Berlin Delays Model Y

The Model Y Performance vehicles made at Giga Berlin have been either cancelled, or had their deliveries pushed back, over reports that something is wrong with the drive unit.

Tesla customers in Europe began reporting their deliveries being cancelled or delayed, and while no official recall or statement has been made by Tesla, reports from Tesla employees is that there appears to be a problem with a voltage converter on the drive unit.

Reports also indicate that the fault renders the vehicle inoperable - obviously without the drive unit working, the wheels wouldn’t even turn. But while some similar issues have in the past been solved with an over-the-air update, this doesn’t appear to be possible in this case.

It’s a little difficult to understand the issue with only customer reports, but this is hardly an unheard of issue with new EVs, or vehicles in general. Toyota, for instance, just recently was forced to recall all of its bZ4X electric cars because the wheels were falling off.

This isn’t even the first time Tesla has had to deal with a fault in their vehicles. Just this month, there’s been a recall of certain 2021 versions of Model 3s and Model Ys for a camera mounting issue.

In most cases, these faults are discovered quickly and dealt with before any major recall is issued; but even in the case of a recall, customers are taken care of and the issues addressed in the next version of the design.

Regardless, until we hear anything from Tesla, there’s likely nothing major here to worry about. Just another headache for the beleaguered folks at Giga Berlin.

That’s engineering for you.