Tesla
CEO
Elon
Musk
posted
on
Friday
that
the
Standard
Range
rear-wheel
drive
Model
Y
the
company
has
been
building
and
selling
“over
the
last
several
months”
actually
has
more
range
than
the
260
miles
they
were
sold
with.
Pending
“regulatory
approval,”
he
wrote
that
the
company
will
unlock
another
40–60
miles
of
total
range,
depending
on
which
battery
Model
Y
owners
have,
“for
$1,500
to
$2,000.”
This
isn’t
the
first
time
Tesla
has
software-locked
its
cars’
range.
The
company
revealed
back
in
2016
that
the
70kWh
battery
in
the
Model
S
70
actually
had
75kWh
of
capacity
that
customers
could
pay
more
than
$3,000
to
access.
It’s
possible
that
the
current
Model
S
and
X
cars,
which
weigh
the
same
as
their
longer-range
counterparts,
have
also
been
software-limited.
The
auto
industry,
in
general,
has
been
trending
toward
controlling
access
to
cars’
existing
features
with
pay-to-remove
software
locks.
Polestar
started
selling
a
$1,200
over-the-air
update
to
boost
the
Polestar
2’s
performance
in
2022.
Mercedes-Benz
charged
the
same
amount,
but
annually,
to
improve
the
horsepower
and
torque
of
the
EQE
and
EQS.
BMW
once
paywalled
software-locked
CarPlay
and,
later,
heated
seats
(the
company
later
dropped
that
plan).
And
of
course,
Tesla
has
proven
itself
willing
to
remotely
disable
paid-for
features
when
one
of
its
cars
is
resold.
Original author: Wes Davis
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