See Thousands Of Tesla EVs Bound For Canada Waiting In Shanghai Port

We counted at least 3,000 cars waiting to board a ship to North America.

Fleet of Tesla vehicles waiting at Shanghai port (Source: Wu Wa/YouTube)

Photo by: YouTube

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Jun 19, 2023 at 5:05am ET

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A huge fleet of Tesla Model Y and Model 3 EVs appears to be on its way to North America, according to footage from a recent drone flyover video that shows at least 3,000 cars waiting at the Shanghai South Port in Shanghai.

The video, which was published on the Wu Wa YouTube channel yesterday, has a description that says the neatly parked cars were wearing a “CA” mark, which presumably means Canada, where Tesla has recently started importing cars from China, in a bid to prioritize American-made vehicles for the US market, where both the Model 3 and Model Y are eligible for the $7,500 IRA tax credit.

In Canada, EVs made anywhere in the world can benefit from country-wide and local incentives, so importing the cheapest variant of the crossover from China makes sense, as it doesn’t affect the customers financially.

Gallery: Tesla Model Y (MIC)

First customer deliveries of the MIC Tesla Model Y - January 18, 2021

First customer deliveries of the MIC Tesla Model Y - January 18, 2021 Tesla Model Y (MIC)

Currently, the Model 3 RWD, Model 3 Long Range AWD, Model Y RWD, and Model Y Long Range AWD qualify for the federal $5,000 (Canadian) iZEV incentive.

Interestingly though, it looks like Tesla China is not allotting the production from the second half of a quarter to the domestic market, as it usually does, and instead cranking out export-bound Model Y and Model 3 units.

As previously reported, the made-in-China Model Y all-wheel drive Long Range sold in Canada is equipped with a smaller, 79-kilowatt-hour battery pack made by LG, compared to the US-made Model Y which has an 82-kWh pack from Panasonic. This results in a shorter driving range of 309 miles (497 kilometers, whereas the Fremont-made model can travel up to 330 miles (531 km) on a full charge.

However, as pointed out by Drive Tesla Canada, the LG-made packs offer better performance in cold weather and degrade slower than the Panasonic-made units.

What do you think?

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Rumors of a made-in-China Tesla Model Y first surfaced in November 2022, but Elon Musk quickly denied the Reuters report that said Shanghai-built EVs will be exported to the United States. Fast-forward to April of this year, though, and the American EV brand started shipping rear-wheel drive crossovers to Canada, followed by all-wheel drive Long Range units. The Model 3 was added to the Canadian inventory in May.

As always, we’d like to know what you think about this, so head over to the comments section below to give us your thoughts.