Episode 526: New Model Y Performance Is Here and It's Even Better Than We'd Hoped

On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, Tesla Europe revealed

the new Model Y performance and it's packing a few surprises that make it even better than

anticipated.

Plus, Tesla has been making news all around the world this week, from FSD supervised rolling

out in its first new region, to Cybertruck launching in a new territory, to the possible

return of the Model S and Model X to Europe and much more.

What's happening friends, I'm Ryan McCaffrey joining you as I do every single week for Ride

the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast.

This is episode 526, publishing on August 31st, 2025.

Well, it is another super fun, super jam-packed week of Tesla and EV news, but I wanted to

start right off the top here by following up on something that I had mentioned briefly

during the Ride the Lightning Hotline segment last week and it was about there possibly

being a slight extension of sorts to the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.

Well, our Tesla tipster friend, Sawyer Merritt, dug into it and found some answers, but I

will say we still, at least as of this recording, don't have total clarity on this.

So here's what Sawyer wrote, there's been some confusion about the $7,500 federal

EV tax credit in the US being quote-unquote extended.

It's not, the credit still ends on September 30th, but on August 21st, the IRS clarified

that EV buyers have some new flexibility.

1.

If you sign a binding purchase contract, plus make a payment, even a small down payment

or trade-in, before September 30th, you lock in eligibility.

The car doesn't have to be delivered by September 30th, you can take delivery later.

The credit is only applied when the car is placed in service, i.e. when you take delivery, but

eligibility is tied to the contract date, which again must be by September 30th.

The dealer will provide a time of sale report then.

So basically you can still take advantage of the EV tax credit after September 30th,

but you need to sign a binding purchase agreement for the car and make a payment, again small

down payment or trade-in, before September 30th.

The car doesn't have to be delivered by then, you can still get the credit even if it arrives

weeks or months later.

This is especially useful for buyers ordering a vehicle that isn't immediately available,

such as one being built like a custom factory order or shipped from another state.

So thank you Sawyer for that.

And the big question for me and probably for you as well that you're sitting there asking

as you hear this is, does Tesla's $250 non-refundable order fee count as signing a binding purchase

contract and or making a payment?

Now it would seem like that's a no to the former, a binding purchase contract, but

a yes to the latter, making a payment.

So my advice, unfortunately I don't have a concrete answer for you as of now, but my

advice if you're looking to buy a Tesla or any EV to try and get delivery by September

30th would be to physically go into a store and speak with not just a sales associate,

I'm sure plenty of them are super knowledgeable, but I would try to speak with a sales

manager who might have a little bit more information there.

Maybe by next week's episode, episode 527, we'll have a little bit more clarity on this.

Next up as we get warmed up in another busy week of Tesla and EV news, congratulations

to the Giga Berlin team as they posted on X this week to announce the completion of

their 100,000th new Model Y. Now given that they started producing them back in

I believe February with deliveries starting in March, that means they've hit that 100,000

mark in about six months.

Now that would obviously go out to a 200,000 per year pace, but when you factor in the

production ramp up time on the new Model Y, which yes it was quick compared to a totally

new vehicle program like the Cybertruck, but it does still take time for them to ramp

up on the new version, well okay then that works out too roughly, and you probably guessed

it, about 250,000 cars per year, a.k.a. 5,000 cars a week, which is exactly what Giga Berlin

has been doing for these past few years that it's been open, it's 250,000 Model Ys a year,

so kudos to Tesla for already hitting that 100,000 Model Y milestone.

And remember too that sometime late last year I think it was, Giga Berlin announced plans

to expand their production capability there past a quarter million vehicles per year,

so if Giga Berlin ends up building the Model Y L there for Europe as well as the Model

Y B, and yes I know I've gone from calling it the Model 2.5 to the Model Y Mini, now that

those have all been debunked because it's neither of those things, I'm going to call it

the Model Y B for basic as just a shorthand here rather than say strip down Model Y every

single time, so if they're building again Model Y L as well as Model Y B plus the

new Performance Model Y, that'll mean 5 total variants and hopefully then a decent bit more

than 250,000 units per year out of that factory, like hopefully at least 300,000 maybe we'll

see in the next year or two.

Now speaking of Giga Berlin and the Model Y, let's get to this week's headline story,

the thing that you already knew was coming based on the title of this week's episode,

the new Model Y Performance has been announced for Europe and only Europe as of this recording

on Friday evening.

The announcement came via Tesla Europe's X account and they had teased it a couple

of days prior with a little message the caption was spoiler alert and the image

was a super close up of part of the Model Y Performance that didn't really show you anything,

it was so indistinguishable and generic for lack of a better word that you had no idea

what you were looking at, but I had actually commented in response to their post I figured

well spoiler alert meaning a vehicle with a spoiler meant that they were either going

to be launching the Model Y L for Europe or the Model Y Performance and in fact it has

proven to be for now the Model Y Performance and as of this moment those of you in Europe

can now order what is as of now the quickest Model Y ever made.

So let's go through everything because there is a lot to chew on here, plenty to get

to.

First I'll start with price and performance.

So I took a look at a couple different European Tesla websites, couple different currencies,

one in miles, one in metric so I just wanted to kind of get a sense of it because obviously

we don't know what any of these figures are going to be for the US market as of yet.

But in the UK it's 62,000 pounds, for context the long range all wheel drive is 52,000 pounds

so a 10,000 pound difference there and if we're looking at Euros I went to the German

Tesla Design Studio it is 62,000 Euros compared to 53,000 Euros for the long range all

wheel drive so a 10k spread in the UK, 9k spread in Germany or in basically any European

market that's using Euros therefore it is reasonably likely to be $58,000 in the US

or 59 probably could be 60 but I think basically 58 to $60,000 is going to be the range that

we're looking at for the US market because the long range all wheel drive here is $49,000

and given that the Model 3 performance is $55,000, 58,000, 59 maybe $60,000 seems about right.

So kind of on a related note if the Model YL does come to the US I have to revise my previous

prediction I had said 55k that was sadly I think I was too low on that I would now revise

my prediction to about the same roughly $60,000 give or take a couple thousand so we'll see

bookmark this hopefully we will get the Model YL here and get it soon and we can find

out if I was right or wrong back to the Model Y performance though as for its performance it

does 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds or 0 to 100 kilometers per hour which is 62 miles per hour in 3.5

so 0 to 60 3.3 seconds that is a 0.2 second improvement over the generation 1 Model Y performance

is 0 to 60 time of 3.5 seconds and again that's probably what we would have guessed right because

it's got the same drivetrain as the new Model 3 performance and that car from Gen 1 to Gen

2 went from 3.1 seconds 0 to 60 to 2.9 seconds in the car that I'm very grateful and privileged

to have in my garage now oh and by the way on the German design studio if you're curious

about when the Model Y performance will begin deliveries it shows availability in Germany

as September which that means that's almost certainly going to be the first deliveries

sometime which of course that could be in a matter of days from now or it could be

in 3 3.5 weeks from now we don't quite know just yet what you know what exactly

September means we'll find out soon enough as people are by the time you hear this plenty

of people will have ordered it in Europe and maybe some of them will start to get delivery

windows or if they're if they're already coming off the production line maybe the first folks

will actually have delivery dates in their Tesla apps but I figured Germany was the one

to look at there because obviously giga Berlin's in Germany so it wouldn't have to ship

too far that's probably Germans are probably going to be the first customers to get their

hands on the new model Y performance now let's talk about the rest of the features and changes

on this new performance variant Tesla said on X it's designed to deliver performance

that's just as good on your daily drive as it is on the open road and they have a

bunch of different sections here so under the vehicle exterior upgrades for even better

performance section they note that there is a new front and rear fascia and carbon spoiler

for better aerodynamics now certainly one of the downsides of this being an audio

only podcast probably the only downside is that I can't show you things visually when

I want to and I certainly wish I could just put a picture of the new model Y

performance in front of you but just Google image search it just type in probably new model

Y performance will most likely pull it up instantaneously and you will see the revised

front fascia so it adds a more aggressive splitter down low and it puts a glossy black

insert near the headlights and air inlets in that little spot on either side of the

front face and I think it looks very good I really like the look of it so it

definitely does add some aggression to the front end of the new model Y the rear

fascia it's basically just a rear diffuser which is the same as on my model 3

performance the diffuser is different now I I will say I don't super care for the

new rear diffuser I don't dislike it but I don't think it necessarily adds a lot to

the look of the car I reserve the right to change my opinion on that after I see

it in person whereas on and I acknowledge my bias as well as a model 3

performance owner but I think the different rear diffuser on the model 3

performance is really good-looking and it actually adds a lot of of of

athleticism for lack of a better word to the look of the car in the rear but

there is a new one on the back of the model Y performance as well take a look at

it see what you think now the next section optimized wheels and tires for

precision control well here is where Tesla I mean again I like the design

particularly upfront but the wheels is really where Tesla nailed it with this

car for me I said on the podcast I did not personally care for any of the new

wheel options that we saw recently on the revised Model S and Model X just

none of them did anything for me whereas the outgoing wheel options on SNX what

had been there on particularly the new S the arachnid wheels I loved just

absolutely love those and I liked both of the old new Model X wheels as well

both the 20 and the 22s but the new wheels all the new wheels on SNX just

aren't aren't doing it for me but on the new model Y performance boy does it do it

for me I like the warp wheels on my model 3 performance and I like them

even better now that I've removed the arrow inserts but I love the wheels on

the new model Y performance so they're called arachnid 2.0 and they in fact look

almost exactly like the arachnids that the Model S just lost in that slight

refresh from a couple months ago there's still a gunmetal gray dark gray

color and they now have the 2.0 portion comes from the fact that they now have

some arrow inserts near the outside of the wheel which again are almost

certainly removable and I think they'll probably look subjectively they'll look

even better without them now on my car I'll say I am not really noticing any

efficiency there obviously is some efficiency difference since I took out

the arrow inserts but it seems pretty minimal I'm not really noticing a big

penalty and I'll be curious if that proves to be the case for the arachnid

2.0's on the Model Y performance as well if removing the inserts really will

end up not costing you too much range but they look absolutely phenomenal the

arachnid from the the S that now there've been this is actually they should

call this the arachnid 3.0 because the original arachnid wheel was on the

generation 1 Model S in fact my cousin Pat had them on his car and they they

looked great then and then the new versions of them that were on the new

Model S up until two months ago I thought just looked fantastic and and these

these new ones on the Model Y performance just look great I mean the

arachnid for me any version of it any of the three versions of it that we've

had are probably if not my favorite wheel design Tesla's ever done it's

right near the top I think I think when I actually did the wheel rankings of

all the wheel designs Tesla's ever done I did a lightning round episode about it

on patreon some months ago after I guess I should probably do it again because

we've now had several new wheel designs come in since I last did that

lightning round but I think spoiler alert I think I had named the original

Model S and X turbines as my favorite wheel ever maybe a little bit of

nostalgia coming into play there but I always thought those wheels look

great and I think they still look great but man I know I'm going on here so I'll

move along but the new arachnids what what is technically called the arachnid

2.0's even though Franz they should be the arachnid 3.0's they look awesome on

the new Model Y performance performance carbon spoiler equals greater

downforce and reduced drag yes we of course fully expected that it appears

on the design studio and in the photos to possibly be the exact same spoiler

that's on the Model 3 performance which would not be a surprise because the 3&Y

performance versions shared the carbon fiber lip spoiler in the first

generation as well a consistently smooth and stable ride Tesla notes adaptive

damping adjusts handling based on road conditions this of course it's gonna be

the same suspension probably that's on my car new drive modes provide more

freedom for high-speed driving and a staggered wheel and tire fitment provide

better grip and steering now on that specifically the first gen Model Y

performance had staggered 21 inch wheels as well and so does this one so what

that means is you will not be rotating them however I will say that I never once

saw complaints not to say that they don't exist but I really never saw any

groundswell of complaints about tire life being too short too low on the

generation one Model Y performance so presumably it'll be okay here too even

though you're not going to be rotating these tires the next item on Tesla's list

was higher range more range thanks to new high-density battery cells with

increased charge capacity okay now we are cooking here we have the biggest and

most awesome in my opinion of the surprises on the Model Y performance

I'm gonna try to break this down as best I can without droning on for too long

because I know I do have a bad habit of doing that but we don't have an EPA

range rating yet to do an apples to apples comparison to the Model Ys and

Model 3s here in the US in terms of range since of course this car has not

yet been announced for the US market but if you go on Tesla's website go

into the Model Y design studio and switch your region in the upper right

corner to the UK you will see that it or really any of the other territories but

I'm using the UK specifically just because it's English language you will

see that it does show ranges in miles there though it is still rated in the

shall we say more generous WLTP range measurement or range estimate I should

say and so with all that in mind it shows 360 miles of WLTP estimated range

on the Model Y performance it will not actually get that and the EPA range

will not be 360 miles when it gets here we just again we don't know exactly how

that's gonna transfer however what we can do right now and what I've done is look

at the Model Y long range all-wheel drive so the dual motor non-performance on

that very same UK website with that very same WLTP range estimate and it

shows 364 miles of range but on the 19 inch wheels meaning we can reasonably

presume that the Model Y performance suffers basically no range penalty

compared to the non-performance all-wheel drive version on account of

these new improved battery cells even when we're comparing the 21 inch

staggered wheels to the all-wheel drives smaller square setup 19 inch wheels

and in the US the Model Y all-wheel drive is rated at 327 miles on the 19 inch

wheels and remember the EPA toughened up their testing recently to try and

make it a little bit more of a of an accurate estimate so 327 on the 19s for

the Model Y all-wheel drive means that I think an EPA rating for the new Model

Y performance when it gets here of around 320 miles is probably that's

where I would put my bet and 320 miles for the performance version on the

larger wheels and tires would be incredibly impressive incredible again

basically no range penalty for much more a lot more horsepower and bigger wheels

and tires that is awesome now it's these new battery cells of course that

make the new Model Y performance significantly better than a expected and

be better than my car better than the Model 3 performance at least in terms of

range certainly my car still outperforms it but the new Model Y

performance is really really impressive because I'll tell you if my car had these

same battery cells the same battery pack it would probably get closer to

340 miles instead of the 300 that it actually gets and that would just be

incredibly appealing like that that's a massive material difference to I mean

again I went in eyes wide open I knew I was buying the lowest range the

shortest range Model 3 but I was doing that because I was trading that for

performance well guess what because of these new battery cells there's no longer

a trade-off you are getting the range and the performance and the bigger more

awesome looking wheels on the Model Y performance and as a result I think these

new cells with this higher density chemistry I think Tesla is gonna sell more

performance models just on account of this because because again there's basically

no range penalty now particularly I think that the performance will will be more

appealing to more people particularly when you hear about the other upgrades

that this thing has and I'll get to those in a moment but to wrap up on the

battery piece here it is just it is some seriously impressive improvement on

the battery technology side overnight obviously they've been developing these

cells for a while but for them to just materialize unexpectedly in the Model

Y performance is awesome I mean it's the math is that these are roughly 13 to

14 percent better range or more efficient or more you know however you want to

phrase it but 13 to 14 percent improvement or so over the previous battery

cell that's in the other versions of the Model Y so I again that's my own estimate

don't take my word as gospel there and hope I'm sure at some point Tesla will

will fully explain it to us fully debrief and just explain exactly what

these new cells are doing and and what they're capable of but I think 13 to

14 percent is a reasonable approximation all right let's keep going with the rest

of the notable items in the new MYP they list comfort upgrades quiet cabin thanks

to premium sound damping materials and acoustic glass yep nothing new there

heated and ventilated sport seats in the front row so yes they have almost the

same seats as are in the Model 3 performance hang on just a second because

they have added not just the added bolstering in the side cushions which

my car has but powered thigh cushion extenders for extra comfort Tesla says

so those come straight out of the Model Y L as I was just talking about last

week it so it's we already knew that the L had in the first row it had the

performance seats just without the little loot it you know the little insane

mode logo in the in the neckline area but it turns out that it's it's kind of

goes both ways the the L yes the L had the performance seat but the

performance has the L seat with the powered thigh cushion extenders that the

Model 3 performance currently does not have giving it giving the new Model Y

performance a literal leg up sorry dad joke literally on the on the Model 3

performance I couldn't help myself I'm sorry moving to the second row

perforated and heated seats in the back with power recline so again

really actually no change there because they say notice perforated but not

ventilated so and still no ventilated seats for the second row bench in the

Model Y performance you have to buy the Model Y L and its second row captain's

chairs to get ventilation in the second row seats next Tesla says our highest

resolution 16 inch center touchscreen equals more pixels and more fun so

again this will sound familiar from last week with the Model Y L this is the same

slightly larger screen that the Model Y L is getting and of note it is listed

in the comparison chart on Tesla's website as being a QHD display whereas

the display is in the other Model Ys are not listed that way so this is an

improved display and not just slightly larger so again we have another tangible

advantage over the Model 3 performance and why do I keep bringing up the Model

3 performance it's because the two cars share a platform they are siblings the

three the first generation performance versions of three and why we're very

close to each other in every way they shared a drivetrain shared a battery pack

shared the spoiler you know pretty much everything so I just do think it is a

valid comparison here and I'll get to another reason why in a couple minutes

but yes another another point in favor of the new Model Y performance and and

in fact that wraps up all of the facts and features about the new MYP so I've

got a couple thoughts and I'll start here with what I think the coolest things

on this vehicle are number one it's those higher energy density battery

cells because that was completely unexpected in the high volume vehicle

you know that's something you expect that they're gonna bring the

Cybertruck or SNX or when it comes around the Roadster and I'm not saying that

those cars won't get battery cell upgrades but for this to debut in one of

the trims of the highest volume car is a little bit surprising to me now that

they can still be these cells will still be somewhat low volume because the

performance version of the Y is the version of it that at least historically

has sold the least because it's the most expensive and most the plurality at least

of crossover SUV buyers are not looking to pay more for additional

performance so Tesla is not gonna need enough of these new higher energy

density cells for 1.2 million cars that's they're only gonna need it for maybe

10% of that that that would be my again it's just a guesstimate on my part of

how many Model Y performances or at least what what ratio the sales pie looks

like on Model Y I would just I would guess that it's about one in ten Model

Y's sold are the performance version so we'll see if those same battery cells as

they ramp up production on those and bring the cost down if those cells will come

to the rest of the Model Y trims and potentially the Model 3 trims as well the

coolest the second coolest thing I made a list of four things so number one is

definitely those higher energy and energy density battery cells item number two of

the coolest things on the new Model Y performance are the wheels I already went

on and on about those they're just gorgeous I know that's subjective but

the arachnid 2.0's get 2.0 very big thumbs up from me number three on my

list the thigh cushion extenders I'm not a super tall guy I'm pretty

average height so I'm not sure if those would really materially make my ride more

comfortable but good on Tesla for putting them in wasn't expecting that in the

performance version that is awesome to see and then number four the last thing

on my list is the slightly larger nicer screen the touchscreen there so that is

awesome to see as well and just all told I am extremely extremely impressed

by this car and if I were buying a Model Y I would a thousand percent go with this

version I would not even entertain the other versions of the Model Y it's it

looks better it's got the sweet wheels and you're you're really not paying a

range penalty for the additional performance so you're paying more

certainly obviously but yeah I would I would be buying this in a heartbeat if

I was in the market for a Model Y but I'm I am over the moon happy with my new

Model 3 performance certainly no regrets there even after seeing what the new

Model Y performance is all about and then I just had a couple more thoughts

here this first one I admit is a little bit of a negative thought and I

try to be optimistic here but I couldn't help but kind of shape my head at the

fact it's a fact that the plaid Model X that you are paying a fortune for has

zero design differences inside or out compared to its non plaid long range

counterpart nothing it is an identical vehicle on the inside and the outside the

only way you can tell that you have a Model X plaid is the plaid badge on the

rear and the larger red brake calipers that's it for all the money that you're

paying while on the other hand the new Model Y performance gets plenty of

goodies on both the inside and the outside the new front fascia the new rear

fascia of course there is the performance badge back there as well the sick new

arachnid 2.0 wheels the bigger red brake calipers then on the inside the new

seats and the new center screen so you're you're getting people will be

able to tell very clearly from any angle that you've got the Model Y

performance which is one thing I love about my new Model 3 performance it's

the same thing it's it is clearly the performance version from any angle that

you look at it which wasn't the case for the generation one model three

performance or for that matter Model Y performance on a happier note my final

thought on the new Model Y performance is this since the three and the Y do

still share a platform now they've they've both been given more of their

own individual identities they don't look exactly they're not identical sibling

they're not identical twins anymore they're simply fraternal twins I guess

would be the way to put it I do think it is fair to wonder if some of these

upgrades namely the higher energy density battery cells and those thigh cushion

extenders extenders pardon me but heck why not also the screen the 16 inch

QHD screen are going to come to the Model 3 performance fairly soon I don't think

it's guaranteed that it happens because the Y kind of drives the bus now at the

company and it has for a while I mean it didn't in when the first Model 3

performance came out when I got mine in 2018 because there was no Model Y yet

but the Y is in the driver's seat here as far as the company goes so there's no

guarantee that these upgrades will also find their way into the Model 3 performance

but I do think it's more likely than not and perhaps if and when those upgrades

come to the Model 3 performance it'll all that'll be at the same time as the

Model 3 all of them get the front bumper camera and and really as well

I would say this even though I'm not not gonna celebrate this but if these upgrades

came to the Model 3 performance it would probably allow Tesla to raise the price

on the Model 3 performance above $55,000 which again I am definitely not rooting

for that to happen but I think it would be fair game since Tesla would be

increasing the range of the Model 3 performance by again about 14% over my car

since they wouldn't have to and the reason that they could you know they can justify it

with the range increase and they wouldn't really have to worry about it impacting sales

because they no longer I mean as of October 1st Tesla no longer has to worry about

keeping the Model 3 performance priced under the tax credit MSRP limit so they can go

to $57,000 if they want to on the Model 3 performance and they could say well we're

giving you 14% extra range on it and this and this and this so we'll see just keep an eye on

that I just I'm not again not rooting for it to happen we'll see if it does but if

these features find their way into the new Model 3 performance at some point

sooner rather than later don't be surprised if it does come with a slight price increase

all right with our big main topic super exciting topic by the way out of the way for this week

I wanted to pause right here to mention a very timely thing this is your last chance

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you out there will win the EV of your dreams in the process the raffle ends on labor day so that's

monday september 1st 4 p.m pacific 6 p.m central 7 p.m eastern that is the cutoff and you can

watch the drawing of the winner live on instagram if you go to their social their handle there

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car that wasn't already in the tesla world was like what does this button do and yeah so the door

button stickers the tespros folks came up with those and tesla themselves has since added them to

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and drive unit coverage if uh if you just want to cover those ultra critical and if you had to

replace them super expensive pieces you can just get a policy for that as well so uh check them out

and because you arrive the lightning listener you get a hundred dollars off when you select

xcares one time payment option just use the discount code lightning go to xcare.com

that's xcare.com let's continue with more good tesla news this week the tesla robotaxi service

in austin continues to make rapid progress this past week the official robotaxi account on x posted

quote increased service area from 91 square miles to 173 square miles also increased the

number of cars available by 50% end quote well that again it is really rapid and very encouraging

progress just fantastic to hear about sadly i still have yet to be invited to use it here in the

san francisco bay area i promise i'm not trying to come on here and and beg for access i guess

what it's what that tells me is they're being pretty slow and deliberate and keeping the

san francisco pool of people pretty small at least here in the early going in i know my time will

come on that but i am eager to get a an experience in the robotaxi at some point hopefully in the next

maybe month i don't know we'll just have to see how it goes in the meantime though i have to

wonder if between the the rapid expansion in austin the fact that they're already on the

ground in the san francisco bay area is tesla getting ready like are we gonna get the next

region the next city sooner rather than later i mean the the phoenix area seems like maybe it was

next on deck i mean having lived there for a long time in the phoenix area and i can say this

with love to my finitions my arizona's out there i would think that the roads of the

greater phoenix metro area should be child's play for the robotaxi because there just aren't

a lot of weird edge cases and corner cases it is by and large a bunch of flat wide roads arranged

in a grid shape a grid pattern so um we shall see i in fact decided to see what you guys thought

on this one i wanted to get your opinion on where you thought the robotaxi will land

next so i made it the subject of this week's patreon poll thank you very much to the more

than 250 of you that stopped by patreon.com slash tesla podcast this week and cast your vote

a friendly reminder you do not have to be supporting me you don't have to be giving me a dime on

patreon to vote in each week's patreon poll it is open to the public it is open to anyone

and everyone so swing on by the new polls typically go up on tuesday evenings and this week's question

was which city do you think robotaxi will be available in next and sure enough a lot of

you out there thinking right along the same lines as me phoenix won this poll pretty considerably

41 percent of the vote went to phoenix in second place los vegas 24 percent that's

that's a pretty solid choice as well for a number of reasons well two primary reasons one would be

the weather i guess three reasons two would be again mostly the same grid like setup and three

as commenter and listener steve hurst noted in the comments here he says the tourist pipeline

there would be the best advertisement for the robotaxi now of course not any tourist would

be able to jump in to a robotaxi but if you just see them running around that with the with robotaxi

written on the side that's very much advertisement so steve is right on the money with that one

so thanks to everybody that kindly took the time to vote in this week's patreon poll and

again there'll be a new poll up this week so stop on by and cast your vote and speaking of

my patreon page at patreon.com slash tesla podcast for those of you who are very kindly and generously

supporting the podcast supporting me with what i do here every single week this week's lightning

round bonus mini episode which i do every single week on patreon was about my quote-unquote easy

fixes for tesla's vehicle roadmap problem i've been talking on recent episodes about tesla's

hard pivot to autonomy and robotax seemingly at the expense of new vehicles in new segments

so i had some thoughts about how tesla could relatively easily fix that and so i had fun

recording this one i hope you'll enjoy listening to it if you'd like to hear it and are not

already backing me on patreon at the lightning round tier which is the ten dollar per month tier

that's the most popular tier you can find more information and join it sign up at patreon.com

slash tesla podcast a reminder that all the patreon tiers get an ad-free episode and you get it

early on ties soon as i'm done recording it editing it and uploading it which is again

typically friday evenings everybody on patreon has immediate access to an ad-free version of that

episode the support tiers start at just five bucks a month and again if you step up to that ten

dollar per month tier you will get all of those lightning round mini episodes there are over 150

of them in there for you now so if you enjoy the podcast each week and you'd consider

supporting me i would be very humbled and grateful for that head on over to patreon.com

slash tesla podcast still plenty more tesla news to talk about this week including good news for the

cyber truck uh rajyaganathan from the tesla ai team raj if i've mispronounced that which i

probably did i sincerely apologize that i've done my best there from the uh he's from the

tesla ai team he responded to a post on x from a frustrated cyber truck owner and raj responded

about f it was about fsd and he said quote version 14 includes improvements for cyber truck

on fsd so this is going to be great news for cyber truck owners out there whose vehicles

don't have any processing power reason to be behind the sexy fleet like the ai three cars do

instead it is the unique architecture of the cyber truck the drive by wire the rear wheel

steering and of course the sheer size of the cyber truck probably factors in as well

and that's uh that makes it a bit of a unique challenge no doubt for the tesla ai team

to get fsd fully dialed in there uh and and there just hasn't been a lot of activity in terms of

software updates granted none of us have been getting software updates as the robotaxi push

has completely consumed the tesla ai team and understandably so but we've at least got version

14 as alluded to here we've got version 14 coming up hopefully in the next month or so but

as i talked about at the time what in the last week or two when elon talked about it

if it doesn't arrive in september we'll be patient and we'll not be super surprised if the team ends

up meeting more time but uh the point here is version 14 is going to make some improvements

specifically for the cyber truck now the original poster that raj was replying to there was a

cyber truck owner from grand rapids michigan who goes by the username the cyber truck guy on x

and he aired a list of what i think are probably legitimate grievances and that's why raj responded

and he's the cyber truck guy said fsd a year late no autopilot no b pillar sentry camera

no windshield entire protection now b pillar sentry is imminent windshield entire protection

rolled out this week at least and he added beast owners without the light bar no actual smart summon

the range extender canceled no power share for power wall and that was that was kind of his

list of grievances and on top of that as i said the fsd build that the cyber truck owners

have had for a while now one of its core issues and common issues is what must be a very frustrating

tendency for the software to hug the far left edge of the lane as in and when i say hug i've seen

videos of this i'm talking about tires on the line kind of hugging here and apparently another

issue that's fairly common is that the cyber truck on fsd occasionally wants to make left turns into

oncoming traffic when it shouldn't be doing that so the cyber truck definitely deserves some love

here from the tesla ai team which it is getting and hopefully cyber truck will i mean we know

that those updates are coming but hopefully cyber truck gets version 14 at the same time the rest

of the sexy v4 fleet does or if it doesn't i sure hope it is a fast follow and it's not

something that they have to wait months for speaking of the cyber truck another quick news

bite on that it's launching in korea the official tesla korea account posted the

following and this is a grok translation of the original language of the post bold future luxury

lands in korea opening a new horizon of innovation and style the tesla cyber truck is finally launching

in korea dear customers who have reserved the cyber truck please log into your tesla account

within the period below it's basically within the next week from now to confirm your order

we wish you the start of your bold journey so that makes two more regions now for cyber truck outside

of north america the middle east and now korea now admittedly these are not large markets so i

don't suspect that they will pour a huge extra pile of numbers to the production and

delivery tally at the end of the quarter either you know this quarter or or uh next but certainly

every little bit helps and surely surely australia and new zealand must be next because they are

dying for the cyber truck down there but speaking of australia they are getting something this

week they got it and that is fsd supervised has launched in australia yes love to see this

tesla had teased a big announcement at the beginning of the week for australia which eagle eyed

australian listener andrew zara had given me the heads up on and andrew in his email to me

had said that he hoped it was gonna be the fact that that he hoped it was gonna be fsd supervised

launching in australia since as i've talked about on the recent podcasts it had already been teased

on x by the tesla ai team and i wrote back to uh andrew and i said well i thought it's either

yep it's either you're correct or it might be the model yl launching in australia since australia

gets their cars built from giga shanghai the mod i'm sure the model yl would have been a welcome

thing to australia and hopefully they'll still get it hopefully all of us outside of china will

still get it but it was indeed full self-driving supervised launching in australia making it the

first right hand drive territory to get full self-driving supervised and i just want to say a

true and genuine congratulations to my australian listeners i seriously can't wait to hear what

all of you think of it because everybody in australia that with a tesla hasn't been iterating version

by version by version which we have had the the privilege and pleasure of doing here in the us

the australian folks are jumping straight from basic autopilot up now to fsd version 13

so i can't wait to hear what what all of you think of it if you want to call in and give your brief

you know just try to keep it to 90 seconds or less brief impressions i'd love to hear from you

well i'll give you the phone call information coming up when we get to the ride the lightning

hotline here in a bit but uh big congrats to all of my australian listeners this is a

definitely a big week for tesla in australia and in additional fun news there is a new interview

with the executive chef at the tesla diner who gave a peek not only into how wildly successful

tesla's first culinary effort has been so far but also a sneak peek at what's about to be

added to the menu this came from observer.com but a tip of the cap to my aforementioned friend

soire merit which is i saw this linked on his feed and i'm not going to read you the entire

story i encourage you to go read the whole thing because it is it is a good piece but here are

some relevant parts from observer.com who writes after opening the tesla diner in west

hollywood on july 21st chef eric greenspan spent numerous days essentially living at the restaurant

quote i was working 20 hours a day for the first two weeks greenspan tells observer during his

first interview about the most buzzed about restaurant in los angeles things have since

stabilized at the diner it's still extremely busy on weekends but the hype has died down a bit

and greenspan estimates that guest counts are down 15 to 20 percent from the peak of 2000

people per day in the beginning plus greenspan has improved ticket times by honing in on his most

popular dishes cutting items that were slowing down the kitchen and not serving his breakfast

menu all day today the tesla diner is unveiling a new menu that grew out of greenspans after hours

r&d sessions quote thematically we want to be an ode to the roadside diner in a new modern way

says greenspan who is operating the tesla diner alongside restaurateur bill shate

quote but tesla is a brand about sustainable abundance and we definitely have a mandate in

many ways to have plant-based options end quote so he came up with a country fried portobello

mushroom which is glazed in tamari for extra umami and roasted in an oven before it's dredged

and fried it's topped with a plant-based gravy quote it eats like white gravy greenspan says

it's got the nutmeg it's got the black pepper it's got a bunch of caramelized onions that we

pureed smooth we finish it with a little bit of oat milk end quote the mushroom is served with

arugula and pickles on a plant-based brioche bun the $13 sandwich is quote an ode to chicken

fried steak per greenspan another new dish is a revision of a salad that greenspan is

now serving with a vegan green goddess dressing instead of the previous dill ranch

greenspan is getting farmers market greens for the nine-dollar kale and arugula salad

which also features cherry tomatoes red onions that are pickled in-house and gluten-free bread

crumbs guests have the option of adding tuna fried chicken or a burger patty to the salad

he's working on new options like a ceremonial matcha shake with pandan or pandan i'm not actually

sure how that's pronounced guests will also be able to get an all-day pick-me-up in the form

of a mocha milkshake or an espresso milkshake what greenspan is calling the ludicrous shake

for $13 will be half matcha and half strawberry with a whipped coconut topping that will also

be pie shakes starting with a vanilla-based one with chunks of apple pie from los angeles bakery

winston's pies and that's uh again you can go read the rest of the story on observer.com

if you're interested and i do encourage you to do to do so because there are a lot of other

interesting quotes and other bits and pieces in there i have had the apple pie by the way

both times that i visited and like i said i i thought it was it was fine the first time but

the second time it was better i thought it was it it upped itself to very good but um there you go

i mean i know that i've already done two lightning rounds on the tesla diner after each of my visits

and certainly my thoughts on the food and how much i enjoyed it on those lightning rounds so

i'll just add this and i'll say i am thrilled that they are adding more plant-based options

not just for my vegan friends but selfishly as someone who is lactose intolerant and is only

occasionally able to indulge in dairy using lactate tablets like for instance when i went to the

tesla diner the tesla burger i got the cheese on there which was delicious and the grilled cheese

that i got on my most recent visit so thrilled to see some plant-based options up there and and

they clearly they're putting a lot of effort into those plant-based not they didn't just throw some

you know simple thing i mean that portobello mushroom you know owed to the fried chicken

sandwich uh sounds uh really involved so sounds like that'll be worth trying

for uh for those folks who are either vegan by by dairy restriction or by dietary preference

now i do want to on the note of of plant-based i would like to challenge chef greenspan very

politely and respectfully to do a plant-based milkshake because part of the story is he talks

about how he thinks that the he wants the tesla diner to be the best spot in the world for

milkshakes so chef greenspan let's get some non-dairy let's get some vegan shakes going on in there i

mean i'll say that there i'm no chef but i know that there are tasty plant-based protein powders

that i make kind of a protein drink with every day after i i work out i use almond milk and the

vanilla uh vegan protein i forget the brand name but and it actually tastes really good like i

genuinely enjoy drinking it so surely a high-end professional like chef greenspan can pull off

something super tasty in the milkshake department that's also vegan but anyway again since this

was the tesla diner's executive chef's first interview since the place opened i thought i

would read you a selection of that piece there because i just think it's really interesting to

hear from him now that it's open and the and the crowds have been crazy and uh i thought it would

also be worth sharing those new items coming to the menu as well and for myself i'll just say i

absolutely cannot wait to go back a third time in fact maybe it's good that it's in la and

it's not in my town because i i might be going there like every week and i don't know that having

a tesla burger every week might not be the most healthy course of action for me because i'm not

sure i'd be able to resist staying away from that place if it were only uh you know a short

drive away and the last story that i have for you this week in again another super busy week

of tesla news regulatory filings hint at a return of the model s and model x to europe

i saw this one on drive tesla canada who wrote back in mid july tesla abruptly stopped taking new

orders for the model s and model x in europe leaving customers with the only option to purchase

these vehicles from existing inventory the disappearance of the two vehicles from

the online configurator led to speculation that the automaker might phase out its premium lineup in the

region altogether however regulatory documents show that the vehicles may return once more

both the model s long range and model s plaid variants have been updated with european type

approval revisions as shared by x user julian the changes include range improvements a

softer suspension setup and the addition of a front bumper camera matching the changes we

saw in north america with the recent refresh the latest type approval lists uh all excuse me the

latest type approval lists no updates for tesla's larger suv the model x this suggests that tesla

hasn't yet filed the appropriate paperwork with authorities or that europe may have to wait

longer for a refreshed version of the new model x the lack of revisions could mean tesla's prioritizing

the sedan for reentry while evaluating the future of the electric suv in the region well hopefully

then the stoppage of s and x custom orders in europe was simply tesla wanting to clear out all of

the pre refresh 2025 model year inventory before committing to any new 2026 model year orders for

the european region i mean you all know how i feel about s and x those cars are too darn good

to limit them to the north american market so i'd be curious to hear from any of my listeners

who are s and x owners of any vintage whether last year 10 years ago any s and x owner in europe

i'm i'm i'm genuinely wondering if when you drive your car are you something of a celebrity when

you take your car out and i'm i'm not i'm being serious because there just aren't a lot of ss ss

as an x is overall but there must be especially few in europe relative to the us and to north america

so do you get a lot of attention in an s and x in europe like i would have to think you did

because there just can't be too many of them in europe particularly in some european countries

versus others like maybe switzerland's got more maybe you know some some countries versus others

norway would be another one where i would imagine that there are more that more than

in certain other european countries but anyway i will keep an eye on this and hopefully this is

a harbinger of new s and new x orders that will be coming soon via deliveries there will be new

deliveries to europe all right that is everything in another extremely busy week of tesla news

but stick with me i will be right back with your phone calls in the ride the lightning hotline

coming up next hi this is france von holthausen and you're listening to ride the lightning with

ryan macaferi the tesla unofficial podcast it's time to hear from all of you in the ride the

lightning hotline it's your chance to call in and potentially be featured on an upcoming episode

there are two easy ways to call in if you've got a question comment or discussion topic for

the podcast either use your smartphone's built-in voice recording software record your question

please try to keep it to 90 seconds or less so that i can get to as many callers each week as

possible and then email that file to me at my podcast email address which is tesla podcast

at gmail.com or you can take that same 90 second or less question and just call in and

leave a message anytime day or night on the ride the lightning hotline the toll-free number to call

is 1-888-989-8752 that number again 1-888-989-TSLA and by the way if you know someone special

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a unique gift of recorded voices from friends and family telling them why they're special

the recordings can be podcasted or put on to a nice keepsake visit lifeonrecord.com to learn more

we kick off with steven responding to the pro tip from episode 524 so two shows ago

hey ryan this is steven i just listened to episode what was it five two four

and i was listening to the uh the little tip at the end and i think i forget the name ben

georgia i'm not sure but um they've mentioned that when they get in their car the screen turns off

and i don't think that's expected that sounds like something's wrong there um and i might guess

there's something to do with the occupancy sensor maybe it's not detecting that they're in the

car um and that's why the screen's turned off and that's messing up the state of the bluetooth

so i don't know there's something that popped my mind when i listened to that episode thanks

for everything bye thank you steven you are correct sir in fact a number of folks wrote in about this

as well as steven's call and i'll be honest i feel bad for missing it at the in my response to the

pro tip but that's why you guys have my back thank you to the folks who have experienced this

and wrote in or called in about it so yes what was described in jonathan from georgia's pro tip

is most likely in fact a faulty sensor in the seat just like steven said now

i reached out to jonathan already but i wanted to play this for you in case this happens to

anybody else out there as well thank you again steven and thank you to the number of other

folks who reached out about this our next call this week comes from brian in pennsylvania

responding to the new luxe package thanks ryan appreciate that the new luxe package

sounds kind of nice i like the idea of it i do agree it should be optional

my question though comes in with transferring of full self-driving as the luxe package cost

or includes um with full self-driving and at ten thousand dollars if you're buying full

self-driving the x of 2000 great however if members serves right last podcast uh week and

half ago um you were talking about in your app your loyalty rewards existing tesla owners

are getting credit where um they'll be able to transfer their full self-driving and you seem to

feel that was a um a way that they were kind of bringing full self-driving um as a permanent thing

but not necessarily permanent but so my question is if if i had a model x and i wanted to upgrade

to a new one and buy the luxe package and i have full self-driving i'm not going to be able to

transfer that i don't think they're gonna give me a discount on that um so that seems kind of

kind of crappy for those who have full self-driving and model x's and want to upgrade

they're being forced to pay for it when they could potentially transfer it with their loyalty account

back to you thank you for wisely pointing this out brian because i'll admit that the thought

did not even cross my mind you are absolutely correct that this does hose anybody who wants to

transfer fsd from a tesla they already own into a new s x or cyber beast unless tesla is offering

some kind of credit which well you inspired me to do something that quite frankly i'll admit i'm

i am not perfect i am human i do my very best every week on this podcast but i messed up i

should have done this on on last week's podcast so please accept my apologies for that i'm gonna

correct that mistake now so what i did was i went and looked at the fine print should have

done that to begin with but here's exactly what it says quote the package including its

individual features and services cannot be transferred to another vehicle if you sell or

otherwise transfer the ownership of your model s model x or cyber truck trim eligibility subject

to change which just means the cyber beast for now the full self-driving supervised and the

remainder of the recommended maintenance wheel entire protection plan and wind shield protection

plan will transfer automatically to the buyer free super charging and premium connectivity

will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once ownership of the model s model x

or cyber truck is transferred end quote so meaning not only is tesla now forcing x and x s and x

buyers pardon me to purchase fsd unless i'm reading that wrong they're not allowing them to

transfer it to a new car that they purchase it says you know it'll if you if you sell the car

or transfer ownership to someone else then it'll transfer uh but the if you are trading in

it does not appear to be transferable to a new tesla of any kind whether it's another s another

x or or any of the other vehicles in the fleet so um they're basically again if i'm reading this

correctly tesla is making s and x buyers buy fsd every single time at least with each new s or x

i guess or if they go to a three y or non-cyber beast cyber truck they can't move it there

either so this package is brand new so maybe tesla will make this right before long but again

the caveat if i am interpreting that correctly it is saying that s and x owners from here forward

are not going to be able to transfer fsd to their next tesla and if that's the case

that is really unfortunate in my opinion so thank you again for the call brian thank you for

raising that issue and i've just got time for one more call this week it comes from robert in texas

who has a white interior 2022 model x he's responding to my uh call out to the audience

about whether or not those white center consoles have gotten grimy as i was speculating about whether

or not it's a good idea for the model yl uh to have a white armrest and door handle with the

white interior option so go ahead robert ryan it's robert from texas you had a question

i do have a model x 2022 with the white interior so i do have that white console that thick white

console on the right and white uh leather on the left i probably keep my arms on those two things 95

percent of the time especially when it's on fsd my arms are always just on that um very well placed

very kind of luxurious i haven't had any issues at all with it looking gross or dirty um occasionally

you know after a few months the left side might

need a wipe down but that's about it it's very easy cleaning material i've had no issues

i don't have any dogs or pets so i don't know if a dog um you know scratching it or something

like that might be an issue but definitely for normal human wear uh it's it has been zero issue

absolutely zero issue i hope that's helpful um for the new model y uh luxury model yl purchasers

they don't really need to worry about that thanks bye by the way one other quick thing

that popped into my head about the previous call from brian about the luxe package this

is one of those cases where i really wish tesla had a pr team because this is exactly the kind

of thing that i could reach out to pr about and they could get me an official answer i could say

hey does this mean that anyone with a 2026 luxe package s or x is not going to be able to transfer

fsd to a new car moving forward and that's i so i'd be able to get that answer if tesla had

a pr team but sadly as we all know that it's not been the case for many years now anyway

getting back to robert from texas's call super good news there thank you robert and i did hear the

exact same feedback from a few other folks who had kindly reached out about this and it makes me

super happy to hear it i mean hey not that i don't trust franz but i think it was fair to

wonder about right on a super high touch point area like the door armrest and and in the case of

s and x for the last several years that center console armrest as well so um yeah i guess then

that eases my concern and if i were buying a model yl with white interior i would feel

super good about that now um and as always robert i appreciate your calls thank you so much

i appreciate everybody who takes the time to call in i promise i will get to more of your ride

the lightning hotline calls on next week's podcast but for now the show is running long so i will call

it right here but if you have a tesla question comment or discussion topic feel free to call in

i gave you the two easy call in methods a little earlier in the segment and you can always refer

to the episode description as well if you need that information all right as for what's going

on with me and my car well this week it's actually about what's going on with my wife's car the spirit

of adventure our 2018 model 3 performance so i got the zero g wheels refinished this week

and they look first of all they look brand new because they effectively are they look amazing

i'm i'm more thrilled with it than a normal human being should be like i was telling i forget who i was

telling this to but it's it's actually like re-energized my love for that car like i love

the new one i mean don't get me wrong the new one's amazing the soul of adventure is incredible but

the the curb rash that had been on the spirit of adventure on those zero g wheels

had just kind of deflated me a little bit anytime i would look at that car

and yes my my wife did curb rash it a couple times as she was getting used to it which i knew

what happened but so did i i also added probably as many curb rashes to the zero g wheels as she

did it was a it was an equal opportunity situation as it turned out we were both getting used

to street parking it you know i've i've it's been in the garage i've pulled it in and out of the

garage and not had to worry about curbs for 99 percent of the time now every time it gets

parked at home it's there's a curb there to concern ourselves with so anyway i i definitely

financially it was not the best time to refinish the wheels still paying off that

heat pump that we had to get at the beginning of the year when our our 30-year-old furnace died

however the impetus for the refinishing was because when i had my when i had the the

wheels on the spirit of adventure rotated had the tires rotated recently when they

returned the car to me the guy told me hey this this wheel pointing to the the driver's front wheel

driver's side after you know after they've been rotate and this one's really bent and i was kind

of taking it back i was like oh okay well there are definitely potholes around here

i would not pretend to compete with some of you in the midwest and the east coast

about monster pothole sizes but we do have them here and i must have whacked one good enough

at some point that it bent the rim and the good news is even though the guy said it's really bent

it was holding air just fine and i didn't detect any obvious like shake or or really anything

and there was really nothing perceptible except the full self-driving issue that i've been having

that i've complained about on this podcast in this very segment where i've talked about how

the fsd now wanders in the lane in a really annoying way and sometimes gets like all the

way over to the edge of the lane like next to another car and it i've actually intervened

a couple times and so i thought well a it's just not it's probably not the best idea safety wise

to be driving around with a bent rim and two it maybe will fix my fsd issue because maybe again

i'm not an engineer but if the wheel was bent maybe just that that was throwing off the fsd like the

calculation of reading the wheels spinning maybe that was throwing it off enough where it was

causing the car to wander in the lane a little bit like if it thought the wheel was like moving

to the left or the right or something again i could be making that like i could be making

something out of nothing there i don't know but i thought it's just safety issue to have a

bent rim maybe it fixes my fsd problem and the third that the the cherry on top would be

fixing the curb rash and getting the wheels back to looking brand new again so i had it done at

the same shop that refinish the wheels the first time for me like three years ago

and they're not close they're in freemont same town that the tesla factory here is the freemont

factory and so it's about 45 minutes from this shop back to my house in san francisco so i knew

as soon as i picked the car up i'm like well i'm gonna have a long fsd drive here to to see

if this has improved the situation and i'm not quite ready to call it yet because it's it's even

though it was a 45 minute you know good long drive it was only one drive i'll be driving it more this

weekend but it did seem a lot better now i am also heeding the advice of a recent caller from

one of the last several shows who mentioned alignment and that reminded me that i'm a year

overdue for a lot getting an alignment you're supposed to have the alignment checked every two

years it's been three so i made an appointment for now that the wheels are done and and by the

way they were able to successfully fix the bent rim i should add that i should have mentioned

that a little while ago but i was so thrilled because if they weren't if it was too far gone

i did look it up in the parts catalog and i could have and would have had to

order a new zero g wheel from tesla and they're $750 a piece so that would have added to the

cost of this quite a lot so i'm super glad that the the bent rim was able to be repaired

without needing to be replaced and now i'm just gonna i i've got an appointment with tesla to get

the car aligned and then we'll really really see if how the fsd situation is if the car is able

to stay in the center of the lane but it did do a lot better like it wasn't perfect particularly

through through curves on the freeway it would still kind of hug the inside of the curve a

little bit in a way that ai4 doesn't do in my my other car in the in the solo of adventure

but it was noticeably better so i actually can't wait to take it out again this weekend and keep

driving it and keep testing it to see to see how the fsd performs and if it's able to just

stay straight stay in the middle of the lane but that was that was the big albeit expensive

endeavor this week in my personal tesla world and yeah it hurts the wallet but

it's uh like i said there were there were three two good reasons and one bonus reason

to get that done an entertainment recommendation for you this week i've got one that i'm happy

to recommend and it is the tv show peacemaker on hbo uh or i guess what is it's now hbo

it's back to hbo max again uh i really enjoyed the first season john sena is fantastic in the show

now it's not a family friendly show it is a mature audience's only parental discretion advised

kind of thing but uh it is i the first episode of season two is really good don't jump into season

two if you're if you want to check it out do start with season one but um season two is

off to a good start so really enjoying peacemaker on hbo max now for your tesla pro tip of the week it

comes from paul in kansas hey ryan got a pro tip about car seats so kids in the back get no air

whenever they get in the car if they are riding in like the booster seats or child infant car seats

and for many years i had to mainly turn on the air in the back seat in order to keep them

from getting too sweaty recently learned that if you have seat belts that are buckled i think the

left the right the center may or may not um and the door has been opened the air will turn on

automatically so if there is kind of an intermediate stop and you kind of stop for a little bit

it may or may not stay on depending on what it is but um and this might have been fixed

in more recent cars with presence detection and all the stuff that they've done with that

by my 2019 this is still a nuisance so i want to give a pro tip for people with kids

and go go for it all right thanks ryan super useful tip here paul thank you very very much for this

i suspect this will be a big help to a lot of your fellow parents out there uh and by the

way if anybody else has a good tesla or ev pro tip of the week i would love to hear it

so that i can learn from it and i can share it with everybody else listening and we can all

learn from it so send it in the same way that you send in a regular ride the lightning hotline

call i gave you the two easy call-in instructions for that a little while ago or again refer to the

episode description but those pro tips of the week are awesome love this part of the podcast keep

them coming i want to mention some friends of ride the lightning before i get out of here on

what has been a very long episode 526 but i would be remiss if i did not mention abstract ocean dot com

and they're just absolute pile high to the ceiling worth of aftermarket tesla and ev accessories

for all the teslas for both rivians you got to check them out at abstract ocean dot com

they've got the custom fit tempered glass screen protectors for teslas and for rivians

they've got a lot of great lighting kits either brighter whites or even other colors

if you want to change the color of the accent lighting the you know those the uh the additional

cabin lighting in your car you can do that and you can do that easily at home with great

products from abstract ocean dot com they've also got a ton of great cyber truck protection

accessories for the non-stainless pieces just custom fit expel it basically ppf kits that'll

help keep those black uh non-stainless trim pieces looking pristine for many years to come

again check them out at abstract ocean dot com when you get to check out with all the cool

stuff you like piled into your shopping cart use the coupon code RTL podcast at check out and get

yourself 15 percent off of your first order that coupon code again RTL podcast all one word no spaces

the snap plate and the newer stronger snap plate plus you want to grab that for s3

x and even the new y plus the the generation one model y as well but they had to redesign it for

the gen two model y because of that lower front bumper camera so they've got that covered the

snap plate is a nice clean minimal design to get that front license plate on the car without

resorting to how tesla does it you know tesla gives you a front license plate bracket with

your car but it attaches to your car with adhesive with automotive tape meaning if you ever want to

get it off good luck doing so without damaging the paint there so i very much recommend the snap

plate or the newer stronger snap plate plus get yours at every amp dot com slash RTL or

just click the link in the episode description and there's a discount code for you no matter

what you're buying that discount code is RTL so check them out again every amp dot com slash RTL

if you're in or gonna be in the greater san francisco bay area the summer special is winding

down at my detailer immaculate reflections jeff is the name of the owner and detailer there

he is an incredible human being also an incredible detailer i love this guy we've

we've now known each other for gosh eight i think eight years now jeff when you hear this

because it was like we connected like a year before i got my first model three so gosh yeah

eight years and jeff has taken such if you'll pardon me immaculate care of both of my cars

and those of you that have been listening for a long time know that particularly the spirit of

adventure has seen some stuff it has had some some ppf damaging incidents where i've been so

lucky that in every case so far the ppf has absorbed the damage and left the original factory

paint undamaged underneath the film so i've had just have new film put on and bam car looks literally

brand new again so whether you want to do paint protection film to protect against the kind of

hazards like i've encountered uh maybe you want to do ceramic coating so that you don't have to wax

the car for the next oh five to seven years maybe you want to do paint correction to get your

paint finished looking as good as it possibly can all of it is subject to the summer special

at immaculate reflections go to their website irdetailing.com you can hit the contact form

to reach out there and when you reach out mention that you arrive the lightning listener and once

you sort out exactly what you'd like to do with your car make sure to mention that you're

arrived the lightning listener and you'll get two hundred dollars off of any paint correction service

five hundred dollars off of any ceramic coating package and fifteen percent off of any paint

protection film package so again check them out irdetailing.com huge thanks to jeff and immaculate

reflections for making that very generous sale available to my audience one more time for my

patreon i would be extremely grateful if you'd take a look and consider a pledge on patreon

this podcast is free it always has been always will be but it does continue to survive and thrive

based on your support your listener support and the website to go to is patreon.com slash

tesla podcast you can click the link in the episode description if that's easier and again

there are a whole bunch of different support tiers all with different perks and bonuses and the

higher up you go the more you're generous enough to pledge the more perks and bonuses you'll

get i will get to the maximum plaid backers here in a minute and they get a whole lot of stuff

including their names shattered out at the end of each week show but the most popular tier on the

patreon is that ten dollar per month tier i call it the ludicrous tier because each of the tiers

is named after a teslas performance mode the ten dollar tier gets you an ad-free episode every

week it gets you early access to that ad-free episode every week and it gets you the lightning

rounds the entire back catalog of them it's like 157 of them now as well as each new one

that i do each week so take a look check out my patreon page found at patreon.com

slash tesla podcast i'll just note real quick too if you'd like to just pledge once for a year

rather than have a monthly thing on your credit card there is an annual pledge option where you

can pledge once support me for a whole year and as a thank you for doing that i give you

10 off of that annual pledge finally you can follow this podcast totally free on any of the

big podcast services which i do recommend because that way you'll get a push notification to your

device every time there's a new episode which it is the same time every week every sunday at

9 a.m eastern 6 a.m pacific but just search ride the lightning tesla on any of those big podcast

services click the follow button and you're good to go statistically most of you are listening

through apple podcasts but shout out to my tune in friends listening in your tesla and to the

spotify folks out there as well and i won't leave out the youtube podcasts folks as well

finally i'm on a couple different social media platforms i have the same username on both

you can follow me on x and or on instagram if you would like to do either of those and my username

is dmc underscore ryan you can also email me anytime about any tesla or ev related thing at

tesla podcast at gmail.com it's time to give the shout out here at the end of the episode to the

top tier patreon backers let me start with the the top tier the roadster in space tier backers

not an official tesla performance mode i realize but i think we all can agree the roadster that's

literally in space it is going faster than any tesla will ever including the new roadster it is

going i don't know how many thousands of miles per hour uh so anyway that's how i've that's why i've

nicknamed the the top tier of the patreon the roadster in space tier so a big shout out and

thank you to peat white lile austin steve radspinner fernando cordero laughton from chicago

shawn nightig neil weaver jackson wallace rolf and jennifer evers howard anthony smith

victoria aya coveto tesla hitchhiker 42 caro weston robert from near philly american home

contractors dug carry michael gallo and tony figaroa next up the maximum plaid backers and by the way

for the maximum plaid and hire uh coming up this next weekend here which will be the first saturday

of the month saturday september 6th there will be the monthly patreon zoom hangout so the maximum

plaid group and hire gets invited to that every month they have a standing invitation while anybody

who joins the patreon or upgrades their pledge gets a one-time thank you invite to join in whatever

the next patreon zoom hangout is so i hope to see rave at the next max uh the next patreon zoom

hangout because he is the newest maximum plaid backer joining this week thank you rave and thank

you as well to the rest of the maximum plaid crew they are jonathan wales cameron clark

daniel grummer seth capello nick and tony the galpin family ryan from new york city

darin nickle cos barns patrick wasneski gill cabrera todd badger joe edgel kevin yank the

tesla owners club of san Joaquin valley wil stedman justin pares jeremy harris chris beach

tom mills choreo donnell erin john codie joel sap paul casarino chris osborne kb adam lavoy

jason chelukas travis krenzel bruce otterstein tom behan josh pennington john from cream ridge

new jersey dustin hart derek finley charles clement daemon kline jeff brown jerry slinger

kenneth corbett brian bertoglio kim bae troye sievers nick jacoby chip hooper uh matt chinander

and robert moran thank you all so much and a big thank you goes to the plaid level supporters

this tier is officially no more on the patreon but these very kind and continually generous folks

continue to support me at that level and so they continue to get all the perks and bonuses

that they should get thank you to george cassiopo logan willis peter chalet eric randolph

dory and steve guberman the tesla owners club of taiwan ron lee charlie gillespie

jeff angwin chase cabaneas the lydia family erin alchool jared brown gerome strack jamie dalton

mike and barbara from louisville matt nixon the tesla owners club uh let me try that one again

rewind the tesla owners club of wisconsin there we go ish not elon musk in quotes peter

and the bear boys of colorado bear spell b a e r thank you so much to everybody that

has taken the time to listen i know this was a long episode there was a lot to cover

i i guess i shouldn't have been surprised that i talked for like half an hour just on the

model y performance you guys know i love this stuff and you know that especially when

there's a new version or a new car like if there's a new vehicle a new tesla i'm gonna i'm

gonna dive in headfirst and i'm gonna swim all the way to the bottom of that pool and uh and just

have fun in swimming around in that pool it's it's just a good time that's why i i just want this

company to keep making cool cars let's go uh we can have we can have the autonomy and the

robotics and still also have cool new cars but anyway huge thanks to everybody again

for taking the time to listen i don't want to drag this on anymore it's been a long one

but thank you all so much for your time for your attention and i will say happy electric

motoring and i'll see you back here next week

elan musk people don't like elan musk the guy found a paypal and tesla and people were like

yeah but he's a troll and a bad dad i'm like so is mine he did nothing to fight climate change

also have you been in a tesla have you been in a tesla my buddy let me drive his tesla i laughed

out loud at how fast it went been clinically depressed my entire life on dozens of medications

in a tesla for 13 seconds cured forever i mean i think a tesla is the most fun thing you could

possibly buy ever that's what it's meant to be our goal is to make it's it's not exactly a car

it's actually a thing to maximize enjoyment it's maximum fun

Episode 526: New Model Y Performance Is Here and It's Even Better Than We'd Hoped

Tesla Model Y

Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model X

Tesla Model 3

Ford Edge

Dodge Journey

Renault Wind

Fiat Freemont

Hyundai Accent

Audi S3

Tesla Roadster

About this episode

Original notes