The Munro Live teardown of the Made-in-Texas (MIT) Tesla Model Y has started faster than we anticipated, and as promised, it starts with the battery removal.
The team acquired the car in Florida in late June and shipped it to Michigan. Once it arrived, the teardown started within 24 hours.
The main point of the project is new Tesla's structural battery pack and 4680-type cylindrical battery cells.
As we can see in the video, the seats, center console and carpets/trims are attached to the new pack (the new bottom of the car) and are removed together, which is a new thing in the automotive industry.
An interesting thing is the surprisingly low weight of the battery pack with attached seats and center console. According to the video, it's 1,198 lbs (543 kg) total.
Well, it would suggest that the structural battery is doing the work as it should - there is less metal needed, if the battery cells can also carry force, unlike conventional solutions when only the battery enclosure is a structural element.
An interesting new thing is also new sealing on top of the battery pack, applied where the pack connects to the rest of the vehicle.
Munro Live's Cory Steuben and Julian Aytes note how spectacularly different the car looks without the bottom part once the battery is removed.
Another thing noted is a very high level of integration of various elements to the megacasting parts (front and rear) to further reduce the number of parts, lower costs and improve assembly efficiency.
A lot more about the MIT Tesla Model Y is coming from Munro Live in the coming weeks, probably 6-8 episodes, including the pack opening.
An important thing will be also a comparison with the original 2020 Tesla Model Y (powered by the 2170-type battery cells), to really see the difference and speed of Tesla's evolution.
Part of the 4680-type cell from the new Model Y can be purchased (at $800 per unit) on the company's website, while in the future there will be technical reports and analysis for companies interested in the details.
