So this is him. Saxony had the Trabi, Lower Saxony has the Golf, now Brandenburg has the Tesla Model Y. Five seats, hundreds of round batteries in the double vehicle floor, two tons of steel, glass, plastic and chemicals. This is the new ambassador of the country of logistics centers and wind turbines. The car that is supposed to make Europe happy with a different kind of mobility from the eastern edge of the Berliner Ring and give Brandenburg a new identity as a state of future technologies. But can this American sled from the district of the LOS license plate do that at all? Or is it just an overweight power SUV with two engines?
The 255 wide tires on 20-inch rims, with which this Tesla model apparently wants to curry favor with traditionalists and the superplus fraction of buyers, are irritating in any case. Likewise the four-wheel drive, which was conceived in the marketing departments of Audi & Co. solely to increase sales. And then this battery-powered sedan also manages a speed of 220 km/h. For someone who wants to be an automobile rebel, that’s quite a lot of concessions to the old values of mobility.
Unadorned like a Tupperware
On the other hand, this Tesla is remarkably reserved overall. Hardly any chrome, no trimmings, which became the final differentiator of a more interchangeable offering in the automotive business. This car is as unadorned as a Tupperware. Pragmatism instead of posing. So is there more?
The Tesla on the front left seat provides the answer. The place behind the steering wheel is not a machinist’s workplace built around the driver like a cockpit, not a command post or center of power from which the machine is to be controlled. Tesla inside is a peaceful arrangement of dark leather and light wood, in the middle of which a large monitor lies on the leather like an open laptop and even makes the steering wheel appear strangely alien. Like the necessary remnants of a passing self-propelled era, almost discarded and tolerated in the knowledge that its raison d’être will soon be over. The interior rear-view mirror has already been shrunk to a minimum. Back is yesterday.
Tesla
Tesla Model Y
The 4.75 meter long SUV has been around since 2020. Since then, the car has been manufactured in Shanghai. The Tesla Y, powered by two electric motors, has been available in Germany since August 2021. Now the car is also being produced in Grünheide. Starting price: 57,000 euros
It cannot be overlooked that this car was created by computer nerds instead of machine builders, who no longer define the automobile in terms of cubic capacity and cornering speeds. Therefore, there are only two levers, two buttons, a 15-inch touchscreen to operate, but not a single round instrument. And just as mobile phone manufacturers are constantly expanding the software of the devices, Tesla is also constantly upgrading its cars after delivery. The Y-handlebar now receives an acoustic warning if someone or something is in the blind spot. With the software update 2021.24, a so-called car wash mode was recently planted in the central brain of the Model Y, which closes the windows after a tip, locks the flap of the charging socket and deactivates the windshield wipers and the tone generators of the parking sensors.
At least now it is clear: This Tesla is not an automobile upgraded with computing power, but a mobile computer with which the user should get from A to B as easily, relaxed and entertainingly as possible. The fact that a two-motor all-wheel drive, 345 hp and sprinting ability suitable for a super sports car have to be offered for this borders on schizophrenia and annoys with an uncomfortable dry suspension, which informs in detail and urgently about every inadequacy of the road construction. A real shame.
Seven euros per 100 kilometers
The range of a good 500 kilometers per battery charge gives an idea of what would be possible with less driving performance. During our tour with the electric SUV at an outside temperature of five degrees and running board and seat heating, it required 17.2 kilowatt hours for 100 kilometers. At a price of currently 40 cents per kilowatt hour at a Tesla charging station, 100 kilometers by car cost just under seven euros.
Added to this is the waiting time for the loading time. At a quick charging station, the batteries are ready for a further 240 kilometers after just 15 minutes. If it takes longer, you can activate the romance mode in the entertainment menu, for example. Then a log fire would blaze on the monitor and the heating would be set to maximum. The time could also be passed with a few rounds of beach buggy racing, whereby the small buggy on the screen can be steered with the real steering wheel of the Tesla, which the cyber revolutionaries of mobility then sometimes use as a small, mean victory gesture demoted to game controller. Made in Greenheide, Brandenburg.