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Updated: Tesla Model Y specification discrepancy has experts scratching their heads
Update: 5/3 12:40 pm est: Tesla has updated the specifications of the Model Y RWD in North America. See para. 3
A discrepancy in the Tesla Model Y’s specifications leaves experts and fans confused and wondering what will come to the United States.
Tesla has always been at least a little tight-lipped about its engineering and design, and this pseudo-secrecy certainly isn’t aided by its lack of a communications team. However, this has come to a head recently as fans have discovered a discrepancy in the specifications of Tesla’s newest offering, the rear-wheel-drive single-motor Model Y, which currently is only sold in select markets.
The Tesla Model Y spec discrepancy was first identified by Mathias Føns on Twitter, who pointed out that the Model Y RWD sold in North America is significantly heavier and charges substantially faster than its counterpart abroad.
The??Tesla Model Y RWD that recently launched has head-scratching specs
It weighs 319kg more than the??MY LR
Furthermore, it weighs 389kg more than the??MY RWD, has 47% higher max supercharging capabilities & ~15 km lower range (WLPT→EPA)
Did Tesla stealth launch new MY tech? pic.twitter.com/tYqoow7x4e
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-— Mathias Føns (@FonsDK) May 2, 2023
Since its discovery, Tesla has updated its website, decreasing the weight listed in North America to match the global model. However, the Model Y RWD outside of North America still charges at 170kW, while its North American counterpart charges at 250kW. Tesla has not publically addressed this disparity.
Looking at the spec sheets posted on Tesla websites worldwide, the heavier and faster charging Model Y RWD is only being sold in North America, including both Canada and Mexico, though the vehicle is not yet available in the States. In contrast, models sold in Australia, Europe, and Asia are lighter and charge significantly slower. Specifically, the North American model is 389kg (857.6 lbs) heavier than its global counterpart and charges almost twice as fast, 250kW vs. 170kW. The listed weight of the model sold in China is 2kg heavier than the one sold in Europe, but it has the same recorded charging speed.
The two models also seem to differ slightly in estimated range, though they aren’t precisely comparable considering they use entirely different testing schedules; EPA in North America, WLTP in Europe and Australia, and CLTC in China.
Strangely, this discrepancy continues when comparing the Model Y RWD with the Model Y Long-Range AWD sold in the same market. According to the Tesla Canada website, the RWD is 319kg (703.3 lbs) heavier than the LR AWD, though they charge at the same speed, 250kW.
While some have hypothesized that this weight difference has to do with how the weight is measured in each country, the more likely difference, which could also explain the dramatic difference in charging speed, is battery chemistry. Tesla does not list this difference on its website. Still, using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in North America would explain the incredible weight difference and the charging speed increase, that is, if the global model is using a lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously noted that the automaker plans to switch all of its lower-priced offerings to the cheaper-to-produce LFP battery, further adding credence to the battery chemistry hypothesis.
With Tesla expected to continue to grow the reach of each of its product lines, many anticipate it will only be a matter of time before the RWD variant of the Model Y makes its way to Tesla’s home market, the United States. And with the rest of North America already using the heavier, faster charging model, Americans should expect access to this variant instead of the global version.
Along with the charging speed bump, the LFP battery would provide significantly improved durability and battery lifespan compared to those sold in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
SpaceX just picked up another $1.6 billion from the Pentagon, with the U.S. Space Force awarding two task orders worth $1.6 billion to fly 18 Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California through the end of 2027. The launches will carry satellites for the Space Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, a set of programs meant to help the military detect and track airborne threats and relay that information across forces in near real time.
The award falls under National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1, the Space Force’s faster, commercial style procurement track for missions that do not require the military’s most demanding certification process. It is also the largest single order publicly disclosed under that program so far, and the first task order issued since the Space Force nearly tripled Lane 1’s contract ceiling from $5.6 billion to $17 billion on July 17.
SpaceX to become America’s Military data backbone for missiles, drones, and warfighters
Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force’s acting portfolio acquisition executive for space access, said the entire process, from identifying the requirement to signing the contract, took about two months, including a month set aside for companies to prepare proposals.
SpaceX is not just launching these satellites. It already holds the contracts to build two of the programs within the same portfolio, $4.16 billion for the Space Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator system and $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone, which Teslarati covered in May. That means SpaceX is now responsible for both building key pieces of the military’s next generation sensing network and getting them into orbit.
With this latest award, SpaceX’s Pentagon contract total for 2026 alone tops $8 billion, adding to a defense portfolio that already includes the Golden Dome missile defense software group SpaceX joined in April and a string of GPS launches it inherited after ULA’s Vulcan rocket ran into a booster anomaly, which we detailed in March.
Lane 1’s vendor pool technically includes seven companies: SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Stoke Space, Impulse Space, and Relativity Space. In practice, SpaceX remains the only provider with the combination of launch cadence, flight proven Falcon 9 hardware, and West Coast infrastructure to support a campaign requiring roughly one Vandenberg launch a month for the next year and a half.
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Some lawmakers have flagged the growing concentration of national security launches with one company as a risk worth watching. For now, the Space Force keeps backing SpaceX, with it being the company that shows up ready to launch.
Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success.
SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas.
The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by increasing the acceleration of Starship from launch throughout the flight; 20 Starlink v3 satellites were released with no issue; the Super Heavy Booster landed safely in the Gulf of America, Ship successfully reignited engines while in space; and it also splashed down without incident in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Nevertheless, more details are coming out about Starship, and Musk is doing the talking.
Starship Will Be Retrieved in the Ocean
Musk revealed on Tuesday night that Starship would be recovered by a ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX routinely tries to recover Starship after splashdown in an effort to find out more about the flight by examining the spacecraft afterward.
We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship https://t.co/fUqUZTITO9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2026
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This helps engineers find out more about why things might have happened, allows them to examine any potential damage or anomalies that might have occurred, and increases the chances of an even more successful flight next time thanks to the additional information recovered.
Ship Could Have Been Caught by Tower Arms, Musk claims
Musk has already indicated that SpaceX will plan to attempt a catch of Starship with the 14th test flight. While this would be a major accomplishment, it would be an expected next step, considering the fact that the Super Heavy Booster has already been caught by the chopsticks on numerous occasions.
The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms https://t.co/6nbNrRfX9P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
A ship catch would be a great indication of where SpaceX stands in terms of reusability and launch cadence. A successful catch with relatively no incidents would be a good sign that SpaceX is nearing a more frequent launch of Starship, but also that the reusability of the massive rocket would be something many would expect in the near future.
It is a necessity to make life multiplanetary.
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Elon Musk has updated his timeline for when humans will walk on Mars and for when ships will simply get there.
The objective of getting to Mars has been one of Musk’s biggest goals since becoming a serial entrepreneur and realizing that time on Earth is limited. Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact.
Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.”
People on Mars in roughly 5 to 7 years.
Mars lander a few years sooner.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”
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Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added.
Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.
In fact, the SpaceX and Tesla frontman has said on at least a dozen occasions that we could be on Mars in the coming years. Musk said 2020 would be the big year as early as 2009. In 2020, he was “highly confident” of a landing in 2026, and had even said 2024 in a best-case scenario.
The point is, the range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch
