2017 VS 2020 Tesla Model 3: How Much Has the Model 3 Improved Since 2017?

how much has the Tesla Model 3 improved since it was first released in 2017 I'm Jonathan Stewart and welcome to cleaner one on March 31st of 2016 Elon Musk presented the world with the model 3 prototype vehicles within just a few days there were over 300,000 reservations and it was obvious that this car would be a big hit the initial production and delivery ramp was very difficult and slow with just over 1,700 vehicles being delivered in 2017 but now here we are just a few years later and Tesla is producing and delivering well over 300 thousand model threes per year and the number is continually growing Tesla though is never one to standstill they are always innovating and improving their products and the model 3 is no different just how much has a Model 3 change improved since the 1st 2017 models until now now one of the big changes that we'll talk about in a minute is of course the models that were available the first Tesla Model 3 is that were delivered in 2017 where the long range rear-wheel drive units here we are in 2020 and there are actually three models to choose from the standard range plus the long range all-wheel drive unit and of course the performance all-wheel drive will go more in depth with other models that were available over the last couple years and also talked about how things have changed between those models but before we dive into that I want to talk about a few exterior changes that have happened over the last several years one of them were subtle changes for the Model 3 from the early models was of course removing the problem with water dripping into the trunk the early 2017 and 2018 Tesla Model 3 s had a very narrow channel in the weather stripping where the trunk met the glass sometime in 2019 or in 2020 they improved this weather stripping to have a much larger channel so that you no longer have water dripping into the trunk something else that has changed is of course the UV coating on the glass the newer models still have this UV coating but it has a little bit different formulation when the original UV coating got wet produce a beautiful rainbow effect here's a picture on Twitter from Tesla tunity showing just how beautiful this was on the model 3 a lot of people love this and some people didn't like it but the modern vehicles still have a UV coating but it does not reflect light in that way anymore now let's talk about an interior change that has happened since the early models Tesla of course manufactures their own seats and the original model 3 seats have changed since 2017 to the current models the YouTube channel Tesla Braj put up a great video showing the difference between a Gen 1 and Gen 2 seat if you'd like to check out the full video of the see comparison I'll put a link down in the description below but Tessa Raj has graciously allowed me to use clips from his video to show you a few of the differences between the Gen 1 and Gen 2 seats from gen 1 to Gen 2 Tesla has improved the comfort and styling of the seeds one of the first easily recognizable changes of course the front midline seam on the back of the seat has been moved also Tesla made the side bolsters and the seat bolsters a lot more firm and they also added somewhere around two to three times more padding this allows for a lot more comfort and allows you to be positioned in the seat a lot better they've also moved the stitching from the very front end of the seat and move that down so it has a lot more comfort for the leg and they have added more thigh support at the end of the seat everyone that I have heard talk about the difference between the Gen 1 and the gen 2 seats definitely agree is that the Gen 2 seats are much more comfortable and are definitely an improvement something else that has been added since the early models were delivered as Tesla now has the key fob available for the Tesla Model 3 it's not included when you purchase the vehicle but for $150 you can buy it from Tesla's parts this gives you three options to get into your model three you can either use the app on your phone you can use the keycard or now you can purchase and use the key fob now let's talk about the efficiency improvements as I mentioned the only model that Tesla delivered in 2017 was a long-range rear wheel drive unit so although Tesla is not technically selling the same model here in 2020 fuel economy gov still has the numbers for the 22 long range rear-wheel drive unit Tesla has gone through the process of officially get in this car tested so it might be something they bring back in the future if you look at the efficiency of these two vehicles you can see that Tesla has made the model three a lot more efficient and according to the EPA if they bring this model back out it will have an estimated range of 330 miles of course an improvement over the 310 of the 2017 model in 2018 Tesla released the long-range all-wheel drive unit and you'll see there even from then they have gained an extra 12 miles from 2018 to 2020 there has also been an improvement in the performance model going from 310 mile range to 322 mile range now if you go to the Tesla website right now and if you add the performance package to the Tesla Model 3 you'll see there that it actually changes to a 299 mile range instead of the 322 miles that you see with the 18-inch wheels according to fuel economy gov they have actually given the Tesla Model 3 three different rankings if you don't add the performance package you get 322 miles of range and that has the 18 inch wheels if you put the 19 inch wheels on the vehicle you get somewhere around 304 miles of range and of course if you put the 20 inch performance wheels on there you'll get somewhere around 299 miles of range then we also have the standard range Plus which was available starting in 2019 and you'll see that even it has improved since then gaining an extra 10 miles since it was first released now let's talk about some spec and price changes over the years so I'm going to break this down by model and we're going to talk about some of the models that are no longer available and some that still are so the long range rear-wheel drive Tesla Model 3 was available from 2017 to early 2019 you'll see there from 2017 to 2019 that the 0 to 60 mile per hour time went down the range went up 15 miles and also the cost went down between four and six thousand dollars depending on when you purchased it if you look at the long range all-wheel drive model 3 which is available starting in 2018 you'll see that they have also improved the 0 to 60 miles per hour time increased the range 12 miles and also the prices come down since they first released it and also for the performance model which was available starting in 2018 you'll see that the zero to 60 mile per hour time has gone down the range has gone up the top speed has gone up and of course the cost has come down the standard range unit which was available starting in 2019 of course hasn't changed they're keeping that one steady but if you look at the standard range plus from 2019 to 2020 since it was released it has gained 10 miles of range and of course a model which they no longer have available and that was only available for a short period in 2018 and 2019 you have the mid range rear-wheel drive unit and that got about two thousand dollars cheaper between 2018 and 2019 what about hardware and software changes that have happened since then in 2017 tesla model shipped with what has been called hardware 2.5 based on what tesla knows now that computer is not full self-driving capable Hardware 2.5 was able to process 30 trillion operations per second and could process a hundred and ten frames per second now here we are in 2020 and Tesla Model 3 ship with hardware 3.0 tesla has moved away from an Nvidia and now it has their own in-house design chip the Tesla full self-driving computer in their vehicles based on what we know this computer should be full self-driving capable once that software is complete this computer is able to do 144 trillion operations per second a vast improvement over the 30 trillion operations of hardware 2.5 and it's able to process 2300 frames per second which is somewhere around a 21 X increase from Hardware 2.5 for those customers that purchased full self-driving in these early tesla models they are getting a free upgrade to this new computer since 2017 tesla has also changed the way they sell auto pilot in 2017 if you wanted the basic autopilot features you paid $5,000 if you wanted the full self-driving package you needed to pay an extra $3,000 in 2020 basic autopilot is now included free in the vehicle basic autopilot allows your car to steer accelerate and brake automatically for other vehicles and pedestrians within its lane if you want to add the self-driving package that now costs an additional $7,000 full self-driving features that were not available in 2017 but that are available here in 2020 are of course navigate on autopilot which allows your car to automatically drive from highway on-ramp to off-ramp also including interchanges and overtaking slower cars we have auto lane change which changes lanes automatically while driving on the highway it includes auto park and of course summon which allows your car to come find you anywhere in a parking lot coming later in 2024 the hardware 3.0 vehicles they will be able to recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs and do some automatic driving on city streets from the model threes launched in 2017 until now there have been hundreds of software updates and improvements I of course can't talk about every single one of these changes but I did want to take a moment to talk about some of the notable features that were not available in 2017 Tesla has added entertainment features like Spotify Tesla cinema Tesla arcade and of course karaoke they added some really important security features like sentry mode and dashcam another important feature that was added to keep your animals safe is of course dog mode as we mentioned before they have added features like smart summon and navigate on autopilot plus the enhance visualizations that people have with 3.0 computers recently Tesla added two very important features which was of course voice commands which allow you to control various aspects of your car with just your voice and also the ability to read and respond to text messages hands-free now one of their big change that I want to talk about before the end of this video is of course the made-in-china model 3 in 2017 the only Tesla Model 3 is that were being built were in the Fremont factory in California here we are in 2020 and Tesla Model 3 s are now also being built in Shanghai China and here's a picture from J and Shanghai on Twitter showing the Tesla Model 3 made in China so as I mentioned Tesla is not one to stand still they are constantly improving their vehicles and it's obvious that the Tesla Model 3 has gotten better even in a very short period of time thank you so much for watching this video if you did like the video please consider clicking the like button so other people can find the video as well and if you're not yet subscribed to the channel please consider subscribing and if you do subscribe if you click the bell icon you'll be notified when new videos are published thank you so much

Channel: Cleanerwatt

Views: 837,467

Rating: 4.8960228 out of 5

Keywords: Tesla, Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, Elon Musk, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Autopilot, Tesla FSD, Full Self Driving, Electric Cars, Tesla Cars, Tesla Reviews, Tesla Elon Musk, Tesla Review

Id: ERWYDHNWBCs

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 27 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/dltesla]

People are so quick to forget Alcantaragate.

[u/charlieebe]

Why does the 2019 SR+ get 240 miles on a full charge while the 2020 SR+ gets 250? Is it a hardware or software thing? Cause don’t they both have the 54kWh battery pack?

[u/penguinpetter]

Early 2018 here, what makes me smile, the roof when it rains. It's my wall paper on my computers, cell phone, and a few social media sites. It's puuuurty.

[u/Sammy567890]

Don't forget the leather steering wheels are gone, now its a synthetic leather wheel.

[u/cobrajet7]

I'm happy with my gen 1 saves me tons in gas

[u/404davee]

This is a good recap of the changes. As an early 08 owner, I look forward to the seat difference in the Y.

[u/venominator]

They really should bring back that grey color.

[u/stumpthedummy]

I love my 2018 Model 3 AWD Performance but am really disappointed that I paid up front for FSD but still have hardware 2.5 when friends who purchased later (2019) have Hardware 3.0. Same exact car but they paid less and have significantly more features. It is also frustrating that Tesla provides zero insight was to when I might receive an upgrade (could be next week, could be next year - big difference).

[u/BulletProofJoe]

I am waiting to purchase a Model 3 Performance, but it feels like a timing game. The car continues to improve rapidly, and I feel like I'll miss out on the next big feature if I were to purchase one now.

I'm also in the military and deploy off and on. I'll deploy in 6 months for a 6 month tour, and the car will surely have improved in a year's time. I'm hoping for a Model 3 Coupe in the near future, but I'm not holding my breath.