The Tesla Model Y will offer a choice of 62.28kWh and 82.8kWh battery packs when it arrives in Australia.

    Tesla shipping tracker VedaPrime shared the details on its Twitter account ahead of the car’s local launch, expected sometime in 2022.

    The smaller of the two batteries will be used in the Standard Range, with the larger battery reserved for the Long Range and Performance.

    The Model Y will also reportedly use a 360V charging system.

    Towing capacity is rated at 750kg unbraked and 1600kg braked across all three variants, while the Performance will come with 21-inch wheels and the others 19- and 20-inch wheels.

    CarExpert reported in September 2021 the Australian Government has approved it for sale, with the approval documents listing various pieces of information.

    Tesla is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to power and torque figures, but these approval documents listed outputs of 255kW, 378kW and 393kW for the three variants.

    In the US, the Model Y is available in two dual-motor all-wheel drive variants – Long Range and Performance – while the Chinese-market line-up also includes a Standard Range rear-wheel drive version.

    Tesla Australia claims electric range of 505km and 480km, respectively. That’s quite a bit down from the Model 3 Long Range AWD and Performance’s claimed WLTP figures of 580km and 567km.

    The Standard Range RWD has a claimed 525km range, albeit under the more lenient NEDC standard.

    Claimed 0-100km/h times for the Model Y Standard Range, Long Range and Performance are 5.6, 5.0 and 3.7 seconds, respectively.

    Given the Australian-market Model 3 has switched to Chinese sourcing, the Model Y will likely come from there as well.

    The Australian site doesn’t mention the Standard Range. It lists the following features as standard in the Long Range and Performance:

    • Heated, power-adjustable front seats
    • Heated rear seats
    • Tinted glass roof
    • LED fog lights
    • 14-speaker sound system

    It’s been a long wait for the mid-sized electric crossover, of which US deliveries began back in March 2020.

    It now enters a part of the market that has seen a flurry of activity, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 having gone on sale (and its initial allocation promptly selling out) and its Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60 platform-mates due in 2022.

    The Polestar 2 is due in January 2022, while its Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric cousin is, like the Ioniq 5, sold out for now.

    Given the strong demand for the Tesla Model 3, the more practical Model Y should find a welcoming audience in Australia.

    Although Tesla doesn’t report sales figures, the Electric Vehicle Council says that 5031 of the 7248 electric vehicles sold in Australia in the first half of 2021 were Teslas.

    MORE: Everything Tesla Model Y

    William Stopford

    William Stopford is an automotive journalist based in Brisbane, Australia. William is a Business/Journalism graduate from the Queensland University of Technology who loves to travel, briefly lived in the US, and has a particular interest in the American car industry.

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