Tesla has produced a rear-drive version of the Model Y equipped with BYD batteries at its super factory in Berlin, Germany. This is the first time that Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory uses a Chinese-brand battery, and it is also Tesla’s first electric vehicle using LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries launched in the European market.
As the blade battery version of Model Y in the German market begins to deliver the first batch of prototypes, some users have released the charging power and SOC data of the new model on the TFF forum. Let’s take a look.
The new car still uses the front and rear body integrated die-casting technology, and the only difference seems to be the BYD blade battery. Although the battery capacity is lower than the long-endurance version and performance version (Note: RDW registration information shows that the BYD battery version has a capacity of 55kWh and a cruising range of 440 kilometers), the performance of this new car in terms of charging is very surprising.
The peak power of the new car can be maintained in the 170kW+ range for a long time, and the rear power is also higher than that of the CATL LFP version, and it can also be charged for 15 minutes at 11%-71%.
For reference, the Model Y equipped with the CATL LFP battery has a similar initial charging performance, but then the power will drop rapidly, and it can only be maintained at about 110kW at 50%.
The BYD blade battery can maintain power of about 172kW to 50% of the power, and when it is close to 90%, it is close to the CATL version again, but there is no crossover. It can be said that the performance of the blade battery version Model Y is brighter than the CATL version. It is expected that this user may conduct more tests in the future, so stay tuned.
Teslamag.de said that since Tesla currently only sells Model Y long-range and performance versions in Europe, the new Model Y is somewhat a step backward. Technically though, the BYD Blade Battery is interesting because it’s a “structural pack” according to EU approval.
Tesla wanted to install this type of structured battery pack on Model Y in Germany from the very beginning. The battery and the chassis are integrated to form part of the vehicle’s load-bearing structure, which is the latest 4680 battery pack, but Tesla’s 4680 battery was repeatedly delayed, so the Chinese 2170 battery was used previously. Today, Germany’s Model Y will use BYD Blade batteries. Compared with the 2153 kg weight of Tesla’s 60 kWh Model Y when it was registered in the EU last year, the weight of the new Model Y has been reduced by 66 kg to 2087 kg. That’s down to 155 Wh/km.
In addition, a rear-drive version of Tesla with a smaller battery was also registered in the European Union and was unveiled last summer. The battery supplier of the car is CATL, with a battery capacity of 60 kWh and a range of 455 kilometers.
