As already suspected and reported about 2 weeks ago, now also the Tesla Model Y with rear-wheel drive is produced in Grünheide and delivered to the first customers in Europe. The special thing about it is that this model is not equipped with the 62 kWh LFP battery from CATL like the original variant, but with the new 60 kWh LFP battery from BYD. Especially in the German TFF forum and in various Facebook groups, some interesting differences could be found.
The biggest difference so far is that the new BYD cells seem to be able to hold peak charge much longer. The Model Y with the new BYD cells has a similar peak charge as the older Model Y with the CATL LFP cells. However, the new cells seem to be able to maintain this charging power - and overall higher charging power - through a higher state of charge. It appears that BYD's new cells are capable of holding 170 kW at 50% state of charge and 100 kW at about 70% state of charge. This should result in a shorter overall charge time. It is important to note that many factors can affect a charging process - some of which have nothing to do with an electric vehicle, such as the chargers themselves and temperature. It remains to be seen how the new cells will behave in winter.
For a while, it looked like there would be no collaboration between BYD and Tesla, as there is an infamous interview in which Elon Musk downright mocks BYD's electric vehicles. However, a lot has happened since that interview, as both companies have become true giants in the production of electric cars and battery cells in recent years.
The two companies became closer last year when Tesla began buying battery cells from BYD. It is believed that Tesla will use BYD's new Blade battery, which is an LFP cell packaged in a long, sheet-like format.
