Ride the Lightning: Tesla and EV Podcast Oct 5, 2025

Episode 531: Tesla's Monster Q3 Numbers Are In

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Term

EV tax credit

The EV tax credit is money that the government gives back to you when you buy an electric car, helping to lower the overall cost of the vehicle.

Car

The Tesla Model Y is a small electric SUV that can carry more people and cargo than a regular car. It's known for being very efficient, meaning it can go a long distance on a single charge, and it has lots of cool tech inside.

Term

supercharger

A supercharger is a special charging station for electric cars that can charge the battery much faster than regular chargers, making it easier for long trips.

Term

terawatt hours

A terawatt hour is a huge amount of electricity. It's a way to measure how much energy is used or produced, especially for things like charging electric cars.

Car

Tesla Semi

The Tesla Semi is a big electric truck made for transporting goods. It's designed to save money on fuel and be better for the environment than regular trucks that run on diesel.

Term

long range all-wheel drive

The long range all-wheel drive Model Y is a version of the car that can drive farther on a single charge and has power going to all four wheels for better control.

Term

toe package

The toe package is an extra feature that helps make sure the wheels are aligned correctly, which can improve how the car drives, especially if you're towing something.

Car

Tesla Model 3

The Tesla Model 3 Performance is a faster version of the regular Model 3, designed for those who want a sportier driving experience.

Term

zero to 60

Zero to 60 is how fast a car can go from a complete stop to 60 miles per hour. It's a way to measure how quick a car is.

Term

vehicle to load (V2L)

Vehicle to load means that an electric car can provide power to other devices, like charging a phone or running small tools, using its own battery.

Term

vehicle to grid (V2G)

Vehicle to grid means that an electric car can send power back to the electricity grid, which can help provide energy when it's needed.

Car

Tesla Cybertruck

The Tesla Cybertruck is a futuristic-looking electric truck that stands out because of its sharp, unusual shape. It's designed to be tough and is packed with high-tech features, making it different from regular trucks.

Term

Model Y performance

The Model Y Performance is a faster and sportier version of the regular Model Y. It has better acceleration and handling for a more exciting driving experience.

Term

Arachnid 2.0 wheels

Arachnid 2.0 wheels are a type of wheel design available for the Tesla Model Y. They are popular for their stylish look and how they can help the car perform better.

Term

Helix 2.0 wheels

Helix 2.0 wheels are a type of wheel design for the Tesla Model Y. They are less popular than some other designs but still look good and work well.

Term

$40,000 price point

The $40,000 price point means that the new version of the Tesla Model Y is expected to cost around $40,000. This is important because it makes the car more affordable for more people.

Part

particulate air filter

A particulate air filter cleans the air inside the car by trapping dust and pollen. It's not as good as a HEPA filter, which can catch even smaller particles.

Term

MSRP

MSRP is the price that the car company suggests dealers sell the car for. It's a starting point for what you might pay when buying a new car.

Term

source code

Source code is the set of instructions that tells a computer program what to do. Sometimes, people find hidden information about products in this code, like features or prices.

Company

XCare

XCare is a company that sells extra insurance plans for electric cars. They make it easy to choose what kind of coverage you want for your vehicle.

Term

extended warranty

An extended warranty is like extra insurance for your car that helps pay for repairs after the regular warranty ends. You can choose how long you want this extra coverage to last.

Term

FSD

FSD, or Full Self-Driving, is a feature from Tesla that allows their cars to drive themselves with very little help from a person. It uses technology to navigate and make decisions on the road.

Car

Volkswagen Rabbit

The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that's easy to drive and great for everyday use. It's known for being reliable and fun to drive, making it a popular choice for many people.

Term

auto park

Auto park is a feature that lets a car park itself. It uses cameras and sensors to find a parking spot and then drives into it without you having to do anything.

Term

summon

Summon is a feature that lets your Tesla come to you from a parking spot without anyone in the car. It uses sensors to find its way to you safely.

Term

Tesla app

The Tesla app is an application on your smartphone that lets you control your Tesla car from a distance. You can do things like unlock the doors, check how much battery is left, and even call the car to come to you.

Term

simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)

SLAM is a technology that helps robots and self-driving cars understand where they are and what their surroundings look like at the same time. It's like a GPS for places where regular GPS doesn't work well, like inside buildings.

Term

Silk Road Silver

Silk Road Silver is a new color that Tesla might offer for their cars. It could be named after the famous trade route that connected China and Europe a long time ago.

Term

Panasonic battery

Panasonic batteries are a type of battery used in electric cars. They help the car go further on a single charge.

Term

electric vehicle range

Electric vehicle range is how far an electric car can go before needing to be charged again. It's an important thing to know when buying an electric car.

Car

Rivian R1S

The Rivian R1S is an electric SUV that can handle rough terrains and is built for outdoor adventures. It's roomy inside and has cool features that make it stand out among other SUVs.

Term

kilowatt hours

Kilowatt hours are a way to measure how much energy a battery can store. More kilowatt hours usually mean you can drive further before the battery runs out.

Term

thermal management

Thermal management is how cars keep their parts at the right temperature. For electric cars, it's important because the battery works better when it's not too hot or too cold.

Car

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that can go really fast and travel far on a single charge. It's packed with high-tech features and is often seen as one of the best electric cars available.

Car

Tesla Roadster

The Tesla Roadster is a super-fast electric sports car that Tesla is planning to release. It's designed to be really powerful and can go a long way without needing to be charged often.

Term

AI5

AI5 is the next version of Tesla's driving software that will help the car drive itself even better than the current version.

LIVE

On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, Tesla has set a new quarterly record for deliveries as the federal EV tax credit sunsets. I'll walk you through the numbers and what analysis we can take away from it. Plus, the new Model Y Performance debuts in North America with an unexpected bonus, new details on the more affordable Model Y standard leak from Tesla's own website, and more.

What's happening, friends? With Lily, the silly Labrador puppy at my feet, and Daisy, the boxer looking, longingly out the window to my left, this is Ride the Lightning, your weekly Tesla unofficial podcast, episode 5.

531, publishing on October 5, 2025. Well, the Q3 is complete. The big Q3 end of the tax credit. I have all the numbers for you. I'm going to get to those in just a minute. There is plenty to talk about there. But I actually wanted to start with some other numbers that Tesla shared this week, and they come from the Tesla charging team, the super charging group.

They posted some fun stats for their Q3 over on their X page, and I thought I would share those. One of them in particular is the super fun one that jumps out. So, let's go through them, not entirely one by one. They've got five figures I just want to talk about a few of them, but they did say that they opened 4,000 new supercharger stalls.

So, that's not stations, not like entire stations, but individual posts, but 4,000 of them in the three-month period that was Q3.

That is incredibly impressive to me. I mean, I know they probably can't sustain that pace forever, because by the way, for context, that is 18% year-over-year network growth.

That's a lot. It's basically like opening seven stalls in Q3 for every six that they opened in Q3 last year.

And that adds up quickly, but boy, that is a lot of supercharging stalls. That is awesome.

Love to see that. Congratulations, slash. Thank you to the Tesla charging team.

They also delivered a total from the superchargers into vehicles 1.8 terawatt hours of electricity delivered into cars.

That's a 29% year-over-year growth, just massive, massive, crazy number of year-over-year growth there.

But I think that's quite simply just means more cars are using the network.

And yes, more of those cars are Teslas, obviously, since there are roughly 1.7 million more Teslas out there compared to Q3 of last year.

But the thing to keep in mind here is this figure is also factoring in all of the non-Tesla EVs that are now joining the supercharging network.

And thus, I think this growth number, crazy as it may seem, 29% year-over-year, may actually be sustainable for quite a while because more and more non-Teslas are going to join the network both in terms of other manufacturers releasing new EVs, but also just people, customers, buying other EVs from other manufacturers as well.

And then finally, there's a couple more stats. There's gasoline save. There's quarterly charging sessions. But the figure at the bottom of the chart is what I want to skip to here.

And that is 50,000 Tesla burgers. That's how many burgers that they sold, or if you want to phrase it another way, delivered to customers, you can use the rest of the terminology.

Or I should say consistent terminology. 50,000 Tesla burgers sold. That seems like a lot, particularly when you remember that the Tesla diner didn't even open at the very beginning of Q3.

It opened three weeks into Q3 specifically on July 21st. In fact, I went back and checked.

And the diner was open for a total of 72 days out of basically 90 in Q3. That means they served an average of 694 Tesla burgers per day, almost 700 burgers per day.

Now, to be fair and honest here, I have absolutely no idea how that compares to the in and out burgers, which we have out here in California. So I think that's a fair Apple staples comparison.

I imagine in and out probably probably does a lot more burgers than the 694, just a single in and out location, but still, I don't know how it compares to McDonald's or any of the other fast food joints.

But an average of 694 burgers per day, 50,000 of them in the quarter, that's, that to my layman lizard brain, that sounds pretty darn crazy in the very best of ways.

And I will say, I did my part, I ate two of those 50,000 burgers that were served this past quarter.

I genuinely, that's no sarcasm. I honestly hope that Tesla keeps publicizing the burger stat every quarter. Like, I now want to know, I want to know how many burgers that they, that the Tesla diner is serving every quarter.

And that stat will only get more fun over time as Tesla hopefully opens more Tesla diners around the country and eventually around the world. So Tesla, if you're listening, please keep that burgers served stat coming. I mean, hey, McDonald's for decades.

In fact, there may even still be McDonald's locations that do this. For decades, McDonald's had on the sign, it would be like an overall tally of how many burgers they'd served since the company's inception, like it was, you know, a billion burgers served or whatever it was.

Tesla can do the same thing here in their quarterly report from the Tesla charging team on X. And I hope that they will do exactly that.

Next up, let's get to the main story. I mean, we've all been anticipating this end of quarter and what the number was going to be while we have the numbers now.

Tesla's Q3 production and delivery numbers are in and the company has set a new all time record for deliveries specifically. So as always here, I will read you Tesla's typical short and sweet press release.

It reads, in the third quarter, we produced over 447,000 vehicles delivered over 497,000 vehicles and deployed 12 and a half gigawatt hours of energy storage products, a record for both deliveries and deployments.

Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and supporters who helped us achieve these results.

So let's, as I always like to do here, let's put some of this into context. The previous deliveries record had come in Q4 of last year, 2024, and that number was 495,570.

So Tesla just barely edged that out this quarter, but they did. They set a new record. Sadly, just couldn't quite roll the odometer over to 500,000, which would have just been an awesome milestone number to hit.

Maybe this Q4, maybe the quarter we're starting now, let's talk about that in a minute, but maybe, well, not maybe, inevitably at some point down the road, once cyber cap goes into production, et cetera.

And if Tesla semi starts materially adding to this as well, so that's, those, that's some optimism there that that 500,000 is in a quarter is a when, not an if, but anyway, Q3 last year, if you want to look a year over year, was 462,890.

So this Q3 Tesla beat that by over 7%. That's a lot. That's a lot of cars. Now, obviously, there's a massive discrepancy there between production and deliveries that probably jumped out at you when I read you those numbers, because it sure as heck jumped out at me when I read them.

And if you think 7% is a lot, and it is when we're talking about these kinds of numbers, the discrepancy is in fact 11% more cars delivered in Q3 than were produced for context last quarter, the script was actually flipped.

For 6.8% more cars produced than delivered. And if we go year over year, last year in Q3, it was again flipped, but almost even with just 1.5% more cars produced than delivered.

So clearly in outlier this quarter, as we all anticipated, it makes sense, given the sunsetting of that $7,500 federal tax credit, what clearly seems to have happened is that Tesla just blew out their inventory.

Everything they produced in the quarter and everything they already had on hand. Now of course, despite the record quarter,

what happened the next day, actually the day of because the results, those numbers were given at 7 a.m. Pacific. So basically right when the stock market opened on Thursday of this past week, because it was the second of the month, that's Tesla always gives these numbers on the second of the month.

I guess unless it's a Sunday maybe, but anyway. So the market opened and what happened after Tesla gave these record quarter numbers?

Well, the stock dropped by about 5%. It was over $23 a share that it went down on the day that those numbers were announced. And then it closed the week down another few bucks as well, closing the week at 4.29.83 if you're following the stock stuff, which had been really good lately.

The stock's been on quite a rise, quite a roll, but these past couple days it did screech to a halt and skid in the other direction a little bit.

Now by the way, before I continue analyzing this, if you remember a couple weeks ago, I made this the subject of the Patreon poll for a couple of episodes ago.

So I want to say now officially congratulations to the 19% of you in that poll who voted in the group 476,000 to 500,000.

So the folks that chose that that was basically one in five of you 19% of you chose that you folks were correct. That was that one came in third place in that poll.

The range just below that 451,000 to 475,000 won the poll with 27% of the vote. And then a little lower still 401 to 450,000 was next at 20% just barely ahead of that in hindsight, winning group there at 476,000 to 500,000.

The 10% of you that said over 500,000, my heart is with you, you were this close to being correct on that one.

Now I think I think I had said on that podcast just two weeks ago, episode 529, I believe I said that I thought they would set a record, but I think I said I think I took the over 500,000.

So I guess I was maybe half right on that, but that is still just a super impressive number, not only a record quarter overall, obviously a huge record for Q3.

That's a Q3 mark that's probably going to stand for quite some time, not if but when Tesla beats that quarter in any quarter, it's likely to occur in a Q4, whether that's again this year, next year, year after.

But that Q3 record is likely to stand for at least a little while just a what an effort by the entire Tesla team across manufacturing across certainly the delivery teams out there that had to deliver so many more cars than the company even produced just fantastic work.

I salute all of you for going the extra mile to get people their cars in time for that tax credit. Now by the way, we'll get to this week's Patreon poll just a little bit later in the podcast.

So my final point that I want to make on the quarterly numbers here is what's next? That's the big question from here.

Okay, the tax credit's gone, what's next? What does Q4 look like? Now I'm sure I'll do a poll on it at some point. Maybe I should do it for this week's new poll so that we get everybody including me to weigh in good and early in the quarter before we start to see how things are unfolding.

But I absolutely think that Q4 is not going to meet or even let alone beat Q3. I expect that Q3 will be the biggest quarter this year. In fact, it's just a question of how close can it get, I think.

Can it approach that 497,000 deliveries? We'll see. I mean, the thing is I'm sure that Tesla has some tricks up at sleeve because well, we know a few of them where we are now.

We know that there are multiple Model Y variants coming, more on those in a minute. We know Tesla's got some tricks up at sleeve, but short of the more affordable, stripped down E41 code name Model Y standard, becoming available for order immediately and delivering super soon, like delivering in the next couple of weeks, which could happen, by the way.

That is in play. I mean, it just doesn't seem likely since Tesla is launching the new Model Y performance here in North America in December, more on all of that in just a moment. That's the next big story.

And the other thing we have to keep in mind, too, is in reality, just what bigger picture zoom it out, you know, you know, how I like to do that. 97% of the cars that Tesla sells just got $7,500 more expensive for at least for the overwhelming majority of the buyers of those cars might Tesla cut their prices, which they did do last time the tax credit expired.

It is certainly possible, and I hope they do, though it's probably unlikely to be by the full 7,500 given the fact that the cars have already come down a lot in price over the last few years and Tesla's margins per car are thinner than they were back in 2019 when the tax credit went away last time.

I'm kind of just most curious, even more than the numbers themselves and what those will be for Q4, I'm most curious to see how Tesla plays this because they've obviously had months to plan for it.

Speaking of how Tesla will choose to play it, that's kind of what this week's lightning round bonus mini episode was all about on Patreon.

It was about my five strategy suggestions for Tesla in a post tax credit America.

So I hope all of you who are kindly supporting me on Patreon at that $10 per month tier, which is the tier where you get access to all 162 now of those lightning round weekly bonus mini episodes.

Check that out on Patreon, and if you're not already supporting me on Patreon, I hope that maybe you'll consider doing so.

If you enjoy this podcast every week, I do put my heart, my soul, a lot of time, a lot of thought, effort, energy, and research into it.

So if you see it in your heart to support me on Patreon, one of the ways that I try to say thank you is by offering that extra content like those weekly bonus mini episodes.

I also offer ad free episodes and early access to each week's episode as well.

All of that is available at that $10 per month tier.

Even if you just want to do the $5 per month tier, you still get the early access and the ad free.

So do check out my Patreon page if you get a chance. I'd be humbled and grateful if you'd check that out.

You can find it by either clicking the link in the episode description or going to patreon.com slash Tesla podcast.

I mentioned the Model Y performance because yes, the new Model Y performance is now available to order in North America.

Interestingly, it arrived a day earlier than I thought it might.

In a very interesting and I would argue shrewd move on Tesla's part, they made it available to order in the late afternoon Pacific time on September 30th, the last day of the quarter,

thereby giving anybody who wanted to get one and still get the tax credit mere hours to lock in their order.

And I will say they were not trying to hide it. They definitely wanted people to see this. They wanted a bunch of orders.

This was not one of those. If you happen to be lucky enough to hear about it online thing, Tesla actually sent out an email blast to everyone on their mailing list, letting people know about it.

So let's get into it. It starts at $57,500, pre-tax credit price, which for the majority of buyers are going to be paying the non-tax credit price.

$57,500, but deliveries don't start until December though. So that really tells you that Tesla is 100% gaming the tax credit loophole of sorts here to try and get as many tax credit eligible orders as possible.

And again, I don't blame them. I mean, they're likely trying to boost the Q4 number by sneaking in a surge of excited Model Y performance buyers,

who again want to sneak that tax credit on their purchase. And they're doing that probably because they are expecting the Q4 post tax credit number for deliveries to be lower, to be a tougher number.

So what we can say and what we can at least look at the past to see is that historically the performance variant of any car, but in particular the three in the Y,

I would probably say especially of the Y, their top selling car, the performance variant is the lowest selling Model Y variant by far. It's not even close.

However, in this case, Tesla figures that they can capitalize on everybody who's been waiting for it since obviously the new Model Y has been out for what,

at least in the US, six, seven months. Now I guess about six months and plenty of people have been waiting for that Model Y performance. So they can capitalize on the folks who've just been waiting.

And then in addition, although there's certainly probably a large Venn diagram overlap, but the folks that just like the idea of buying one with the tax credit for the hours.

It was available on September 30th if they happen to check their email or log online. I mean, think about it this way with Tesla doing this.

If you can wait until December for delivery, since that's again that they're not going to start delivering the performance wise until December,

you can get a Model Y performance, and you can get it for just $1,000 more than the Model Y long range all-wheel drive is now without the tax credit.

So in other words, if you were thinking about buying a Model Y and you're thinking, yeah, I think I'll, you know, down, maybe a few months or six months or whatever, I'll get one and I know the tax credit's ending.

But okay, I'm not ready for a car. In this case, Tesla throws this out there and says, well, for less than one day only, you can get the Model Y performance, which has plenty of perks and benefits for just $1,000 more than the long range all-wheel drive will be when you were ordinarily thinking of ordering a car in, again, three months, six months, whatever.

I think that probably tipped a lot of people over the edge and certainly I think a lot of enthusiasts or people just tempted by the performance version would take that deal as well.

Although I guess it actually kind of is the same price because the, so it's not even really $1,000 more. It's kind of the same price in that September 30th window that is already closed at this point when everybody's hearing this and for that matter when I'm recording it.

Because, and I say same price, because the toe package on the Model Y, which costs $1,000, is included in the performance version.

And just like the Model 3 performance, white interior is no extra charge if you decide you want to choose that.

And for the moment, again, just like the Model 3 performance, every paint color is included as well in the sense that you don't have to pay extra for any of the paint colors.

By the way, I came pretty close. I'd give myself a little half pad on the back. I came pretty close on my most recent price prediction for the new Model Y performance.

I went back and looked it up. It was five episodes ago, episode 526. And I said, therefore it's likely to be 58 or 59,000 here in the US because the long range all-wheel drive version is 49,000.

So looking at the split in the Chinese market, excuse me, the European market pardon me, which is where the Model Y performance debuted.

So, came pretty close. I said 58 or 59 and it's 57.5. And I'm happy to be wrong in the sense that I overshot it rather than undershot it.

Although, while I'm giving myself a half pad on the back, I have to just immediately take that away because I was wrong about another prediction, what else is new.

And that was, I had said I thought that Glacier Blue paint would come to North America at the same time that the new Model Y performance did.

That still hasn't happened. We are still waiting on the Glacier Blue paint over here.

Anyway, back to more important things on the new Model Y performance. The range, you're probably curious, Ryan, what is the range? Tell me.

It's 306 miles, which isn't quite as impressive as the, I guess, apparently poor translation that I had made from the European ratings.

But it's still pretty impressive, nonetheless, because it means that at 306, it gets better range than my car, the Model 3 performance, despite the fact that the new Model Y performance is on bigger wheels and it's a bigger, heavier car.

So my car is rated for 298 miles on 20-inch wheels and the new Model Y performance 306 on 21s. Now, is 8 miles of range a huge amount? No, certainly not.

But I think that when you factor in, again, heavier car and on bigger wheels, it is still pretty impressive.

As for the zero to 60, we already knew this, but it is 3.3 seconds, zero to 60. Everything else is the same that we'd already talked about when this rolled out in Europe, which, as you'd expect, right?

Oh, actually, except for one thing that Tesla confirmed the very next day on October 1st. And this will be of interest to many of you, I think.

Tesla posted on the official Tesla X account saying, quote, new Model Y performance offers vehicle to load 120 volt, 20 amp AC with the Tesla outlet adapter.

So to be very clear here, that's V2L, not V2G vehicle to grid or V2H vehicle to home.

So you're not going to be powering your house with this or charging up another Tesla, both of which you can do with the Cybertruck.

But I have called for this feature, including as I recall, pretty recently saying that I thought it would be a great way for Tesla to further tip the scales to fence sitters to come on over to the EV side of things.

Use your car to power stuff.

So this is a great feature. This is very unexpected, pleasant, good news, even if it's not quite as awesome as the power your house in an outage sales pitch that certainly would have been an even more powerful thing, more powerful message that Tesla could put out.

You can buy a new Model Y performance for $57.5 and then you can grab the $80 adapter from Tesla that plugs into the Model Y performances charge port.

And then from there, you can plug in 220 volt household outlets.

So for instance, maybe your garage fridge or freezer, if your power goes out and you don't have a power wall as just one kind of random example of something that might already be in the garage where your where your Model Y performance is, if you lose power for any extended amount of time, you can keep that stuff frozen in that garage freezer.

My question is whether or not the new Model Y performance has either additional hardware or just a new version of hardware that enables this vehicle to load functionality or if this might be something that could theoretically come to all of the other current Tesla's as well.

I don't have the answer to that right now, but for now, it certainly adds to the already pretty healthy appeal of the new Model Y performance.

So I've got a few more thoughts here before I move on to the next topic, which spoiler is also Model Y related, just not Model Y performance.

But a few more thoughts apropos of nothing. I'll just say that my own opinion is I like this new Model Y performance a lot better than the first generation Model Y performance.

I think it looks way better and it clearly offers way more, which really not unlike the new Model 3 performance in my garage compared to the old Model 3 performance that we still have.

But to a couple of points now that you might find useful or thought provoking rather than just my opinion on the looks and appeal of the car, I will say this 10 bucks says that Tesla brings the Model Y L to North America sometime in the next couple of quarters.

And the reason I say that is because the Model Y performance is obviously the shiny new thing for now here in this post tax credit era.

But once that car starts delivering in December, remember Q1 is historically the slowest quarter, not just for Tesla, but for everybody.

So that means that once the newness of the performance version wears off, Tesla is going to need more shiny new things to dangle in front of buyers without that tax credit there to shave 7500 bucks right off the top of the price.

And actually now that I think about that now that I mentioned that we also can't forget that way back in February, when Franz and Lars were on Jay Leno's garage, Lars said on Jay show that the seven seat Model Y, the new version of it obviously, would be coming this year.

He said the performance and the seven cedar, well performance is coming in December, so that means, are we still getting the seven seat option on the new Model Y this year, which would mean this quarter, or might Tesla instead save that for a future quarter, whether it's Q2, Q3, what have you just going to save it for kind of a quarterly drop if you will.

And don't forget we're also still waiting on the more affordable variant, the E41 that I've been talking about on recent episodes, stay tuned in just a moment for more on that.

But what that means in summary is we're looking at three more variants that we are at least that I'm expecting. I know Elon said that the Model Y L isn't going to might not come over here at all.

But let's just put it this way, three potential new variants in addition to the Model Y performance that Tesla might still unveil.

And so I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla does roll them out roughly one per quarter, so Model Y performance will debut in Q4, then maybe one of those other three in Q1, another in Q2,

and another in Q3 of 2026 in some order.

And I was trying to figure out, well, okay, what order would make sense if you're buying what I'm selling there, and maybe you're not.

But if that were to be the plan, how would it go?

Would it be the seven-seater in Q1, the L in Q2, and then after you've exhausted all of the demand for these more expensive, probably higher margin variants, then do you bring the cheaper, stripped down E41 version in Q3?

Or do you flip that? Would it be the cheaper version first in Q1, and then hoping you've got plenty of demand for that, then just supplement and kind of keep demand rolling, just goose it as needed over the subsequent quarters next year with a seven-seater of the regular wheelbase with the Model Y L.

So I don't know which way it could go. I could talk myself into any sort of order, any order of operations there, and I'm not sure which one might make the most sense.

Well, now that we, by the way, officially, officially now here in the US at least, have three new Model Y wheel designs, the 19-inch cross flow, the 20-inch Helix 2.0,

and on the Model Y performance, the 21-inch Arachnid 2.0, I decided to have a little fun with those wheel designs, because you guys know I love that stuff.

And I made it the subject of this week's Patreon poll where I simply asked you which of the three designs is your favorite.

I kindly asked that you try your best to leave efficiency out of it, because I know that really is a significant factor for a lot of you.

It's just ranges king, efficiency is king, so therefore you're going to take the most efficient wheel no matter what.

But I was just, the thought exercise here was just to look at the design of them and vote that way.

So thank you to over 230 of you that voted in this week's Patreon poll, so again, which new Model Y wheel design do you like best?

And I can't say I'm surprised at the results here.

The Arachnid 2.0's, I'm not the only one that loves them, clearly 58% of you voted for the new Arachnid 2.0 wheels on the new Model Y performance.

And then you guys mirrored my opinion again, I guess I'm not alone on this.

The 19 inch cross flow wheels pretty steadily beat the Helix 2.0's, the 19 inch higher efficiency cross flows, 23% of the vote.

And then just 14% chose the Helix 2.0 as their favorite design.

3% said I don't like any of them and 2% said I love them all and can't pick a favorite.

So thank you very much to everybody that kindly took the time to vote in this week's Patreon poll.

A friendly reminder, you don't have to be giving me a dime, you don't have to be supporting me at all on Patreon in order to vote in each week's Patreon poll.

I make it open the public, open to anybody, just want you to stop by and cast your vote each week.

So you can do that at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast and the new poll question typically goes up on Tuesday evenings.

Okay, as I said, speaking of the new Model Y, the new Model Y standard has leaked on Tesla's own website.

And it is hinting at a $40,000 price point.

I saw this on Drive Tesla Canada who wrote, Tesla's long anticipated more affordable version of the Model Y may finally be on the horizon.

A new Model Y standard has quietly appeared in the source code of the company's website, giving us the clearest look yet at the more affordable variant that has been rumored for months.

Although long rumored to be coming soon, the first official hints of this vehicle first surface last month when a software update revealed internal references to an E41 variant of the Model Y.

At the time, the code pointed to a stripped down configuration with fewer luxury features and simplified hardware.

Now this website appearance strongly suggests Tesla is getting closer to launching that very model, positioning it as the most affordable SUV in its lineup.

Unlike the long range and performance trims, the Model Y standard introduces several exterior differences according to a review of the source code by Tesla Newswire on X.

Here we go, four items, redesigned front fascia with a cleaner, simpler look, single-part headlights that reduced component complexity, no front light bar keeping costs down, and a closed roof design, aka no panoramic glass roof.

It does, however, include a front bumper camera, something which is slowly integrating into Tesla's entire fleet.

The standard also rides on new 18-inch aperture wheels, that's the name of them.

A more efficiency-focused setup compared to Tesla's larger 19 or 20-inch options.

To reach a lower entry price, Tesla has scaled back several interior features.

Textile decor replaces premium wood or metal finishes, manual steering wheel adjustment instead of powered controls, a 15.4-inch touchscreen, not the 16-inch new one that's in the new Model Y performance, and no rear touchscreen for second row passengers.

Also, manually adjustable second row air vents instead of the electronically controlled ones, because of course it doesn't have the screen assembly in there, so you've just got the manual vents.

Just like on the generation one Model Y. And then the last item here listed is particulate air filter only, no hepa grade filter, as found in other Model Ys. In other words, no bioweapon defense mode.

So, and then the story continues on DriveTest, the Canada. Despite these changes, cargo capacity remains strong at 75 cubic feet only slightly less than higher end trims.

The Model Y standard appears in the code priced at $39,990, representing Tesla's most affordable SUV to date, slotting below the long range and performance trims, targeting buyers who want to enter the Tesla ecosystem, but are less concerned with luxury add-ons.

However, this price is just $5,000 below the long range rear wheel drive variant. Tesla could be using this as a placeholder knowing it would be discovered prior to the official launch, which means the listed $39,990 starting price may not be final.

But if Tesla manages to bring the final MSRP closer to the mid-35K mark when it finally launches, the Model Y standard could quickly become a big seller.

Okay, so some of this we already knew from either the in real life sighting that I told you about, I don't know, a month or so back, or we already knew from the green the only hacking that I told you about more recently.

But some of this is new information and let's start with the big one, the price.

I'm not sure if the Drive Tesla Canada folks are just trying to protect themselves against potential disappointment by saying, you know, oh, well, maybe $39,990 is just a purposeful placeholder in Tesla because Tesla knows it'll leak.

Maybe, I mean, I certainly hope they're right because as I've said, I think, which clearly the Drive Tesla Canada folks thought as well as you heard, 35K really is the magic number in my opinion for this stripped down Model Y, this E41, the Model Y standard.

Now, we now have confirmation that there's no front light bar and that the headlights are different, which does mean that it will be obvious just by looking at this vehicle that it is the cheaper Model Y.

The manual steering adjustment, that's new information, but not a surprise and the lack of bio weapon defense mode, same thing, it's new information, not a surprise.

As far as the price goes, I am going to just politely veer from Drive Tesla Canada's opinion here, very respectfully in that I'm going to take this price as at face value for right now.

I'm just going to say if this was in the source code, could it could Tesla have intentionally bumped it up higher they could have I wouldn't put it past them to sort of set themselves up for an under promise over deliver situation should that information from the source code leak as it has.

But for now, I'm going to take it at face value and figure that this vehicle is 40 grand, 39, 990.

The only big, big, big unknown right now then is the range. Put me down, if we're taking bets, put me down in the 270 to 280 range. That's where I think it's going to land.

And by the way, another prediction that I didn't get right, I thought I was, I was feeling pretty good that and not because anybody, you know, not because any little birdies told me, but just my own gut.

I just thought for sure or that there was a real good chance that Tesla was going to announce the Model Y standard right on October 1st start, you know, just overcome that tax credit.

People see a more affordable version the orders flow in and that would help counter the loss of the federal tax credit.

It did not get announced on October 1st instead as I was saying earlier in this podcast.

It's certainly in play that we might get one new Model Y variant for each of the next three or four quarters starting right now in Q4 with the new Model Y performance.

So again, as I was saying earlier, will the Model Y standard be the Q1 launch or will Tesla hold it for later?

Well, I guess I'll say tune in next week or maybe next quarter depending hopefully, but tune in next week anyway because you enjoy listening to the podcast.

But here's there's one other piece of this that's a fun little exclamation point on this whole thing.

There is a post going around on X with three photographs of a supposed Model Y standard without any camouflage or covering on it.

So it is running around naked.

And these photos don't look photoshopped. They don't look AI generated.

And it was allegedly spotted near a gig of Texas.

Furthermore, it matches the render that was pulled from the source code on the Tesla.com website because there's a little render of it.

And it's exactly, it's got little very narrow thin headlights, no light bar up front, like it matches.

So Tesla appears to have been driving one around publicly without any covering, which is seemingly kind of unlike them.

Not quite sure what the story is there, maybe we'll find that story out at some point once this thing becomes officially official.

And I'll tell you, until I saw the render from the source code to sort to basically confirm the photographs, I really was doubting it.

There were three reasons because it was like, well, one, the Model Y standard that was photographed had a Florida license plate on it where you would expect it would have a Texas manufacturer license plate on it or a California manufacturer license plate on it.

Number two, it appeared to still have a glass roof rather than a body roof.

It couldn't get a super clear look at the roof, but it still looked like the glass roof, which again, we know the Model Y standard will not have.

And then three, it looked like in the picture. In fact, actually, sorry, it is for sure because I have the photos right here, where are they?

Let me pull them up. So I'm going to post these and I'll tell you where to find them in a second if you want to take a look at these.

Here we go. Why? Yes, the one that was photographed in Austin had the 19 inch cross flow wheels on it, rather than the 18 inch aperture wheels that we now know are going to come with this thing.

So that, those three things had me, I was like, this must be fake. It must be some like really good Photoshop job or something.

But once it matched the render that was in the source code, it was pretty clear that like, nope, it's real. So it is real.

And I know it's tough for me to just describe this and talk about it without you being able to see it.

So if you want to see the pictures, I'm sure you can just search for them online, but I'm going to post them on my Patreon just with the regular public version of the episode so that, again, you don't have to be giving me a dime on Patreon.

Just if you want to see them, you can stop by patreon.com slash Tesla podcast and I will post the pictures with this episode.

So you can take a look at them. And the photo credit, by the way, goes to Ryan Mabel on X. That's who that's who posted these and presumably took them as well.

If in fact they were taken by somebody else, I apologize. That's all the information I have.

So if you happen to be either pause the podcast and pull them up or if you happen to be looking at them right now or you've already looked at them, I'm going to give you my hot take on the design here.

And that hot take is this. I think I like the look of it, at least the front of it, because there are pictures of the front and the back.

The back looks fine, you know, it doesn't have the light bar across the back, but otherwise it looks identical. It's got the same tail lights.

But the front, I like the look of the front better than I do the regular new model Y with an asterisk, non-performance.

I like the look of the performance Y the most. I think I think the added aggressive styling tweaks to the new model Y performance put it on top style wise for me.

But I'm telling you, I like, I really like the look of the standard model Y better than the long range versions.

I think it looks better without the light bar and I'm not hating on the light bar.

But I'm also not not hating on the light bar because so many cars now is particularly so many crossover SUVs are doing the front light bar thing.

And the reason why it's not just that they deleted the light bar up front, but it's that the headlights, I mean, they're not identical to the daytime running lights slash turn signal assembly that's on the regular long range model wise.

It's a little bit taller because it's got a whole headlight assembly in it, which again, otherwise it's just a running light on the long range Y.

But it's like a nice, it's a little model three-ish on the headlight, definitely not identical. It's not the same headlight by any stretch, but I just think it looks really good. I like it better.

So take a look for yourself, whether it's on my Patreon page or somewhere else online, and see what you think of the styling of the front end of the model Y standard.

I've got one more news story for you, but I got carried away a lost track of time and I need to mention my friends at XCare.

So yes, accelerate auto makers of the XCare extended warranty option.

It's built exclusively for EVs. They've really rethought the whole extended warranty thing from the ground up, not just in terms of the policy, but in terms of the purchasing experience, how customizable it is.

That's really that's the difference between Tesla's extended warranty and accelerate autos is the XCare plan is totally customizable.

So again, if you want to do like just two more years, you're thinking, ah, you know, I might the warranties up and I'd like to just stay protected, but I'm probably only going to keep it a couple more years.

Okay, great. Do a two year 25,000 mile extended warranty.

You are if you're in it for the long haul, do seven years and 84,000 more miles if you want to, or anywhere in between.

That's the really nice part with the XCare extended warranty option for your EV.

By the way, if you just want to come, if you don't want to worry about the kind of basics of the car and you just want to cover those critical and expensive high voltage battery and drive unit components, your vehicle may qualify for that coverage as well.

Again, either separately like just that or rolling that into a complete warranty extended warranty package.

And because you're a ride the lightning listener, you get $100 off when you select XCare's one time payment option.

I've got one more news story for you this week and it's another Tesla story. Tesla has revealed the future of FSD visualizations through a new patent.

And by visualizations, I don't mean the ones that show up to the end user us on our screens. I mean, the way the car sees the world.

I saw this on the Tesla Motors Reddit and it was posted by a user with the username of unfiltered underscore rabbit 01, who wrote Tesla filed a patent on September 11, 2025.

And by the way, there was a there was a screenshot image from the patent as well. So this is legit called artificial intelligence modeling techniques for vision based high fidelity occupancy determination and assisted parking applications.

It's a mouthful. I realize anyway to continue the post.

It describes a high fidelity occupancy network that uses signed distance fields to build detailed 3D reconstructions of the environment using only cameras.

This will replace current FSD visualizations with more realistic high resolution renderings and enable major improvements to auto park summon and a future feature called banish.

The system divides the world into voxels and predicts exact distances to surfaces, allowing it to identify spaces, markings and objects with far greater accuracy.

Or in short, Tesla's new patent shows a next generation 3D occupancy system for FSD enabling more advanced auto park and summon features.

At the same time, Tesla launched the updated model Y performance in the US with temporary access. Wait a minute, that's a copy based from something else from.

Oh wait, no, it's not smart. Okay, some smart summon upgrades coming in FSD version for today through myself off there for a moment anyway.

So the let's get back to the topic at hand, which is these this new way of FSD seeing the world. So my question is, is this and I presume the answer is yes, by the way, is this where the 10X higher parameter count that Elon has talked about comes from?

That that that was the first thing I thought of when I read this description and looked at the looked at the screen shot.

By the way, if you still need a bit more help making sense of what I just read to you and I honestly did, I thought there was a really helpful comment kind of an Eli five explain it like I'm five comment from another Reddit user in that thread whose username is marks 22.

Who said in response to this post quote, it's really just photogrammetry with AI a moving camera even at slow speeds creates vertical separation with depth data depth from motion in the same way we create it with stereo vision put simply it can see what parts of the scene are moving faster closer and slower further and assign each pixel in 3D space.

It has the added ability to simultaneously add quote textures like painted lines and words or signs the big advancement here is that it's combined with a neural network.

So instead of just pure photogrammetry it's inferring shapes based on its extensive training data for example it may see only a third of a car it can infer the rest of the car because it can deduce it's a 2024 model why and fill in the missing data with that knowledge and that's really cool.

So thank you to both of those Tesla Motors Reddit users for all of that great information and layman's analysis and speaking of layman's layman analysis to my non-engineer brain what this sounds like is a really really smart way to handle a camera only system.

And the reason I say it that way is because I'm not trying to sit here and say that the camera systems perfect right in that this like completely solves any and all FSD scenarios no system is perfect there are limitations to any system cameras certainly suffer in harsh weather conditions

LiDAR systems have bulky expensive hardware etc so every system has its challenges my point is that for Tesla's choice the choice they have made to have a camera only system this really sounds like what is perhaps the best way to get the absolute most out of it.

And you know the more I think about it the more that this does maybe sound like it is version 14 because Elon had also recently talked about having to retrain the whole system for version 14 and this architectural change would be a good reason to have to do that.

So if indeed that's the case this gets me even more fired up for version 14 and maybe this is where the your car will feel sentient by the end of the year statement from Elon comes from.

Although by the way if you need even just a little bit more excitement about version 14 of FSD before I wrap this story up and in fact wrap up the news segment for this week.

There's a little bit more but you got to go on a short walk with me so okay ready Tim urban of weight but why fame posted on X saying this went to the mall today and in typical form I failed to note where I parked instead of looking for the car I tried something crazy and summoned the car from the Tesla app.

30 seconds later the empty car emerged from one of the lanes and pulled up in front of me we live in the future end quote and then again I said it was a walk.

Another person named Mark Valorian responded to Tim saying quote this works very well in a surface parking lot in a multi level garage where it is most useful you're going to be extraordinarily frustrated end quote.

And then we're arriving at our destination now Elon Musk replied to that saying quote not for long so the folks at not a Tesla app who I've cited here a number of times before they kindly added some context to what Elon's talking about here.

And they said so how exactly does Tesla overcome GPS inaccuracies and determine garage level without using barometric sensors to operate autonomously your Tesla will have to rely almost exclusively on its cameras to navigate using a complex process known as simultaneous localization and mapping or slam to build a real time map of its surroundings.

If you've heard of slam before it's the same technique used to map small and tightly constrained areas it's the same process your robotic vacuum does in your home.

This usage of slam will have to be far more precise and less forgiving as there are no walls you want your car to bounce off of like your vacuum.

Your vehicle will need to build a real time map of its surroundings understand them and determine which directions it is allowed to turn and which direction the exit is located it must also account for vertical travel via ramps tight corners obstructive pillars and unpredictable pedestrian traffic

Thank you to the not at Tesla app folks for that handy explanation so I'm fired up I was already fired up again with my robot taxi experience here in the Bay Area perhaps maybe just maybe by the time that I go to record next week's episode some of you out there maybe we'll have version 14 we're getting close for sure.

And that's everything in another super busy week lot of big stories this week in the world of Tesla news let's move straight into the ride the lightning hotline now if you've got a question comment or discussion topic for the podcast I welcome and invite you to call in and share that question comment or discussion topic with me so that I may consider it for a future episode.

There are two easy ways to call in either use your smartphones built in voice recording software and then record it please try to keep it to 90 seconds or less and then send that file to me at Tesla podcast at gmail.com or you can take that same 90 second or less call and actually call in and leave a message on the ride the lightning hotline.

It's available 24 hours a day seven days a week and it's a toll free number that number is one eight eight eight nine eight nine eight seven five two that number again one triple eight nine eight nine tsl a and if you know someone special out there with an upcoming birthday anniversary graduation or some of their special occasion you can give them a unique gift of recorded voices from friends and family telling them why they're special.

The recordings can be podcasted or put on a keepsake visit life on record dot com to learn more we start this week with Jeff from Rhode Island.

Hey Ryan and all the Tesla fans out there Jeff calling in from Rhode Island and I'm hoping this call makes it to some of the Tesla employee listeners out there so in the beginning of each winter we get an email from Tesla informing us about how to improve winter weather driving

and what to do for overnight winter weather when it's expected all that is simply usually putting the wipers in service mode and making sure making sure the the mirrors do not fold in.

That's pretty simple to do but a lot of times you might be able to do it if you're not sure what the weather's come so maybe for the next holiday update there could be a button somewhere in the app maybe on the climate or some type of option within the app that would allow you to just one touch button.

Put it right into winter weather expected mode and that could be in the in the UI on the screen itself in the vehicle but that way if it's on the app and you realize you've got to do it you just hit that button you have to walk back out of the car it'll put the wipers in service mode it'll extend the mirrors out and then you'd be good in the morning when you go out there and your vehicles covered in snow I'm sure Ryan you don't have to deal with this but I know there are a lot of drivers that are impacted.

I went to weather this seems like you would be an easy update and I think much appreciated from a lot of us so let's hope it shows up in the next software update prior to next winter.

Ryan thanks again for everything you do appreciate it take care.

Fantastic suggestion Jeff you're right that I don't have to deal with this but I'm probably in the minority of Tesla owners on that.

I love your idea slash request here honestly it's smart it's safety oriented it'd be a great convenience for Tesla owners and again with the caveat that I'm not a software engineer.

It seems to me a layperson that it would be pretty easy to implement since it would just be activating a bunch of stuff the car can already do all at once.

So may we speak this one into existence Jeff thank you so much for calling in next up this week here's bill from Wisconsin.

Responding to two or three shows ago when I talked about that new paint color that was dug out by green the only in the firmware go ahead bill.

Hey Ryan it's bill from triple falls Wisconsin long time no call say I'm just listening to latest episode you're talking about Silk Road Silver showing up in the latest app code.

Here's my thinking on that speculation alert the Silk Road of course was the trade route in you know I don't know the Middle Ages or whatever it was that led from China to Europe I believe.

So I'm wondering if maybe Silk Road Silver is a China specific color that they're going to offer for the cars that they're manufacturing there.

Like I said just speculate give David Lily and everyone else.

Thanks for your call bill I would say that your speculation is perfectly valid and could easily prove to be correct I was not aware of that history so number one thank you for teaching me something new today and maybe

well wait wait what if Silk Road Silver is well no I guess I was going to say what if that's their in app code name for the exclusive model Y L color starlight gold over in China but that doesn't make sense it

it just be called starlight gold in the app so yeah you know what maybe it's going to be another model Y L color to compliment starlight gold I mean it is after all Silk Road Silver starlight gold Silk Road Silver similar to how I mean SNX have their own silver their own lunar silver that's different from quick silver on three in the why so maybe

the L will get its own unique silver in addition to that starlight gold thank you so much bill for your call take care my friend and I'm sure we will chat again soon next up this week here Stefan from Monterey

Hey Ryan it's Stefan from Monterey I was listening to your show when you were speaking about the Panasonic battery design and the increased range that would be possible on the model wise and you were suggesting that Tesla will probably opt to just put in less cells and keep the range the same and I respectfully hope you are wrong but I'm thinking you might very will be right but I do have this food for thought for you

Rivion will be coming out with R2 next year and that's going to be a direct competitor to the model Y and if Tesla could make a car for the same price that had an extra you know 90 to 100 miles of range and you get 400 miles of range it would really set itself apart from the R2 so they might consider that as well just thinking about that

Thanks again for all you do

Stefan it's always a pleasure to hear from you I certainly see and respect where you're coming from here I think it's a valid point I suppose it will depend on what kind of range that Rivion brings to the table on the R2

I went and looked it up because I wasn't quite sure what they've announced so far and all we have to go on from Rivion directly as of now in terms of officially from them is that they said all configurations of the R2 will have over 300 miles of range

And honestly I think they're probably wise to not make any more specific promises than that just yet because things can change as we saw with Cybertruck but if they can bring a range figure to the table that is notably better than what the model Y is offering then I would agree that Tesla would have more motivation to just use that new Panasonic battery manufacturing tech

To instead instead of extra removing cells just leave them in and handily beat the Rivion on the range

However, we know or at least we're pretty confident at least I would say I'm pretty confident in saying that the R2 is not going to match the R1's range

It's almost certainly that's gonna be the case right and the R1 has a 400 mile option

And the just market reality there is there's got to be some separation between R1 and R2 in terms of market segment and pricing

You know how it goes right that's just how the how the business is

So all that is to say that while I love your enthusiasm and I hope you're right and that I'm wrong

I would honestly be pretty surprised if Rivion is able to put sufficient range pressure on the model Y with the R2 to the point that Tesla decides to choose range over cost savings on the model Y

Once those new Panasonic battery cells come down the the assembly line in the next couple years

But you know what part of the fun of all of this that we're here talking about is that the technology is rapidly evolving

And so we can't really rule any possibility out either that's the fun part so

Thank you so much for your call it is always appreciated

Next here's Jonathan from Virginia responding to what few shows ago I was talking about a possible pack size reduction on the roadster from the original 200 kilowatt hours that was announced back in 2017

Go ahead Jonathan

Hey Ryan this is Jonathan from Virginia

You mentioned a couple of recent podcasts about possibly Tesla reducing the pack size on the new roadster and I was under the impression that that it got in set not for the highway range because you're right

500 miles is wildly excessive for highway range but that had been driven by the performance endurance they wanted on the track

So unless they're rethinking their track metrics I wouldn't expect much of a shrink-in pack size on the roadster but I guess we all look forward to seeing what it actually turns out to be

Have a good day, bye

Hey Jonathan well as you know I am always happy to talk about the new roadster so thank you for calling in

You might be right is the short version

As you know thermal management matters as much or more than the actual kilowatt hour capacity when it comes to endurance on a track

And the current gen Model S plaid seems to have largely solved that on the thermal management side

So the new roadster will no doubt have a generational improvement in thermal management over what's in the four-year-old system in the plaid now

So if we assume and I know what assuming does but if we reasonably presume how about that that the new roadster won't overheat not just battery-wise but I should add also breakwise

Then I think it's a question of how many laps does Tesla want the new roadster to be capable of doing

And based on what Rimok has done with the Navarra I am still of the very very amateur opinion that 200 kilowatt hours is going to be massive overkill

But again you might be right and I hope we find out soon because guess what now that it's October it means that if Elon's most epic demo ever indeed happens by the end of the year

That means we've got like to less than two months to go until we see the new roadster again for the first time

And the first time seeing it in eight years I cannot wait I really hope that that's going to happen this year but we'll see

I've got time for one more call this week it's another response to something I said it's J and Los Angeles

I was talking about keeping my new car for 10 years or more and J wanted to respond to that so take it away J

Hi Ryan, this is J from Los Angeles

I'm calling to ask about a comment you made on last week's show about your plans to keep your current Tesla model for 10 years

I'm curious how realistic that is given how quickly Tesla vehicles evolve

Every couple of years we see big leaps and hardware, software, safety and features

Things that make today's cars feel dated pretty fast

If say by 2030 we're on hardware 7 with safety that's dramatically better, upgrading might even feel like the responsible choice

And since Tesla is time to hold their value I trade up at marginal costs could be financially pretty feasible

I'd like to hear your perspective on how you balance the excitement of new technology with the idea of keeping the same Tesla for a full decade

Thanks again for the great show and I look forward to hearing your response

Thank you for your call J

Based on how things are looking right now since Elon and Tesla have been kind enough to be openly talking about AI5 and AI6 already

My best guess is that 2030 will be right around the time that Tesla is introducing AI6

Which will indeed be way better than the AI4 in my car right now

There's no doubt about that

Obviously the decision about how long to keep a car very much varies from person to person and family to family for a thousand different reasons

For us, quite honestly, it's just unlikely to make economic sense based on our income and where we're not people that really in our spot should be getting cars

Every few years, as nice as that would be

And again, I'm not judging anybody, there's no judgement

This is talking about what works for me and for us

But I will say this by 2030, I will have hopefully the good fortune of being a three Tesla household

Should my next gen roadster arrive by 2030, which gotcha I hope it does

Which means the miles that I drive will be spread between three cars instead of two

And my wife, she doesn't drive too much

She drives less than me and I've been doing about 11,000 miles a year or so

So the other part of this too is if we look at what a 10 year old Tesla looks like today

That is a 2015 Model S

And a 2015 Model S is still a really great car

Sure, range has come a long way, obviously the driver assistance system, FSD, has made exponential progress

Although a 2015 S still has Autopilot 1

And while Autopilot 1 definitely can't hold a candle anymore to what the cars can do now

It's still honestly a pretty rock solid and reliable highway only system at least

It's far more likely I think that our 2018 Model 3 will cycle out before my 2024 does

Which may seem obvious, but you were kinda calling it about the 2024

And so, that's probably five years away, maybe more

I'm not sure, we'll just have to see how things go

At which point we would have, hopefully if life is good, something new and something even more awesome

And then my 2024 Model 3 performance, that's the new car now, would become the old car

So we're very fortunate, we're in a really good place

It is a privilege, very much a privilege for us to have two Teslas

And they're both currently and still going to be great cars for the foreseeable future

Even though yes, you are correct, there will be absolutely even better versions of the cars and of the Autopilot hardware

By the time we get to 2030, which is only five years from now

Thank you Jay, appreciate you calling in

Thank you to everybody that kindly took the time to call in this past week

If I didn't get to your call this week, I will hopefully get to it on next week's show

I will do more of your ride-lighting calls then

And if you have something you want to say, a question comment, discussion topic again

I gave you the two easy call-in methods and instructions at the top of this segment, so refer back to that

As for what's happening with me in my new car, the Soul of Adventure

Well, I got my first annual registration renewal in the mail today

California usually sends it out about two months early, and sure enough, it's exactly when it arrived

I got it in December, so here at the beginning of October, the renewal notice has arrived

And I have to say, it is a bit worse than I expected, not like stratosphericly worse

But it's a little bit worse than I thought it was going to be $854

It will go down each year, but man, that definitely still stings

And the reason is because I paid considerably less, either before incentives or after incentives, no matter which way you want to look at it

For that car, then I did for my 2018 Model 3 performance, which I actually went back and checked my records

And the first registration renewal for that car back in 2019 was $774

So clearly the fees have gone up over the last six years here

I guess, you know, hey, nothing to be done about it

It is if I'm going to live in California, which I love it here

So that's just how it's going to be

Yeah, that did not feel good to pay, that one was tough

How about something more fun and entertainment recommendation for you this week?

It's a game I admittedly, I will be honest, I haven't played it yet, but my co-workers, my colleagues all say it's excellent

And that game is Ghost of Yote for PlayStation 5, the sequel to Ghost of Tsushima from a few years ago

So if you've got a PS5, you like open world games, action games, Ghost of Yote definitely seems to be a good one

Time now for your Tesla Pro tip of the week, and it comes from long time listener Paul from Boston

Hi Ryan, this is Paul from Boston

I've been listening since episode one and loved the show

And I'm calling in with a pro tip

I hope I can explain the issue well, it's a little hard to describe, but as we all know

You can push the steering wheel, scroll buttons left and right to engage various functions

For example, while listening to a podcast, you can push the left scroll wheel

Left or right to skip forward and back in the show

But I find that when I use the flat of my thumb more often than not, I accidentally press down on the button

Which pauses the audio

I recently noticed that there's a shallow groove that separates the rubbery topmost part of the wheel from the outer sphere of the wheel for lack of a better term

And if I place my fingernail in that groove and then move the button left or right, it works every time

Anyway, I hope that helps, thanks for the great informative show, and give your dogos a belly rub and a scratch beyond the ears for me

Paul, I will happily pass along those pets, in fact, here, Lily is right down here

You get the scratch behind the ears, and then Daisy, you'll have to get the other pets later

Those are from Paul, by the way, if you want to thank Paul Lily, just, you know, that's who you send the thank you note to

Anyway, Paul, first of all, seriously, huge thank you for listening to every episode of this podcast

Because at this point, after 10 plus years and 500 plus episodes, that's probably a pretty exclusive club that you're a part of

So, seriously, thank you for your continued support

Now, as to your pro tip, I'll be honest, I love it

I mean, this is exactly the kind of helpful hint or work around or suggestion that can make your fellow listeners' Tesla experience better

Which is exactly what this pro tip segment of the podcast is all about

So, I am happy to air this in the hope that it helps some of your fellow listeners out

Paul, thank you again, I do appreciate it

And if anybody else out there has a good Tesla pro tip of the week or EV pro tip of the week, please do call in with it

Send it my way, use either of the two easy call-in methods that I gave to you at the top of the last segment

And this is the part of the show every week, I play one pro tip of the week

So, I can always use more good ones to throw into my backlog

So, do send it in if you've got one

As I wind down this episode, let me tell you real quick about a few friends of ride the lightning that can hopefully be of use to you sooner or later

Starting with abstract ocean.com

Use Cybertruck owners, you're going to want to check out the pre-cut expel protective film pieces for all of the non-stainless parts of the car

Those are apparently big sellers, I'm told I guess Cybertruck owners who've picked those up, they're great

So, that's definitely highly recommended if you've got any of the Teslas, they've got an awesome 4th generation custom fit tempered glass screen protector made from what is basically Gorilla Glass

It's aluminum silicate glass, same stuff that corning uses for Gorilla Glass

And again, it's custom fit, custom cut for all the Teslas, that's a really popular item

They've also got lots of great lighting kits for both the interior and exterior of the car, including puddle lights

They sell the same puddle lights the Tesla has for less money, so if you're interested in those, get them in abstract ocean

Because not only are they cheaper just right off the bat, but I've got a 15% off coupon code for you if you're a first time abstract ocean customer

After you've been to abstract ocean.com, after you've clicked on whichever vehicle you own, after you've added everything you like to your online shopping cart

When you get to checkout, use the coupon code RTL podcast, that's all one word, no spaces RTL podcast

That coupon code goes in at checkout to get 15% off of your first order

Thank you again to abstract ocean.com for continuing to offer that to the ride the lightning audience

There is also a discount available for the snap plate and the newer stronger snap plate plus available for all of the Teslas as well

Yes, including the new model Y to account for its lower front bumper camera

Go to everyamp.com slash RTL

Choose which vehicle you have, grab the proper snap plate for it, just decide whether you want the regular one

That's designed for safety, where it'll break away, sacrifice itself in a worst case scenario like a parking accident or a car wash

Or if you want to go with the snap plate plus, which is strength optimized with hardened features for maximum strength, both of them have the signature minimalist aesthetic which I love

It blends in beautifully with the Tesla front end

Both of them either way you go, they're made from recycled made in the USA plastics with stainless steel reinforcements

So anytime whatever you're ready to go there use the coupon code RTL for a discount

So again the website which you can also click on the link in the episode description

Everyamp.com slash RTL and don't forget to add the coupon code RTL as well

Meanwhile over at Immaculate Reflections if you are in or going to be in the greater San Francisco Bay area

Boy do I encourage you to reach out to Immaculate Reflections, bring your car by you got a book in appointment, bring your car over there

And maybe you want to do some paint correction to get the finish looking as good as it possibly can

Maybe you want to do ceramic coating because you're sick of waxing it twice a year because ceramic coating will last five plus years as it has on our 2018 Model 3

Maybe you want to do some paint protection film on the front end of the car where the bulk of debris, rock chips, what have you are going to impact the paint

Maybe you want to do the whole car like I did because I'm a crazy person who just wants my paint protected

I want it all protected that beautiful ultra red anyway

So whatever professional detailing services you want to do they will take great care of you at Immaculate Reflections

I promise you that go to the website to learn more and to reach out there's a contact form there go to irdetailing.com

Oh, and they're mentioned that you're a ride the lightning listener and there is a nice discount waiting for you on any services that you do

And up having done there, which is great. Thank you so much to Immaculate Reflections

My Patreon I mentioned it closer to the top of the podcast. I'll mention it again here real quick

Go to patreon.com slash Tesla podcast

This is how you can choose to support the podcast if you like and I hope at some point you might feel motivated to do so

I'm here every single week. I've got over 10 years of receipts to shoot to prove it

This is a free podcast. It'll always be free. It's always been free

But I do so I'm able to continue here on your support

So that is that is just hugely impactful in a positive way in my life and my family's life

So you can support the podcast starting at just five bucks a month

And that'll get you an ad free early access ad free episode every single week as a thank you

If you are kind enough to go to that most popular ten dollar per month tier

There is not only the early access to the ad free episode every week

But you also get the access to the entire past present and future catalog of those weekly lightning round

Many episodes that I do over on patreon like I was talking about earlier in the podcast

So just visit the page again all the information is there I should add to that

There is a if month to month if you're like I don't really want to be billed every month for this

There is an annual pledge option where you can support me just pay once for an entire year of support

And if you're kind enough to do that not only will you get all the perks and bonuses that you should get

At that tier for the entire year but you will also get a 10% discount on your pledge

As again a thank you from me to you for kindly extending that full year of support

You can follow this podcast on any of the big podcast services which is basically we've got Apple podcasts

We've got Spotify YouTube podcasts tune in pretty much all the big ones

Just search ride the lightning Tesla you should see this podcast come right up in the search results

Just click follow and that way you will receive a push notification on your device

Any time a new episode drops which in my case is every Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern 6 a.m. Pacific

Unless of course you're on patreon with me in which case you'll get it as soon as it's done and uploaded

Which it's a 9 10 p.m. Pacific here now I've got by the time I edit and upload this it'll probably be between 9 30 and 9 45

So you know west coast folks any maybe Hawaii folks can listen to it here on Friday night

Everybody else can wake up to it first thing Saturday morning

Anyway, the last piece here is mentioning my social media you can follow me on x and or on Instagram

I have the same username on both and that username is DMC underscore Ryan my podcast email address

Which you can send me a note about EV related things anytime is Tesla podcast at gmail.com

And before I call it a night here and finish this up and look forward to the monthly patreon zoom hangout

That's happening tomorrow as I as I'm recording this it's this weekend

Let me say hello and thank you to all of the top tier patreon supporters that get invited to that monthly patreon zoom hangout

I keep a list anybody it's not just the top tier backers they get invited every month to the patreon zoom hangout

But anybody that makes a new or upgraded pledge in the course of a month gets a one time thank you invite to whenever the next patreon zoom hangout is

Just trying to again say thank you build a little community here community within the community which we have a great time on the patreon zoom hangout calls every month

And I'm looking forward to tomorrow's

So why don't I start for once with the grandfathered in plaid level supporters

These very kind folks continue to support me at the plaid level even though officially the plaid level is no more so huge

Thanks to George Cassiopo Logan Willis Peter Shalay Eric Randolph Dory and Steve Gooberman the Tesla owners of Taiwan

Ron Lee Charlie Gillespie Jeff Anguin Chase Cabanillas the Lydia family Aaron Altchul Jared Brown Jerome Strack Jamie Dalton Mike and Barbara from Louisville Matt Nixon the Tesla owners club of Wisconsin

Ish not Elon Musk in quotes Peter and the bear boys of Colorado

Next up the maximum plaid backers big thanks to Jonathan Wales Cameron Clark Daniel Grummer Seth Capello Nick and Tony the Galpin family Ryan from New York City

Darren Nichol Coss Barnes Patrick was Neskey Gil Cabrera Todd Badger Joe Edgel Kevin Yank the Tesla owners club of San Joaquin Valley

Will Steadman Justin Perez Jeremy Harris Chris Beach Tom Mills Corio Donald Aaron John Cody Joel Sapp Paul Casarino Chris Osborne KB Adam LaVoy Jason Chalukis Travis Crenzel Bruce Otterstein Tom Behan Josh Pennington John from Cream Ridge New Jersey Dustin Hart Derek Finley Charles Clement

Damon Klein Jeff Brown Jerry Slinger Kenneth Corbett Brian Bertoglio Kim Bay Troy Sievers Nick Jacobi Chip Hooper Matt Chinander Robert Moran Rob and Christopher Mann

And finally an extra big thanks goes out to the Roadster in space tier backers these folks get all the perks including one last one at the tippy top of the pyramid on Patreon

Which is a monthly one on one hangout with me should they elect to utilize it and we always have a good time on those

So thank you to Pete White, Lyle Austin, Steve Radspinner, Fernando Cordero, Lawton from Chicago, Sean Nightig, Neil Weaver, Jackson Wallace, Ralph and Jennifer Evers, Howard Anthony Smith, Victoria Aya Coveto, Tesla Hitchhiker 42, Carol Weston, Robert from Near Philly, American Home Contractors, Doug Carey, Michael Gallo and Tony Figueroa

I'm not sure I think she's probably far enough away where Daisy's loud snoring is not coming through on the mic but if you heard some wood being some tree being sawed in the background it was the boxer snoozing away over there

Anyway, I can't quite snooze yet even though I'm pretty ready to I still gotta edit and upload this for the Patreon folks and then I gotta go do the dishes after dinner

It's a can't let those sit till morning so still a couple things left on the to-do list but very happy to have completed episode 531 of Ride the Lightning for you

I hope you enjoyed this one, thank you so much for sticking with me if you're still listening and hearing me right now

I do want to thank you because your time is so valuable and I appreciate that you would choose to spend some of it

With me talking about EVs, talking about Tesla stuff here each and every week

Happy electric motoring my friends and I'll see you back here next week

Elon Musk people don't like Elon Musk the guy founded PayPal and Tesla and people like yeah but he's a troll and a bad dad

I'm like so was mine he didn't nothing to fight climate change

Also have you been in a Tesla? Have you been in a Tesla?

My buddy let me drive a 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 not exactly a car it's actually a thing to maximize enjoyment

It's maximum fun

About this episode

Tesla's Q3 results reveal record-breaking vehicle deliveries and a surge in supercharger installations, coinciding with the end of the federal EV tax credit. The episode discusses the impressive growth of Tesla's supercharging network, including 4,000 new stalls and a 29% increase in energy delivered. Additionally, the new Model Y Performance is launched in North America, with insights into its pricing and features. The episode also hints at the upcoming Model Y Standard, expected to be priced around $40,000, and explores Tesla's strategies in a post-tax credit landscape.

AI5 Arachnid 2.0 wheels Auto Park electric vehicle range EV tax credit extended warranty FSD Helix 2.0 wheels kilowatt hours long range all-wheel drive

Rivian R1S Tesla Cybertruck Tesla Model 3 Tesla Model S Tesla Model Y Tesla Roadster Tesla Semi Volkswagen Rabbit

Original notes

Tesla has set a new quarterly record for deliveries as the federal EV tax credit sunsets. I'll walk you through the numbers and what analysis we can take away from it. Plus: the new Model Y Performance debuts in North America with an unexpected bonus, new details on the more-affordable Model Y Standard leak from Tesla's own website, and more!

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support my efforts, please check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/teslapodcast and consider a monthly or (10% discounted!) annual pledge. Every little bit helps and there are stacking bonuses in it for you at each pledge level, like early access to each episode at the $5 tier and the weekly Lightning Round bonus mini-episode (AND the early access!) at the $10 tier! And NO ADS at every Patreon tier!

Also, don't forget to leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline anytime with a question, comment, or discussion topic for next week's show! The toll-free number to call is 1-888-989-8752.

INTERESTED IN A FLEXIBLE EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR YOUR TESLA? Be a part of the future of transportation with XCare, the first extended warranty designed & built exclusively for EV owners, by EV owners. Use the code Lightning to get $100 off their "One-time Payment" option! Go to www.xcelerateauto.com/xcare to find the extended warranty policy that's right for you and your Tesla.

P.S. Get 15% off your first order of awesome aftermarket Tesla accessories at AbstractOcean.com by using the code RTLpodcast at checkout. Grab the SnapPlate front license plate bracket for any Tesla at https://everyamp.com/RTL/ (don't forget the coupon code RTL too!).

BONUS: If you're in or going to be in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, bring your car to be professionally detailed at Immaculate Reflections! They're offering a Summer special: $200 off of any paint correction service, $500 off of any ceramic coating package, and 15% off of any PPF package. Check out his website at irdetailing.com

Ride the Lightning: Tesla and EV Podcast

Ryan McCaffrey

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