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Can Model 3 delivery acceptance be continually "pushed" to gain access to updated (2021) build?

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It will still be better than the previous system, because there’s a temperature window where you reduce the battery consumption. Below that point, they still have the backup heating method through electric motors like the Model 3 already has. In terms of design, it shouldn’t be a negative.

I’m more curious how the cabin heating works. Certainly the waste heat from the motor has been enough for the battery in the past; is it enough for the battery & the cabin without a PTC heater when it’s -5F out there? We shall see. I’m sure Tesla tested the daylights out of it but I still want to see it firsthand. Happy wife, happy life applies here. She expects a sweltering cabin in the winter ....
 
This temperature window (where a heat pump is efficient) is between 40 dF and 70 dF. Below 40 dF air temperature, the fins will frost over and the car battery will be powering both the a/c compressor and resistive heating elements. This is a net negative.

So if you live in a warm climate with above freezing winters, the heat pump will be a net positive (in battery power consumption).

If you live in Minnesota or Wisconsin (or any place with a long, subfreezing winter), it will be a net negative.

So it depends on where you live, if the heat pump (and it complexity) is worth it.
First - I think it will be useful to a lower range than 40F. The reality is neither of us know for sure and there hasn’t been a lot of A/B scientific testing yet with Tesla. I have posted some research showing the heat pump added over 10% range to the fiat 500e at 14F however. You can see it here: Heat pump

Second - why would it have to run the compressor? It can work like it does currently and heat the resistive elements to generate heat. I don’t think that part would change, right? Or have we seen specs that they removed strip heating entirely from cabin usage?
 
I’m more curious how the cabin heating works. Certainly the waste heat from the motor has been enough for the battery in the past; is it enough for the battery & the cabin without a PTC heater when it’s -5F out there? We shall see. I’m sure Tesla tested the daylights out of it but I still want to see it firsthand. Happy wife, happy life applies here. She expects a sweltering cabin in the winter ....
Exactly the same situation here - I can put up with a colder car, but others will not. I'm hopeful the heat pump allows someone to keep the cabin at 76F on a mild winter road trip even down to 20F without as dramatic of a range hit as it would have been previously.

The way I see it, the solutions for -5F and expecting a scorching cabin are:

1. Very large battery - this is expensive, but for long distance travel at -5F, it's going to be a must anyway. For others, it's added weight that won't usually be needed assuming they can charge at home. Still, range will be limited if you're drawing the heat so much and at low temperatures.

2. Improved insulation for the battery pack - if the battery pack was designed specifically for winter use, they could increase insulation to help it retain heat. This doesn't work well in the summers when you want to shed heat however. In the winter, you could theoretically charge the car overnight before a road trip and have it finish charging in time for your departure, generating heat and even maintaining it while you're plugged into the wall. As you drive, you might be able to draw on this. When the temperature gets that low today, the battery pack doesn't retain all of the heat and is why supercharging on a winter road trip can occasionally be painfully slow.

3. External heat - someone posted a video a while ago of their Nissan Leaf outfitted with fuel heating. I forget if it was natural gas or another source. This actually generated a lot of heat and reduced range loss in the winter. I doubt we'll see something like that in a Tesla where you have to add CNG into an otherwise full EV. Electric buses in NY and other cold climates use this approach though. It's EV for everything except cabin heat.

Tesla might just be limited by current technology and design around the more common use cases, which are driving a little below freezing, but not trying to do road trips at -5F. I think it's popular in Norway where it gets very cold, because of incentives and because the distances most people need to go are relatively limited.
 
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After rejecting a Model Y that looked like a 4th grader assembled it, we went to the back of the queue. After a few weeks of not seeing much improvement online and not being assigned a new VIN, I called and asked that we not be matched before the end of the year. Now we are in the system to match on or after 01/01/2021. Quality seems to have improved so we may go ahead and try again but with the updates to the 3 I'm curious to see if any of them carry over to the Y.

So call your sales associate and ask that you not be VIN matched until XX date. As you approach XX date, if the improvements you are wanting have not yet been implemented, call again and push it out again. Or visa-versa, once you see the improvements you are wanting have been implement, call and ask to be VIN matched.
 
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You will be doing a lot of waiting this way.
More power to you if that helps and makes you happy though.

The build quality and QA is just not there. Its a complete luck of the draw if you get a unit you and only you will accept and feel happy or at least ok with.

The late 2020, early 2021 new build process units will not make a difference, the years the 3s and now the Ys have been in mass production also will not make a difference.

If anything, some of the changes introduced might very well have their own growing pains. Early adopter, early production issues with whatever they change now or retrofit from Y to 3 and 'refreshed 3' to 'refreshed Y'.

Accept what you are willing to live with at whatever the 40-50-60-70K price point means to you and move on. Its just a car
and a few years from now it will be antiquated and worn/torn, battle damaged. Panel gaps, orange peel, rattles, cabin noise levels will be the least of your worries.
 
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