New faster, cheaper Tesla model to come with new LFP battery pack

Tesla last week launched its most affordable Model 3 to date in the Canadian market, starting at the equivalent of less than $A43,000, with what appeared to be a more powerful powertrain, shaving a whole second off its 0-100 km/h sprint time.

At that time, we suspected that it could be due to a new battery pack with a greater energy discharge rate. Reports are now emerging that confirm it is a new battery pack from a new Tesla supplier, Sunwoda Electronics. Previously, almost all RWD variants had CATL battery packs.

Ming, a credible Tesla news source, reported that the new battery pack in the Canadian-bound Model 3 from Tesla’s Giga Shanghai factory is a 62.5-kWh Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LFP) pack.

This battery delivers better performance than the model currently available in Australia, with the new 0-100 km/h sprint time of 5.2 seconds, shaving almost a second off previous specs.

It shares the same top speed of 201 km/h as all RWD and AWD models, apart from the top-spec Performance variant, which is bumped up to 261 km/h.

This new model has an EPA range of 463 km, more than 500 km on the WLTP cycle commonly used in Australia.

As of the writing of this article, even in China, the specs on the Premium RWD variant of the Model 3 are similar to those of Australian-bound models.

It’s unclear if this new battery is expected to be used for other markets in the future or is reserved for Canadian customers, but if scale is what Tesla is looking for, then it’s likely to expand to Model 3 Premiums built for the company’s other markets too.

Here in Australia, Tesla’s most affordable car is still the Model 3 Premium RWD. Currently, the Model 3 Premium RWD starts at $55,900 before on-roads.

That is still over $12,000 more than this newly spec’d version heading to Canada, which has more performance specs.

Australian models have not seen a price cut in over 18 months, although other non-price incentives have often been used to boost sales.

With those incentives in place, Tesla has sold over 2,000 Model 3s in the country in the first four months of 2026 and with the fuel price rising, the demand for the model appears to have increased, with most local inventory sold.

We will keep an eye on if this variant starts heading to other markets, and with rising competition in the space, Tesla will be looking at all options to help it maintain its once best-selling model.

See The Driven’s detailed EV sales data here: Australian electric vehicle sales by month in 2026; by model and by brand.

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Riz Akhtar

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.