Tesla has launched the Long Range variant of its very popular Tesla Model Y. The launch comes nearly 11 months after the Model Y was introduced with two variants back in June last year.
This time around, it gets an additional 78 km of range with 533 km on offer from a full charge. The range is also increased over the current Performance variant by 19 km.
Pricing of the new variant sits right in the middle of the single-motor RWD and top-of-the-range dual-motor Performance variant at $81,900 before on-road costs.
That’s $13,000 more than Australia’s best-selling SUV variant, the Tesla Model Y RWD.
This pricing also makes the new Long-Range variant comes under the luxury car tax (LCT) threshold which, according to the ATO in the financial year 2022–23, sits at $84,916 for fuel-efficient vehicles.
That would ensure that, unlike the dual-motor Performance variants, the Long Range model is exempt from the tax originally commissioned to support Australian car manufacturing. Those factories, run by Toyota, Ford and Holden and others, have all closed down.
Performance has also been improved with the new dual-motor Long Range variant which will shave nearly 2 seconds off the 0-100 km/h sprint. It gets there in 5 seconds over the RWD that does it in 6.9 seconds.
The dual motors in the Long Range variant deliver 378 kW of power which is only 15 kW shy of the Performance variant. The motors also produce a peak torque of 493 Nm.
Although the power is significantly increased over the RWD version of Model Y, its top-speed still remains at 217 km/h. The motors are fed by a larger 78.1 kWh battery pack which offers 75 kWh of useable battery capacity according to ev-database.
This is a Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) battery which Tesla recommends to charge up to 90% for daily use.
This brings the range down to 480 km for daily use compared to the 455 km available from the RWD Model Y with the Lithium Iron Phosphate battery (LFP) which can be charged up to 100%.
Deliveries of the new Long-Range variant are estimated to begin in June.
The Driven’s take: The Long-Range Model Y has been a much-anticipated variant by many looking to make the switch. We look forward to test-driving the new variant and bringing a comparison between the recently delivered Model Y Performance.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.