Tesla has discontinued sales of its Model 3 RWD base model version with LFP batteries in the U.S. Currently, only the long range versions and the performance Model 3 are available.
This doesn’t make sense, because if there aren’t enough models being sold, the cost could be immense for the complexities it creates.
The sales for having the “as low as $X” aren’t recognized against that base model, they’re recognized against getting someone to consider buying any Model 3 “because they only cost $X!” Once you have the buyer interested, it isn’t difficult to increase the price the buyer ultimately pays because they buy the more expensive models.
By removing the LFP model they’ve removed all the complexities of how many speakers are in the vehicle and all the other minor changes that were part of the standard range vehicles.
The savings from this are going to be huge.
Edit: Just to put this a different way. At multiple times through Tesla’s history, its been cheaper for Tesla to sell cars with software restricted batteries that costed them thousands of dollars more with potentially no recuperation of that cost, than it was to have different sized battery packs being manufactured.
By removing the LFP model they’ve removed all the complexities of how many speakers are in the vehicle and all the other minor changes that were part of the standard range vehicles.
There is barely any difference between the base model and LR. Besides the battery pack itself, the standard range doesn’t have different parts, it just has fewer of them. Also, Tesla could make the base model a “build to order” vehicle meaning there would be no “stale” inventory.
Not sure if you saw my edit, but you’re vastly underestimating the cost savings here from simplifying the production lines, which also then carries over into simplified warranty/support. They’re also going to regain this space from the LFP portion of the factory footprint, be able to focus it on the LR battery pack and make things cheaper through efficiencies of scale.
The sales for having the “as low as $X” aren’t recognized against that base model, they’re recognized against getting someone to consider buying any Model 3 “because they only cost $X!” Once you have the buyer interested, it isn’t difficult to increase the price the buyer ultimately pays because they buy the more expensive models.
By removing the LFP model they’ve removed all the complexities of how many speakers are in the vehicle and all the other minor changes that were part of the standard range vehicles.
The savings from this are going to be huge.
Edit: Just to put this a different way. At multiple times through Tesla’s history, its been cheaper for Tesla to sell cars with software restricted batteries that costed them thousands of dollars more with potentially no recuperation of that cost, than it was to have different sized battery packs being manufactured.
There is barely any difference between the base model and LR. Besides the battery pack itself, the standard range doesn’t have different parts, it just has fewer of them. Also, Tesla could make the base model a “build to order” vehicle meaning there would be no “stale” inventory.
Not sure if you saw my edit, but you’re vastly underestimating the cost savings here from simplifying the production lines, which also then carries over into simplified warranty/support. They’re also going to regain this space from the LFP portion of the factory footprint, be able to focus it on the LR battery pack and make things cheaper through efficiencies of scale.