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Tesla Model Y delivery date confirmed by California buyer, first deliveries earlier than expected

Tesla Model Y (Credit: Tesla)

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A Tesla Model Y buyer has reportedly received confirmation that their vehicle will be ready for delivery on Wednesday, March 11, a timeframe four days earlier than the widely anticipated March 15 first delivery date.

Updated March 11: Tesla Model Y first deliveries are scheduled for Friday, March 13

Updated March 7: The source that reported a March 11 delivery date has retracted their original statement. Teslarati is in contact with additional sources whom indicate Tesla employees are being offered first access to Model Y. An update will be provided as we learn more about the first Model Y delivery dates.

According to redditor and alleged soon-to-be Model Y owner u/HIP2013, a Tesla representative called them to schedule a pick up of their Model Y on Wednesday, 4 p.m. at the Rocklin showroom in California, about a 30-minute drive north from Sacramento and 2 hours from Tesla’ Fremont factory.

“Well I’m giving my Model 3 to my wife who is selling her Civic and I’m putting that money toward the Model Y,” u/HIP2013 wrote on the Tesla Motors channel on Reddit. “I should mention, when I first got the first email last week I got back to them in less than one hour with everything they asked for (insurance, payment info, etc).”

According to u/HIP2013, he reserved the Model Y even before the unveiling event livestream in March 2019. “I have reason to believe I may have been the first to reserve one,” they wrote. “…it seems like yesterday that I was making my order. I was in the first 5,000 to get my Model 3, so I’ve been part of the tribe for a while.”

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The strong push of Tesla to make deliveries of the Model Y bode well for the finances of the company. Tesla aims to deliver 500,000 vehicles in 2020, a big jump from last year’s approximately 368,000 units. The Q1 end of quarter push would help cushion whatever effect the coronavirus outbreak has had on its sales.

On Thursday, Tesla started releasing the first batch of Tesla Model Y VINs ahead of the expected deliveries. Buyers in California, New York, Florida, Georgia and other parts of the United States started finding references to their vehicle’s identification number on their online purchase agreement.

Tesla Model Y images were also discovered in the latest version of the Android mobile app of the electric carmaker, a sign that Tesla is gearing up for the deliveries and suggesting that Model Y owners will enjoy the same functionality of the mobile app just as how owners of Model 3, Model X, and Model S do.

Tesla Model Y buyers first reported of receiving delivery confirmation emails two weeks ago where the carmaker asked customers to confirm their availability and complete any remaining steps of the purchase.

Tesla early delivery of the Model Y says a lot how the carmaker has matured through the years. While the Model Y might share about 75% of the Model 3’s DNA, Elon Musk has earlier said that its manufacturing process involves advanced techniques. The Tesla CEO also bets big time on the Model Y and believes the more affordable SUV will be a big hit and may become more popular than other vehicles on its line-up combined.

Are you a Tesla Model Y buyer or soon-to-be buyer? Join the poll below!

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A curious soul who keeps wondering how Elon Musk, Tesla, electric cars, and clean energy technologies will shape the future, or do we really need to escape to Mars.

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Elon Musk says Tesla Cybercab future is ‘obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain’

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Elon Musk said the Tesla Cybercab will perform “a majority of all passenger miles” where it is allowed to operate and that point is “obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain.”

Musk used the point to double down on the company’s decision to ax the cult-favorite Cybertruck, as its production space will be removed and transitioned into additional Cybercab lines. The move has catalyzed a polarizing conversation on whether its right or wrong.

Whatever side you are on — it’s happening.

Regardless, Musk seems to be getting to the point that he is done talking about the choice. At some point, you have to think that this was truly a difficult decision for him and the company as well, and this is not something he took lightly. In fact, he’s probably a little bit disappointed with it, too.

But the point remains that the Cybertruck is gone. Musk’s focus is purely on developing an autonomous platform that the world will utilize for transportation, and he’s telling you that anyone “with eyes and a brain” can see it:

Tesla is betting that all of its passengers in the future will be okay with not owning their own personal cars and will be fine with ride-hailing for the rest of their lives. Every dinner, every errand, every trip to the airport and transportation thereafter, will all be operated by ride-sharing, and in Tesla’s perfect world, it will happen in a Cybercab.

As of now, Cybercab is only active in Austin, but it has been spotted all over the country with a driver behind the wheel in those prototypes. In Austin, the car has no steering wheel or pedals for people to control the vehicle.

The Cybertruck dilemma is one that has truly come across the entire Tesla community and while it seems to be a great idea to keep it because people love it, the business side of things is steering Musk and Tesla in another direction.

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Tesla slims Cybertruck offerings to only its most expensive trim

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Credit: u/dregonzz/Reddit

Tesla has slimmed its Cybertruck offerings to offer only its most expensive trim: the Cyberbeast.

After announcing that the Cybertruck would no longer be produced and the company would wind down manufacturing sometime in the middle of 2027, Tesla started to eliminate some of the configurations offered to customers.

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Now, only one remains: the $109,990 Cyberbeast. This is truly what seems like Tesla’s last effort to deter any remaining orders from coming in: eliminate the cheap trims and leave only the high-dollar vehicle within the lineup of Cybertruck options.

Those who want to take advantage of this last-ditch opportunity to own Tesla’s symbolic pickup have to pay to play.

Tesla says the reason for the wind down is truly because of Cybercab and its importance to the future.

Despite cries for Tesla to continue production of the pickup, Musk says it is too difficult to ramp a high-volume line instead of ending the truck altogether. He also says Cybercab is what will take passengers around for the “majority of all miles in any jurisdiction where it is not prohibited by law.”

Tesla is going all in on autonomy, and that’s never been a secret. But the commitment to a two-door, two-seat Cybercab truly limits people from having options for labor or hobbies. It also limits people from having their entire family in a single car.

Parents with even a single child will be required to take multiple vehicles if Cybercab is truly the only option Tesla plans to have.

Elon Musk keeps justifying Tesla Cybertruck’s cancelation, but it’s confusing

Tesla has stated the Robovan will also be in production eventually, but it still does not seem like the most ideal vehicle to own. It seems like it is geared more toward commercial uses, but Tesla might have something in the pipeline for families.

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Tesla exec hints at a wild fix for Robotaxi’s biggest weather problem

Tesla VP Lars Moravy says focused lasers could keep robotaxi cameras clear instead of wipers.

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Tesla Cybercab in a rainy Austin, Texas rendering

Tesla may one day use lasers instead of wiper blades to keep its robotaxi cameras clear. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, floated the idea in a new episode of Jay Leno’s Garage released Monday, where he and design chief Franz von Holzhausen walked Leno through the Model Y L.

“If you fire them in a focused area, you can clean the sheet of water and create a barrier,” Moravy said. “When you think about autonomy, it might be a good solution to only clean the area where the camera is.” He added that clearing an entire windshield would take too many lasers to be practical.

The comment brings back one of Tesla’s stranger patents. The company filed for “Pulsed Laser Cleaning of Debris Accumulated on Glass Articles in Vehicles and Photovoltaic Assemblies” in May 2019, and the U.S. Patent Office granted it in September 2021. An updated divisional version was granted on March 31, 2026. The system detects debris on the glass, identifies what it is, and pulses the laser at a calibrated rate so the beam never penetrates deeper than the glass itself. The filing names windshields, side windows, camera lenses and solar panels as possible targets.

Lasers were once rumored for the Cybertruck, which appeared at its November 2019 unveiling with no wipers at all. Tesla eventually settled on a single oversized blade, and Elon Musk admitted the wiper was the part of the truck that troubled him the most. That production line is now scheduled to shut down around mid 2027 to make room for more Cybercab output.

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What has changed since then is who is in the vehicle. A privately owned car has a driver who can notice a smeared windshield and do something about it. A Cybercab heading to its next pickup has nobody on board to check. Tesla has been chipping away at that problem with conventional hardware. Model Y Robotaxis in Austin were spotted with washers on their side repeater cameras in January, and a lens cleaning patent granted in May describes a fluid and wiper assembly for vehicle cameras and Optimus’ eyes. A laser would remove the fluid and the blades, both of which need regular replacement across a fleet.

The same episode gave Leno his first ride on Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The Model Y L pulled over on its own when an ambulance approached with its sirens on. “We got it on self-driving mode! I’m not touching anything,” Leno said. Moravy and von Holzhausen also explained that owners remain responsible while using FSD (Supervised), while Tesla takes responsibility for Robotaxi rides because it acts as the operator. Tesla launched the Model Y L in the U.S. in July at $61,990.

Moravy gave no timeline, and he described the laser setup as something Tesla is considering rather than a confirmed feature. The fleet it would serve keeps getting bigger, though. Tesla launched unsupervised Robotaxi service in San Antonio on Monday, its eighth city, and expanded its Austin service area to roughly 443 square miles on the same day. Several of those markets, including Houston, Miami and Tampa, see heavy seasonal rain.

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