Sandy Munro continues his Tesla Model Y teardown video series on his Munro Live YouTube channel. In the video we bring to you today, Munro looks closely at the Model Y's floorpan, EPP floor risers, and wiring and seat stanchions.
Munro starts off this segment looking at the underside of the Model Y's front carpeting, and how Tesla wisely uses expanded polypropylene foam (EPP) to achieve the desired result. He likes how they use the EPP to raise the Model Y's floor so Tesla can use the same floorpan for the Model Y as they do for the Model 3.
Every Model 3 part that Tesla can repurpose to use in the Model Y saves money, and Munro is a big fan of repurposing as well as saving money as long as it makes sense.
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Before moving onto the next item Munro points out that there are unpainted metal surfaces on the floorplan of the vehicle.
We've has people come in and say "Oh my God, my car doesn't have any paint on the steel for the seats" - Sandy Munro
Munro quickly dismisses that concern, saying that those surfaced do not need to be painted. In fact, in his opinion, it's better that they aren't painted because that saves money and is more environmentally friendly. We've had concerned Model 3 owners end us pictures of unpainted metal seat supports that had a good deal of surface rust on them, also.
“If you were to look at a number of seats across the various manufacturers, you will find that about 50 percent do not paint the seat supports (bottom and/or back). They will however paint any area that is visible to the customer – i.e. the lower mount points and sometimes the rails if they are not covered with trim. So most have determined that they can live with a little surface rust on non-visible parts. Besides, eliminating the paint is good for the environment.” - Al Steier, Director of the Benchmarking Innovation Center at Munro and Associates
We reached out to Munro and Associates back then to help determine if it was an issue, and we were told not to worry, that it's a common practice and won't lead to any problems.
Munro then walks around to the rear of the vehicle so we can see the connection for the high-voltage cable for the charge port. He shows that the wiring is located in pipe, instead of the cabling that he's normally expect to see there. The Model 3 has the usual high-voltage cables that other EV makers do, but Tesla upgraded it for the Model Y and Munro calls it a "great idea".
Lastly, Munro looks at the stanchions used to lift the Model Y seats up. By using those, he concludes that Tesla was able to use the Model 3 seats in the Model Y, another example of repurposing that saves time and money.