Tesla's new Austin-built Model Y with 4680 battery is already seeing impressive charging rates

By Lennon Cihak
Tesla's v3 Superchargers can charge at more than 1000 miles per hour
Tesla's v3 Superchargers can charge at more than 1000 miles per hour

The newly built Model Y 4680 battery packs are seeing an impressive and positive (pun intended) charging speed.

According to Twitter user The Kilowatts, they were able to charge their new Model Y from 0% to 97% in just 52 minutes.

The Kilowatts’s Ryan Levenson took delivery of an Austin, Texas-made dual-motor Model Y, which is built with Tesla’s highly anticipated 4680 battery pack.

Levenson rents out electric vehicles he owns on Turo and maintains them. Levenson shared on Twitter that he drove the new Model Y three miles past its 0% state of charge. He noted that there was no effect on the vehicle’s acceleration.

“0% -> 97% in 52 minutes for our MIT (made in Texas) Dual Motor Model Y,” Levenson writes on Twitter.

“Plugged in at 12:25 am with 0 miles of range remaining (actually drove 3 miles beyond 0 with seemingly no impact on acceleration). Unplugged at 1:17 am with 270 miles of range.”

Levenson noticed that by plugging into a V3 supercharger, the vehicle almost immediately ramped up to the 250kW charging rate, which is much different than Tesla’s current battery packs that take time to ramp up to the 250kW rate.

“For anyone trying to analyze the charge curve here, it seems quick but what I find most interesting is the almost immediate jump to ~250kW unlike the ramp up to 250kW we’re used to and from there it slowly tapers down throughout the charge cycle.”

Tesla’s currently listing the Model Y dual motor configuration to have a total of 279 miles of EPA-rated range.

Being able to drive past 0% state of charge is interesting. Tesla purposely builds in a little buffer to err on the side of caution when estimating the remaining range.

Tesla does software lock the range on its vehicles to prevent them from losing all of their charge and damaging the battery.

In order to meet manufacturing efficiencies, Tesla has previously shipped vehicles with larger batteries and software-locked them if an owner bought a model with a shorter range.

Although the owner can only access the portion of the battery that they paid for, they actually receive a couple of hidden benefits.

The car can be charged to "100%" every day without any ill effects since the battery itself is not charged to 100%, only the portion the owner paid for.

Another advantage of such models is that the owner can buy and unlock the additional range at a later date if they choose to.

In 2019, during Hurricane Dorian in Florida, Tesla remotely extended the ranges on such vehicles so they could escape Dorian’s path.

They also provided Tesla drivers with free supercharger access and force-charged the Powerwall batteries to full power so they would be ready in case of a severe power outage.

Tesla’s battery day event back in September 2020 unveiled some pretty impressive technologies coming, but Tesla has yet to share in-depth data on what we can expect in real-world scenarios.

Tesla's Battery Day

Giga Small Haus - A Demo Home Powered by Solar and Powerwall 3

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off Giga Small Haus, an interesting new display project hosted at Giga Berlin. The small new house is located just outside the main entrance of Tesla’s Giga Berlin factory, with a Quicksilver Model Y parked inside.

Giga Small Haus is powered only by solar and Powerwall 3 - disconnected from the local grid and from Giga Berlin itself. It serves as a live demonstration of Tesla Solar and Tesla’s Powerwall battery backup.

Giga Small Haus

The centerpiece of the display is a Model Y in Quicksilver - a beautiful pick for a beautifully lit house. However, that’s not the real focus here - it's the Powerwall and Gateway on the wall.

The Powerwall is the focus of Giga Small Haus, and there’s a display with some additional information on the wall. Part of the display also includes a screen that displays the current output of the Powerwall itself versus the consumption of Giga Small Haus, as well as the input from solar.

The interior exhibit of Giga Small Haus
The interior exhibit of Giga Small Haus
Not a Tesla App

The text on the exhibit is divided into several sections. Here’s a translated and edited version of what we can see from Tesla’s images. Some additional text is obscured. If someone visits Giga Small Haus, let us know.

Powerwall

Powerwall is a home battery system that stores energy from solar panels, the electrical grid, or during off-peak hours and powers your home during the day or during a power outage. 

With Powerwall, you can use self-generated solar energy during the day and night, thus avoiding high electricity costs. You can also store excess energy produced during sunny periods for use during times of low production or power outages.

Key Features

Energy Storage: Powerwall stores excess energy from solar panels or the grid for later use or during power outages.

Backup Power: In the event of a power outage, Powerwall automatically switches to battery power to ensure continuous power supply.

Integration: Powerwall can be seamlessly integrated with existing solar systems and other power sources.

Scalability: Multiple Powerwalls can be installed to meet higher energy storage needs.

Smart Energy Management: Powerwall works with Tesla's software to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs.

How Powerwall Works

Storage: During the day, when solar panels produce more energy than needed, the excess is stored in Powerwall.

Usage: At night or during times of low solar production, the stored energy is used to power the home, reducing reliance on the grid.

Backup: During a power outage, Powerwall automatically provides power to critical circuits, ensuring continuous operation of essential appliances.

Benefits

Cost Savings: By storing and using solar energy, you can reduce your electricity bills.

Reliability: Provides backup power during outages, ensuring your home remains powered.

Sustainability: Promotes the use of renewable energy by storing excess solar production for later use.

Overall, Giga Small Haus is an interesting real-life demo of what Powerwall and Solar can accomplish. It would be neat if Tesla built more of these displays - perhaps near major Delivery and Service Centers and at Giga Texas, Fremont, Giga Shanghai, and other facilities. Many Tesla owners have yet to learn about and experience some of Tesla’s Energy products.

Tesla Adds Acceleration Boost Option for 2024 Model 3

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Tesla has added the Acceleration Boost option to the Tesla store for owners of the 2024 Model 3 Long Range - specifically owners in Australia and China. Acceleration Boost is an upgrade that provides a significant performance boost, drastically narrowing the performance gap between the Long Range and Performance versions of the same model.

This upgrade will likely become available in Europe, Canada, and the United States in the next few days as Tesla updates its shops globally.

Acceleration Boost

This new Acceleration Boost is retailing for $3,000 AUD, or approximately $2,000 USD. That’s the same price for current owners of older Model 3 or Model Y Long Range vehicles, which all have the option to purchase Acceleration Boost through the shop.

The boost provides improved 0-100km/h (0-60mph) performance, bumping the 2024 Model 3 LR from 4.4s to 3.8s. The 2024 Performance version comes in at a blazing fast 2.9 seconds, so while it isn’t equivalent to just buying a performance variant in the first place, it is still a noticeable and significant upgrade.

Performance variants also come with a different front fascia vent for cooling, performance drive units, sport seats, adaptive suspension, 20-inch wheels, and Track Mode V3. That’s a significant number of additional features in the $10,000 USD price difference between the Long Range and Performance versions.

Should You Buy It?

If you’ve purchased a Long Range model and are itching to go just that little bit faster at every red light, this is the upgrade for you. It previously came with the cost of slightly reducing vehicle range, but the Tesla store doesn’t make a note of reduced range this time around. The 2023 Model 3 and Model Y Long Range models had an efficiency loss of about 5% due to the additional always-available acceleration and cooling. 

You could drive in Chill mode to mostly negate that efficiency loss, but what’s the fun in driving in Chill when you just got Acceleration Boost? Anyhow, the shop listing for the 2024 variant doesn’t include this detail, so it's possible Tesla may have worked some more engineering magic.

Overall, if you’ve got the $3,000 AUD burning a hole in your pocket, some Tesla referral credits sitting around, or just want to go faster, it's definitely an upgrade many users find valuable.

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