – Has hidden range

It is Tesla boss Elon Musk who reveals at X that the latest and most affordable versions of the Tesla Model Y have extra range hidden in the battery. The range should be between 40 and 60 miles – 64 to 94 kilometers – in addition to the one you got when you bought the car.

Now the plan of the Tesla boss is to offer the owners to unlock this extra range for a fee. On the X, Musk says they will charge between 1,500 and 2,000 dollars – from 16,200 to 21,600 kroner at today’s dollar exchange rate – to unlock the extra miles.

According to Tesla, it is the Model Y RWD that has been produced in recent months that has this hidden range. This is the most affordable version of the car, which costs from NOK 457,000 in Norway. It is now stated with a WLTP range of 445 kilometers.

This means that if you pay extra, you will be able to get a range of around 550 kilometers in the car.

Have to pay extra

How much extra range you can get, according to Musk, depends on the type of cells the battery in your car has. According to the Tesla boss, work is now being done to get approval from the authorities to be able to activate the extra range for those customers who want it and want to pay.

Many will probably react to the fact that you first have to pay full price for the car, and then have to pay extra to get the range that the battery already has built-in.

Several car manufacturers have previously received criticism for having tried similar solutions. Some time ago, BMW received criticism after introducing a subscription scheme to heat the steering wheel of its cars. The heating elements were already in the steering wheel of the car the customers had bought, but it cost around NOK 100 a month for the factory to turn on this function.

In a comment to Dinside, Tesla Norway says that “we have no information about this beyond what appears from Elon Musk’s tweet on X”.