This is just a disguised way to say they’ve been asking 10k more for the same product beforehand
That’s not how this works. There’s a concept called “economies of scale”. The sale of the $100k model supplements the cost of the $80k model.
There’s also no official documentation to show that it is indeed software-locked. These could be binned or B-grade cells.
No it doesn’t. What it says is:
It’s unclear if Tesla is software-locking capacity in the Long Range battery pack to create these trims or if it is actually producing a new battery pack for them.
You haven’t read the article then, you just took the sentence that fitted your point. At the end there is an update saying that Tesla did in fact confirm it was the same battery pack that was software locked.