Is Tesla's Range Anxiety Real? Model Y Variant Loses More Miles In Surprise Update

EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA has reduced the estimated range of its Model Y Long Range All-Wheel Drive (AWD) variant by 2 miles, marking a further decrease from the 20-mile reduction made in January.

What Happened: The range of the Long Range AWD variant of Tesla’s best-selling vehicle is now pegged at 308 miles on Tesla’s website. Prior to the revision, the vehicle was touted to have a slightly higher range of 310 miles.

Meanwhile, the EPA estimated range for the Long Range rear-wheel drive and Performance versions of the SUV remains unchanged at 320 miles and 279 miles, respectively.

The starting prices on the different versions of the vehicle also remain unchanged.

Why It Matters: In early January, Tesla revised the range estimate for select variants of Model S, X, and Y by as much as 37 miles. The Long Range Model Y’s range estimate then took a 20-mile hit down to 310 miles from 330 miles as of the end of last year.

Tesla attributed the reduced range estimate in January to various comfort and functionality enhancements in the vehicles, alongside the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) updated range testing guidance that mandated sticker estimates for all manufacturers to more accurately reflect real-world range.

The individual contributions of vehicle changes and the updated EPA guidance to the lowered estimate are unknown.

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