Tesla opens orders on cheaper $50,000 Model Y with 4680 cells

After a year of selling the vehicle as an “off-the-menu” product, Tesla has finally opened orders on the cheaper Model Y AWD with 4680 cells made in Gigafactory Texas.

Tesla started producing and selling the vehicle almost a year ago to the day, but it was only gradually offered to customers.

At first, it was only to employees. Later, Tesla started to offer it to some Model Y reservation holders, and finally, the automaker made some units available in inventory over the last few quarters.

But it was always something that Tesla refers to as an “off-the-menu” product since the trim was never available to order in Tesla’s Model Y configurator… until now.

Tesla updated its online configurator overnight to add the Model Y AWD:

For the Model Y, Tesla has decided not to use the name “Standard Range” to compare it with the “Long Range” version; therefore, it is only known as the Model Y All-Wheel-Drive.

The main difference in the specs is that it has 279 miles of range rather than the 330 miles of EPA range for the Long Range version.

It is also 0.2 seconds slower to accelerate to 60 mph.

However, it is expected to have a lot more differences under the hood as this version is believed to be equipped with Tesla’s 4680 battery cells and structural battery pack architecture.

Tesla also reduced the price of the vehicle – making the Model Y pricing start at just $49,990 in the US before incentives.

This version of the Model Y is eligible to the $7,500 federal tax credit for now, and it is expected to keep the tax credit once the battery requirements come into place since it is built with battery cells manufactured in the US.