Every Tesla has a 17-character Vehicle Identification Number built to the international ISO 3779 standard. The letters I, O and Q are never used (they look too much like 1 and 0). Tesla fills the remaining positions with its own codes, which is why a generic decoder often cannot tell you whether you are looking at a dual-motor Model Y from Berlin or a single-motor one from Fremont. A Tesla-specific decoder such as TeslaVin can.
The 17 characters at a glance
| Position | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) | 5YJ, 7SA, 7G2, LRW, XP7 |
| 4 | Model | S 3 X Y C T R |
| 5 | Body type and steering side | E = Model 3 sedan, left-hand drive |
| 6 | Restraint system (weight class on trucks) | 1, 7, A… |
| 7 | Battery / charger | E = Li-ion, F = LFP |
| 8 | Motor / drive unit | A single motor, B dual motor… |
| 9 | Check digit | 0–9 or X |
| 10 | Model year | N = 2022, P = 2023 |
| 11 | Assembly plant | F Fremont, A Austin, C Shanghai, B Berlin |
| 12–17 | Production serial number | 317000 |
Positions 1–3: who built it
The WMI identifies the manufacturer and region. 5YJ and 7SA are US passenger cars (Fremont and Austin), 7G2 is used for US-built trucks such as the Cybertruck and Semi, LRW means Gigafactory Shanghai, XP7 is Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg and SFZ belongs to the original Roadster built with Lotus. Note that the WMI alone is not a reliable indicator of the exact plant – position 11 is.
Position 4: the model
S = Model S, 3 = Model 3, X = Model X, Y = Model Y, C = Cybertruck, T = Semi and R = Roadster.
Positions 5–8: body, safety, battery and motor
These four characters describe the configuration, and their meaning depends on the model. Position 5 tells you the body style and whether the car is left- or right-hand drive. Position 6 encodes the seatbelt and airbag set-up (on trucks it is a weight class). Position 7 is mostly E for a lithium-ion battery or F for a lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery – see our article on LFP vs NMC batteries. Position 8 shows the number of motors and whether it is a Performance variant. It does not map reliably to retail names such as "Long Range", and Tesla does not put battery capacity in the VIN.
Position 9: the check digit
A mathematical fingerprint of the other 16 characters, used to catch typing errors and invented VINs. We explain the maths in Tesla VIN check digit explained.
Position 10: model year
A letter that maps to a year – N is 2022, P is 2023, R is 2024. See the full model-year table.
Position 11: the factory
F Fremont (California), A Austin (Texas), C Shanghai, B Berlin-Brandenburg, N Nevada. More in Which factory built my Tesla?
Positions 12–17: the serial number
A running production number. It does not restart each model year, so within the same plant and model a lower number generally means an earlier build.
