The Tesla Model Y Has Changed A Surprising Amount In 6 Years

It took Tesla forever to refresh the Model Y last year. But there have been plenty of subtle changes along the way.

Photo by: Ever / YouTube

Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Jul 25, at 7:00am ET

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The Tesla Model Y didn't get an official refresh until last year.
But Tesla has tweaked and updated its best seller in numerous small ways from 2020 through today.
A video runs down all the little changes, and it could be helpful if you're deciding which Model Y to buy.

The Tesla Model Y was getting pretty long in the tooth when a long-awaited refresh finally happened last year. And even that was more of a facelift than a brand-new model. But over the years, Tesla has made a surprising number of small tweaks to its best seller.

Longtime InsideEVs contributor and certified EV geek Andrew Lambrecht got together every model year of the Model Y for a recent video (see below) on the Ever YouTube channel. And he runs down the differences in a ton of detail. I was surprised at the number of little changes—good or bad, depending on what you're looking for—that Tesla rolled out from year to year, or even month to month.

For example, all OG 2020 Model Ys came with the premium interior, which brought heated seats in both rows and a 15-speaker sound system. But it lacks a heated steering wheel and has center console made of glossy black plastic. Early builds had single-pane windows while later ones got dual-pane ones. Who knew?

2021 brought a bit more range, plus a short-lived Standard Range version that only lasted a month. Plus you get an updated matte center console and a heated steering wheel. Later builds lost passenger lumbar. So if that's important to you (or a family member) beware.

In 2022, Tesla introduced the Standard Range All-Wheel Drive, which had the long-awaited 4680 cells. But, as Andrew and others have noted, it's got problems. It charges unusually slowly for a Tesla, dipping below 100 kW after around a 30% state of charge, he says. Later 2022 models got updated interior bits including wood trim on the door cards, plus manual backup releases for the rear doors. And some got a "comfort suspension." As you probably know, a stiff ride has always dogged the Model Y.

2023 is when Teslas got Hardware 4, which you need to run the latest version of FSD. And there's a Standard Range option that actually just has the same battery as the longer-range ones, but is software locked. You can pay Tesla a bit to unlock up to 50 miles of range in these cars, which means they might be a sleeper deal.

What do you think?

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2024 and 2025 models got some small updates. Then 2026 brought an overhaul in the form of the "Juniper" refresh. It has new front and rear ends with light bars, dual-pane windows all around, and a whole slew of changes that you'll have to watch Andrew's video to learn more about. Across model years, I've only scratched the surface here.

Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com