Ride the Lightning: Tesla and EV Podcast Oct 12, 2025

Episode 532: Cheaper Model Y and Model 3 Officially Revealed

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Car

Tesla Model 3

The Tesla Model 3 is a smaller electric car from Tesla. It's known for being affordable and has a good driving range, making it a popular choice for many drivers.

Brand

GM

GM stands for General Motors, a big car company that makes many different types of cars under brands like Chevrolet and Cadillac.

Term

full self-driving

Full self-driving means the car can drive itself without needing you to do anything. It's a feature that Tesla is working on to make driving easier and safer.

Term

autopilot

Autopilot is a feature in Tesla cars that helps the car drive itself a little bit. It can keep the car in its lane and adjust speed automatically, but you still need to pay attention.

Term

hardware 3

Hardware 3 is the computer inside Tesla cars that helps them drive themselves. It's important for making the car's smart features work.

Term

hardware 4

Hardware 4 is the newer computer in Tesla cars that will help them drive themselves even better than before. It's an upgrade from the older version, hardware 3.

Car

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car made by Tesla. It's known for being fast and having a lot of cool technology inside.

Term

electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment and can save money on fuel.

Term

range

Range is how far an electric car can go before it needs to be charged again. It's important because it tells you how much you can drive without stopping to recharge.

Term

kilowatt hour

A kilowatt hour is a way to measure how much energy a battery can hold. It's like saying how much fuel a gas tank can carry, but for electric cars.

Term

0-60 miles per hour

0-60 miles per hour is a way to see how fast a car can go from a stop to 60 miles an hour. It's a quick way to understand how powerful a car is.

Term

ventilated seats

Ventilated seats are car seats that can blow cool air to help keep you comfortable when it's hot outside. It's a nice feature that makes driving more pleasant in warm weather.

Car

The Tesla Cybertruck is a new kind of electric truck that looks very different from regular trucks because of its sharp angles and metal body. It's important because it's part of a movement to make trucks that don't use gas, helping the environment. People talk about it because it's so unusual and has cool technology.

Term

glass roof

A glass roof is when the top of the car is made of glass instead of metal. It lets in more light and gives you a better view of the sky.

Term

headliner

The headliner is the fabric or material that you see on the inside roof of a car. It helps make the car look nicer and keeps the noise down inside.

Term

aftermarket

Aftermarket means anything made for a car by other companies, not the car maker itself. This can be parts or accessories that you can add to your car.

Term

FSD

FSD means Full Self-Driving, which is a feature from Tesla that lets the car drive itself in many situations. You can pay for it outright or subscribe to it monthly.

Term

power folding side mirrors

Power folding side mirrors are mirrors on the side of the car that can fold in automatically when you press a button. This helps protect them when parking in tight spots.

Term

EPA rated miles

EPA rated miles tell you how far a car can go on a full charge or tank of gas, based on tests done by the government. It's a useful number for comparing different cars.

Term

zero to 60

Zero to 60 is a way to measure how fast a car can go from a complete stop to 60 miles per hour. It helps people understand how quickly a car can accelerate.

Term

18 inch tires

18 inch tires are the size of the tires on a car, measured by the diameter of the wheel. The size can change how the car drives and feels on the road.

Term

power adjusting seats

Power adjusting seats let you move the seat forward, backward, up, or down with buttons instead of manually. This makes it easier to find a comfortable position while driving.

Part

turn signal stock

The turn signal stock is a part of the car that you use to signal when you're turning or changing lanes. If it breaks, you can buy a new one.

Term

bioweapon defense mode

Bioweapon defense mode is a special feature in some Tesla cars that helps keep the air inside the car clean and safe from bad things outside, like pollution or germs.

Part

Sport seat

The Sport seat is a type of car seat that is designed to be more comfortable and supportive, especially for people who like to drive fast or take turns sharply.

Term

out the door price

'Out the door price' is the total amount you pay to buy a car, including everything like taxes and fees. It's what you actually spend to drive the car home.

Concept

halo car

A halo car is a fancy car that a company makes to get people interested in their brand. Even if most people can't buy that car, they might end up buying a cheaper one from the same company after checking it out.

Car

Nissan GT-R

The Nissan GT-R is a fast and powerful sports car that many people admire. It's designed to show off what Nissan can do, even if most people can't afford it. It helps get people interested in other Nissan cars.

Car

Nissan Altima

Car

Nissan Maxima

The Nissan Maxima is a big car that is designed to be both comfortable and fun to drive, almost like a sports car but with four doors. It's popular because it offers a lot of features and a smooth ride, making it a good choice for families or anyone who wants a nice car. People talk about it because it's been around for a long time and has a good reputation.

Car

Lucid Gravity

The Lucid Gravity is a new luxury electric SUV that promises to be very high-tech and comfortable. It's important because it aims to compete with other fancy electric cars, offering a lot of features and style. People are talking about it because it's a new player in the electric car market and has a lot of exciting possibilities.

Car

Lucid Air

The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that is known for being very efficient and having a long driving range on a single charge. It's important because it's one of the first luxury electric cars that can compete with well-known brands, offering a lot of high-tech features. People are talking about it because it's becoming more common and represents a new wave of electric vehicles.

Car

Nissan Leaf

The Nissan Leaf is a popular electric car that runs on batteries instead of gasoline, which helps save money on fuel and is better for the environment. It's known for being affordable and easy to drive, making it a great choice for many people. People talk about it because it's one of the first electric cars that many people could buy.

Car

Tesla

Tesla is a company that makes electric cars. They are known for their modern designs and advanced technology, like self-driving features.

LIVE

On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV Podcast, Tesla reveals not

just a more affordable Model Y, but also a cheaper Model 3.

I'll tell you all about these cars and what I think of them.

Plus, good news at Lucid, better news at GM, bad news at Nissan and more.

What's happening friends, alongside a snoozing Daisy the Boxer, it's late here on a Friday

night as I record October 10th, this one's coming at you for October 12th, 2025.

It's episode 532 of Ride the Lightning, your weekly Tesla and EV Podcast.

There is so much to get to this week, I'm jumping straight in, first with some good

news for Australian Tesla owners with hardware 3 cars that have paid for FSD.

It sounds like Tesla is working on getting a right hand drive friendly version of version

12.6.

Thank you to listener Andrew Zara for sending me a screenshot of a fellow Australian owners

exchange with Tesla service who said, thank you for reaching out to us for information

regarding full self-driving supervised in your Tesla, we understand you're eager to experience

the latest autopilot features and we appreciate your enthusiasm.

As your vehicle is equipped with hardware 3, it is not currently compatible with full

self-driving supervised which is only available on vehicles equipped with hardware 4 in Australia.

However, we are pleased to inform you that development for vehicles with hardware 3 is

currently underway and is expected to launch in the near future.

So again, thank you Andrew for that and some good news, some relief really probably for

hardware 3 driving owners down in Australia who should get a taste of the latest and greatest

at least as far as the hardware 3 cars goes sooner rather than later.

Also I would presume that this is also going to apply to New Zealand owners as well, I

just can't guarantee that sitting here right now since New Zealand wasn't mentioned in

that Tesla service employees message.

And even though there's no timeline there besides near future, again hopefully that's

at least a little bit reassuring to my friends down under.

And as I'm getting the podcast started and giving shout outs to my listeners, here is

a well deserved one that goes out to Patreon supporter Chris Tung who noticed that a new

19 inch wheel option is now available in the Model Wise wheel entire menu, the 19 inch

Machina 2.0 wheel.

So he caught this last weekend and sent pictures along to me as proof and those of you with

the new Model Y can just go and check this for yourselves if you like.

And interestingly, it's not a new option being introduced alongside the Model Y standard

which I'll talk a lot more about in a few minutes, but then it eventually dawned on

me and I did figure out what this is.

The 19 inch Machina 2.0 is the Model Y L's wheels, of course, currently only available

over in China.

So I think the most optimistic way to look at this would be it could mean that the Model

Y L will find its way over to the United States, North American market, maybe, maybe not.

I mean it might just be in there as a universal database thing and because it's there in

China it's just there in the system.

So we'll see, but for what it's worth, I do think they look pretty good.

I went and looked at a picture of the real life Model Y L and not just the render of

the Machina 2.0 wheel in the design studio that Chris had sent along and it's a pretty

nice wheel, it's pretty solid.

So I'm still optimistic that we're going to get the Model Y L at some point in 2026.

More good news to start the episode with, Time Magazine has named the Tesla Model S

one of the top 25 inventions of the past 25 years.

As we are now in 2025, top 25 inventions of essentially the 21st century.

This comes via the X account of a gentleman, I don't know, maybe some of you have heard

of him, his name is Franz von Holzhauz and a guy in the Tesla community that some of

you might know, but anyway yeah, Franz posted this on his X account and the Time Magazine

blurb reads, Tesla has been a leading force in the efforts to develop electric vehicles.

The 2012 debut of its Model S marked a new moment, though its Roadster had been around

for years and was on Time's list in 2006 and 2008.

Of the Model S, Time wrote in 2012, quote, this electric four-door sedan has the lines

of a Jaguar, the ability to zip for 265 miles on one charge, that's the equivalent of 89

miles per gallon, and touchscreen controls for everything from GPS navigation to adjusting

the suspension, end 2012 blurb quote.

Back to modern blurb, they say now here in 2025, the car proved a game-changing advance

for electric vehicles, expanding driving range and making them an exciting alternative to

their gas-powered predecessors.

Its success nudged competitors to make their own EVs more enticing and Tesla capitalized

on its head start, continuing to develop its tech and create new cars, including 2017's

Model 3, which also made Time's list, although not this list, I guess they just mean the

list that they did of the best inventions of 2017.

But if you're curious about some of the other 24 things on this top 25 inventions of the

past 25 years list, it's sorted by year and not by rank, so just to give you a few, there's

the Nintendo Switch from 2017, which I can't find fault with, it's one of the most successful

gaming consoles in history, it merged the handheld console with the desktop console,

definitely a huge influence and an awesome invention.

Then there's Moderna and Pfizer's mRNA vaccines from 2020, the James Webb Space Telescope

from 2022, ChatGPT in 2023, the iRobot Roomba back in 2002, YouTube in 2006, and the iPhone

in 2007, so that's pretty good company for the Model S to be in and it's well deserved.

As I have said many times here over the many years I've been doing this podcast now, the

thing about the Model S was that Tesla at the time was an upstart pretty much unknown

company at that point, they had basically no money and they basically had to knock the

Model S out of the park for not just the company, but also arguably for even EVs in that decade

to have a chance to survive.

The Model S couldn't just be really good, it had to be amazing and as we all know, it

absolutely was.

Real quick, before I get to this week's main story, you know what it is, the Model 3 standard

and the Model Live standard, I want to mention real quick what I was up to on Patreon this

week for the awesome folks that are kindly supporting the podcast over on Patreon, I've

got this week's Lightning Round mini episode which here ahead of the Q3 earnings call coming

up in just a couple weeks, I gave the five questions that I would ask on the upcoming

earnings call if I could just upvote all of my own questions and get them asked on the

call.

So if you're curious what I would ask you can check that out on Patreon, all the information

about how to support the podcast, because again, I'm here every single week, you know

it, I have the receipts to back it up, I'm here every week, I put a lot into this every

week, if you see it in your heart to support me on Patreon, the support tiers start at

just five bucks a month and for that you'll get an ad free episode and early access to

each week's episode as well, if you step up to that most popular tier, the ten dollar

per month tier, that's where you get the ad free, the early access and all 160 something

of those weekly Lightning Round mini episodes, so check it out at patreon.com slash Tesla

podcast.

Okay, here we go, let's get to this week's megaton story, the reveal of not just the

Model Y standard, the stripped down cheaper, more affordable Model Y, but also a second

car, the Model 3 standard.

By the way, I had been predicting on this podcast that this was going to get announced

right on October 1st, like as soon as we clicked over to Q4 and the tax credit was gone, the

Tesla was going to announce this, you know it turns out I was only six days off, it got

announced on October 7th, anyway there is a lot to go through here, so buckle up and

bear with me, let's start with the Model Y standard, it's a $40,000 car, $5,000 less

than the long range rear wheel drive Model Y, which is now called the premium Model Y

or the premium rear wheel drive Model Y, it's got a very pleasantly surprising 321 miles

of range with the default 18 inch aperture wheel covers, you can choose to upgrade to

the 19 inch cross flow wheels that are standard on the premium Model Y, that's an extra

$1,500 and if you do that, your range will drop to a still very good 303 miles, it does

have a smaller battery pack, 69 kilowatt hour pack, nice, but the weight savings, more efficient

tires and smaller tires, the 18s, help keep the range up way higher than I admittedly

thought it was going to be on this car, I thought, I think I'd probably just said a

week or two ago that I thought it was going to land in the 270-ish range and it is well

50 miles above that, 321 miles, it's not quick as which, you know, if you're shopping in

this price range, you're probably not looking for a quick car or at least that's not one

of your priorities, 0-60 miles per hour in a fairly untesla like 6.8 seconds, it's available

in just three colors, they're all gray scale, you have the default stealth gray, pearl white

multi coat is available for an extra $1,000 or diamond black for an extra $1,500, there's

no front light bar and no rear light bar. On the inside of the car, it's got a black

only textile interior, no white interior option, so it's fabric with, for the main sort of

padded parts that your body is mostly contacting with some vegan leather trim, but the entire

seat's not vegan leather, it's not ventilated, so no cooling functionality, but they are

heated in the front, not in the rear, there's no lower center console storage, meaning sort

of forward center console, you've still got right under the armrest, you've still got

storage and instead in that more forward area, it's got an open storage area kind of like

to use a modern example the Cybertruck has or to use an old school example for my fellow

old school Tesla fans like how the original Model S was, but there was a time, if you're

not familiar, there was actually a number of years where the Model S didn't have a full

center console, it had the armrest console, but then there was just this whole open area

down there for a few years, but anyway, that's how this car is as well, there's no second

row screen, no floor mats, no parcel shelf for the rear storage area, and as I already

mentioned no heated seats in the back, there's also no ambient lighting running around the

cabin so you can't customize it because there's nothing to customize. Also, the front seats

are power adjusting, but the controls for that are not on the seats themselves, but

rather adjusted through the screen, which is an interesting choice. There is a manually

adjusted steering wheel positioning, that is not a power adjustment anymore, at least

on this trim. The sound system, it is a 7 speaker audio system with no subwoofer, so

15 speakers with a single subwoofer on premium and performance. Here's where it gets a little

weird. It does have a glass roof, but, big butt here, there is a headliner on the interior

covering the entire thing so that you can't see through it, and Lars Morevi, Tesla's chief

engineer, took to X this week to clarify that, when of course one of the first questions,

one of the first things you think of is, okay, well if I want to spend maybe a few hundred bucks

with one of these aftermarket Tesla accessory companies, will they maybe sell a glass roof

restoration kit, basically a headliner kit where you can pop the whole fabric, entire

fabric roof off, and pop in a headliner that re-exposes the glass there on the top glass,

and Lars said no, it's not opaque, you can't see through it, even if you were to remove that

headliner, so that's an interesting thing, no doubt for manufacturing and also supplier convenience

is what Lars said on X as well. Software-wise, there is no AM or FM radio, and here's the big one,

this is the one that stuck a lot of people, and I completely understand why, and I'm going to talk

about it in a little while, no basic autopilot and you can't even buy it, you get traffic

adaptive cruise control as standard, and then you can simply upgrade all the way to FSD either by

paying $8,000 outright or by doing the month-to-month $100, $99 subscription. There's no bioweapon

defense mode, the rear seats in this Model Y standard are manual folding versus of course the

other new Model Ys, the premiums in the performance, have a power folding and power raising rear seats,

no adaptive high beams, no power folding side mirrors, you have to reach out and physically

fold them in yourself, and they don't auto dim either. The rear glass that's curved at the bottom,

well excuse me, it's on this one, it is curved on the bottom, like the old Model Y rather than the

squared off one, like the new Model Y premium, in fact I bet it's the same exact piece as the old

Model Y, their supplier probably was doling those out, probably the costs on that are very very low

for Tesla, and then also the rear liftgate is like the Generation 1 Model Y, one big piece

instead of the three pieces that the premium trims are, which as we know on the premium trims Tesla

said that's to make it more easily repairable. Next let's go under the frunk where I almost

don't even know how to describe this, I will do my best since this is an audio medium,

so not only is it apparently not waterproof in the frunk, there's no seal over the pretty small

frunk storage area, but there's also no plastic cowling in the rest of the frunk area, meaning

that the innards of the Model Y are completely exposed when you lift up the hood, I'm gonna hold

my thought on that because I want to get all the features out before I start giving some opinions.

Moving along under the car, passive shock absorbers, which my guess means it's probably got

either the exact Generation 1 Model Y suspension, or at best some lesser version of the very upgraded

new Y suspension on the premium and performance versions, because that version, the premium

and performance have the frequency, actually the performance has an even better version,

the premium Y has frequency dependent shock absorbers, and then lastly single pane windows as

well, therefore meaning the cabin probably won't be as quiet on the inside. Alright so I think

that's everything about the Model Y standard, before I give you my many many thoughts on these

Model 3 standard, $37,000 which is $5,500 less than the long range rear wheel drive version,

again now known as the premium Model 3 or specifically premium rear wheel drive Model 3.

It also has 321 miles of range on 18 inch wheels and the wheel covers on the

Model 3 standard are called the Prismata wheel covers. You can also equip 19 inch Nova wheels

for $1,500 that drop the range to 303 miles, so whether on 18s or 19s you have identical

EPA rated miles on either the Model Y standard or the Model 3 standard. Zero to 60, it's a second

quicker to 60 than the Model Y standard, zero to 60 in 5.8 seconds here, has that again smaller

69 kilowatt hour battery pack, again though weight savings, more efficient 18 inch tires,

smaller tires help keep that range way up, I will again give Tesla credit for sure,

I was not expecting anywhere near 321 miles of range on this car.

Same deal on the paint colors as the Model Y standard, they're only three, they're all

gray scale choices, the included stealth gray, $1,000 for white, $1,500 for diamond black.

Differing from the Model Y standard though, this car, the Model 3 standard, has the same

front and rear design, nothing stripped away, except, not stripped away but different,

the Tesla T logo and TESLA wordmark lettering on the back are black, which is pretty cool,

I know I've seen a lot of owners just do that aftermarket because they like the look of it,

in fact I did that on the 2018 car, the spirit of adventure.

On the inside, same deal as the Model Y, black textile interior, in other words fabric,

no ventilated seats, so no cooling but they're heated, but interestingly, unlike the standard Y,

there is a more forward center console, it's basically the same center console setup

as on all the other Model 3s, so there's no change there, at least as far as the center console

itself, however, there is no second row screen on the back of that center console, also no floor mats,

also no heated seats in the back, also no ambient lighting running around the cabin,

and then same thing with the seats, they are power adjusting in the front, but those controls

are not through controls directly on the seats but through the screen.

Again, manually adjusted steering wheel positioning, same 7.0 audio setup,

7 speakers no subwoofer compared to 15 speakers with a woofer on the premium and performance trims,

and another huge difference from the Model Y standard here, this one does have the glass roof,

basically it's the same glass roof setup as on all of the other Model 3s, unlike the Y,

there's no fabric headliner covering up all of the glass, so you still get a center console in the

Model 3 standard and you still get a glass roof that you can see through in the standard 3.

Same autopilot situation, there is none, it's traffic adaptive cruise control only,

and again autopilot not available for purchase, it's either the traffic adaptive cruise control

that it comes with or you pay 99 bucks a month or $8,000 outright to upgrade all the way to FSD.

Another change on the Model 3, this time not from the Model Y standard, but from every previous

Model 3, the front bumper camera as expected has been added not just for this trim,

all Model 3 trims now get a front bumper camera, and I will mention right here right now

our friend Tesla tipster Sawyer Merritt reports that Tesla told him directly,

there will not be retrofits for this, I for one will fight that very politely,

very respectfully in any way that I can, that is a disappointment to hear and I'm not quite going

to give up on it just yet. Now in fact, this trim, speaking of additions relative to every

Model 3 that had come before this, every Highland of course, so the Model 3 standard and all of the

current Model 3 trims have now had the turn signal stock added in as well, we were expecting this,

and the retrofit is immediately available as well, so if you own a 2024 or 2025 Model 3

and you want an official Tesla turn signal stock, it is $595 and that's just your bottom line price

with installation at your nearest service center, you can go on shop.tesla.com and just order it.

There's again no AM or FM radio, no bioweapon defense mode, but then again no Model 3 has ever

had bioweapon defense mode. The rear seats are manual folding, which they were before,

but real quick on this topic, I do want to mention one seating change not in this car,

but the Performance Model 3 specifically gets the very slightly updated version of the Sport

seat that's in the new Model Y performance and that difference is the power extendable thigh

bolsters, so you can extend those out if you've got longer legs. I was thinking about this today

when I was driving my car, I was like, you know what, even if Tesla offered a retrofit for this,

I don't think I would do it in this case. I don't think ergonomically it would benefit me,

but then again, every human is different, everybody's physiology is just a little different,

so anyway, there is no retrofit for that, but if you're purchasing a Model 3 performance now,

you will get a little bit extra on your seat in the form of power extendable thigh bolsters.

The Model 3 standard does have adaptive high beams because it has the same headlights as the

other Model 3 trims. The Model Y standard, as I talked about on last week's podcast, has

brand new, just a different headlight. Same deal as the Y on the mirrors, no power folding side

mirrors and they don't auto dim either. However, under the frunk, the Model 3 standard has the same

frunk as the other 3's, meaning it has a ceiling waterproof frunk storage area and it's got plastic

cowling covering up the innards around the frunk area in there. And finally, single pane windows

as well, so presumably the cabin will sound more like a Gen 1 Model 3 rather than the rest of the

Highlands. Okay, so I think that's everything, so let me get into my thoughts here, which honestly,

my thoughts on these two cars are kind of complicated. Let's start with the price.

As I said last week, when the standard Y was found in the Tesla.com source code with a $39,990

price, I don't think it's low enough to really move the needle. But how, well, I will caveat that by

saying it's complicated, right? So the reason that I feel that way is because just a few weeks ago,

you could get a considerably better Model Y for less than $39,990 out the door because of the

tax credit. Same thing with the 3. You could get the rear wheel drive long range Model 3

for $35,000 out the door versus the $37,000 standard Model 3 today. So I can't help but compare

to those cars from just a few weeks ago with the tax credit. However, the tax credit doesn't exist

anymore. We're in a new reality and maybe it's not fair, but yet here's where I'm coming back to,

the thought I keep coming back to as far as moving the needle for Tesla here. I can't help but wonder

if everyone who would have bought a $35,000 long range rear wheel drive Model 3 or a $37,500

long range rear wheel drive Model Y when the tax credit was still around will just sit these cars

out. Like if they weren't going to buy those, why would they buy these? So that's where my concern

comes from. And again, I recognize maybe that's unfair since again, reality has changed and

everybody's not everybody can just be on whatever timeline they want to buy a car, right? It can't

just be, okay, well, tax credit's ending, I better buy a new car. Even though I know I'm most people

as well, I don't think I'm going to be able to afford or need a new car for three or four more

years. So no, I'm going to have to just let this tax credit thing go. So I recognize that situations,

buying a car is not something that most people just do on a whim. So do I think that these two

standard cars are as egregious as the stripped down Cybertruck in terms of what they're omitting

compared to their premium counterparts? No, I don't think it's that egregious. The Cybertruck

was pretty bad on that rear wheel drive long range Cybertruck. I also acknowledge that as an

enthusiast, I mean, I'm doing a Tesla podcast and I drive a Model 3 performance, the top trim

of the Model 3, I recognize I'm not the target audience for either of these cars. So I recognize

that I may have a bit of an implicit bias against these two standard trims. But as always, I do the

best I can as a degree holding journalist to try and evaluate these things fairly. And I've got

some more thoughts to get specific on these things if you'll indulge me for a few minutes here.

So range, I already said it, but I'll say it again, range is a huge plus on both of these cars.

As I said, I was expecting well under 300 miles. I figured they would have LFP battery packs,

because without the tax credit anymore, Tesla could have just used a Chinese sourced LFP battery pack.

And I know there are tariffs that maybe you're coming in or I know that's a fluid situation,

but as far as just the tax credit goes, there wouldn't have been a tax credit to disqualify

a Chinese sourced LFP battery pack from being put in these cars.

So the fact that they're both 321 mile range cars and not LFP, that is really, really impressive.

I'm also glad to see the turn signal stock come back for all the threes and the whys now.

The fact is, the market spoke and as a whole, that market told Tesla that removing the turn

signal stock was a bridge too far for a lot of people. Now, good, that won't be a deal breaker

for anybody. Anybody who test drives won't be like, wait, where's the turn signal? Oh my god,

it's buttons? No, forget it. Let's go look at other cars. That's not going to be a deal breaker for

anybody anymore. Now, as I've said personally, for what little it may be worth, I am super

used to the buttons on my new Model 3 and I like them, though admittedly, I have to confess,

I don't deal with many roundabouts. So I will not be purchasing that $595 retrofit.

It's the front bumper camera retrofit that I need to convince Tesla to offer, at least

do my very best from whatever little platform that I have here. Tesla, if you're listening,

I would happily pay more than $595 for that front bumper camera. I'm telling you, in fact,

I would pay double, I would, I would pay 1200 bucks for it. Offer it and I'm in, please. Now,

autopilot, this is a big one. I understand why they took basic autopilot away

from a value perspective to try and get the price down, trying to remove

value from the car, well, value in turn, remove cost, not value, cost from the car.

But here's the thing, removing autopilot does not gel with Tesla's self-proclaimed and well-earned,

status as a safety first company. To put it bluntly, I think Tesla removing basic autopilot

from the standard Model 3 and Model Y is antithetical to who they are. It's untesla-like.

And yes, before you comment, I know that they've done this before, back on the standard range and

standard range plus Model 3, but that was back when FSD didn't even really properly exist yet.

The best we had was enhanced autopilot. The circumstances are different now.

I mean, you could note that competitors offer basic autopilot-like functionality at similar

price points to where these cars are at, but for me, it's not even about what the competition

is doing, it's about Tesla's commitment to safety. So that is a bit of a disappointment for me here,

with them removing basic autopilot. Now to circle back to the frunk thing in the Model Y

standard specifically, you have to see pictures or video of this to really know what I'm talking

about and why I'm getting worked up. And maybe again, maybe I'm just making a mountain out of a

molehill here, but what the heck is up with the Model Y standards exposed front innards?

It is jarring in a, in my opinion, very bad way. It just looks unfinished, it just looks cheap.

Now I realize that it's a small thing to complain about in the grand scheme of things,

but I'll say when I was watching a couple of influencers' videos on X or on YouTube doing

their sort of walk-arounds and tours of the car, it totally jumped out at me. When that front came

open on the Model Y standard, I was like, whoa, what is going on in there? Why can I see all of the

guts of the car? What the heck? Now I saw this, I'm not going to name any names because I know

I'm not trying to call anybody out because I don't think they were, I don't think they were

guilty of anything, but I saw a few comments that were like, well, now you can slam the hood down.

You don't have to be all delicate with it by like setting it down and putting both hands on it

in the middle and gently pressing down to, like, I'm sorry, that is not, being able to slam the

front down is not an acceptable trade-off for a front storage area that's not sealed and has

exposed car guts. I'm sorry, that is, that is just not a trade-off that I'm willing to make.

Now, that said about the Model Y standard specifically, as I said last week when the

photographs leaked out that certainly proved to be real, I do really like the design of the front end,

like to the point that I genuinely like it better than the premium Model Y's front end.

I won't say I like it better or as much as the new Model Y performance's front end,

but I genuinely like it better than the premium Model Y's front end. I like the light bar being

gone and I like the, just the look of these two narrow headlights that are on the front of this

Model Y standard. I'll also say that I also really like the look of the Y standard in the back

without the rear light bar. Now, I do genuinely like that rear diffused light, light bar on the

premium Y, which I know not everybody does. Some people are like, eh, you know, I'm kind of over

the light bar thing. I get it. I've, I've driven behind a million new Model Y's at night at this

point and it really is a pretty cool look. Like I do, I like that light bar, but I do also like

what, how this Model Y standard looks without the light bar back there. So good stuff on the design

for the Model Y standard. Now, I don't care for the 18 inch aperture wheel covers

on the Y standard, but if you throw the 19 inch cross flow wheels, still over 300 miles of range,

I think the car looks really, really sharp from the outside. I really do. Now, as for the Model

3 standard, well, there's, there's not as much to say there. It's still the same great looking car.

I'm obviously extremely biased. I've owned, well, I still currently own two Model 3's,

a first generation and now a second generation. And the second generation car is beautiful,

especially the performance version with the, the extra design tweaks there, but

the three is a great looking car. I don't super care for the Prismata wheel covers,

but I wonder what would happen if you got yourself a set of the 18 inch

photon wheels, which are the default wheels on the Model 3 premium. They're still 18 inch,

so therefore would your range be about the same 321 miles? Because those wheels, the photons,

look really sharp in my humble opinion. And so I think it's pretty clear and the consensus in

the community was, was pretty, pretty clear on this as well. The standard Model 3 is a stronger

offering than the standard Model Y in that you're not giving up nearly as much. And it's,

it's also even cheaper compared to its premium cousin than the Y is. So the Model 3 standard is

$5,500 less than the premium three versus the Model Y standard being 5,000 less than the premium Y.

So the Model 3 in that sense does seem like the better deal, if you will, compared to the

standard Model Y. So I've still got a few more things here. I promise I'm winding this down.

I know I've been talking about this for a while, but I knew this was going to be,

I knew I would, I would go on for quite a while about this. It's a big moment. I mean,

this is a big moment in Tesla history. I mean, these are the quote unquote more affordable,

not quote unquote, they are the more affordable cars that we've been waiting for.

They are not coming in the form of totally new vehicles. Like we kind of all expected

that they were going to be just a few years ago. The plan changed. So, you know, this is,

this is a big moment for Tesla and in the history of Tesla in terms of offering,

you know, coming further down market and trying to appeal to and sell to more people.

I saw a lot of community reactions online, obviously over this week.

And I admit that I had thought this myself that maybe Tesla is essentially using these standard

cars as a decoy of sorts and that Tesla knows they're not quite that appealing for the price,

but that their existence is to make the premium trims look better and to inherently psychologically

push people to those. I don't have a psychology degree or a business degree for that matter.

So, I cannot speak to that with any sort of real authority. And it also seems like if, you know,

we're just going with this theory for a second that these cars are decoys. It seems like a lot

of resources to invest in vehicles that are really just there to push people to more expensive cars.

But then again, I do know enough about cars to know that the halo car, the halo effect,

is a real thing. Make a super awesome car that 99% of customers can't afford,

but it gets people in the door, be it online or in real life at a dealership or a store,

to check it out. And then those people end up buying something else that they can't afford. So,

and I recognize the other three's and why's are not cars that 99% of customers can't afford.

Typically, a halo car is something like, like Nissan's a good example. The GTR,

that's their halo car. People want to see that they're gonna come in and then, well,

maybe they buy a Z, or maybe they buy a Maxima or an Altima or something. But anyway,

I'm not going to suggest that this is Tesla's strategy, that they're just using these cars

as decoys to try and push people to the premium three's and why's, but I have to admit that the

thought did cross my mind and I saw that sentiment expressed elsewhere in the community this week

as well. Oh, I forgot one key point. Deliveries on these cars don't start until November,

which I guess is only a month away at this point. For me in San Francisco, when I go to configure

any of them, the three standard or why standard, it's showing a December to January delivery window.

So, I think we're really not going to see the effect that these cars have on the production,

and in particular, the delivery numbers until at least Q1, which is traditionally the weakest

quarter anyway. And I think it'll be tough to compare year over year Q1 of 2026 to Q1 of 2025

since there were hardly any Model Ys in Q1 of this year, because that's when the factories

worldwide were changing over to the Juniper production. I mean, I wonder if maybe, and I guess

Q1 2026 with the three and why standard to Q1 of 2024 might be instructive. We'll see. So,

I'm going to conclude with this thought. My honest advice to price conscious shoppers,

which I know is a whole lot of people. That's a lot of people and there's nothing wrong with

that. That is perfectly normal. I mean, cars are generally the second most expensive purchase

that most of us make after if you're lucky enough to buy your own home, buying your own home is

number one. So, my honest advice to anyone considering these cars, sure, go check them out in the

showroom, the Tesla store, test drive them by all means, but I would urge you to strongly consider

purchasing a lightly used three or Y. Now, to be fair, at this moment in time,

there probably really aren't any used Junipers as of yet, really, but I took a look and there are

pre-owned Highland Model 3s and also later Model Gen 1 Model 3s for the same price as this new

Model 3 standard and then plenty of Highland 3s and later Gen 1 3s for less than 37.5 or, excuse

me, 37. So, I took a look on the Tesla website and just pulled them up and so they're out there.

Again, maybe not on the Model Y side yet in terms of the Juniper, but they're out there on the Model

3 side. So, consider used if you're considering these cars because you'd still get a great car

with great range, you would get autopilot. It's worth considering, maybe. I'm not saying definitely

do that, but that is something I would consider if you are looking at the Model 3 or Model Y standard.

To wrap this up, I wanted to know what all of you thought, so I made these two cars the subject

of this week's Patreon poll. The question was simple. Are the Model Y standard and Model 3

standard priced attractively? 60% of you voted they both seem to be priced too high for what they

offer. 20% of you said they both seem great. 14% of you said the Model 3 standard seems like a good

value, but not so much the Model Y standard. Just 2% of you voted for the opposite. The Model Y

standard seems like a good value, but not so much the Model 3 standard. And then there was a 4% of

you that voted just show me the results. Thank you to all 300 plus of you. A lot of votes in

this week's Patreon poll. Really appreciate everybody taking the time to stop by my Patreon page

found at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast and casting your vote. A reminder, a new poll question

goes up every week, typically on Tuesday nights, and you do not have to be supporting me at all

on Patreon to vote. The polls are open to everyone every week.

I have been talking for a long time here. Let me take a quick break before I get back to yes,

there's more Tesla and EV news, but first some major news from my friends at Accelerate Auto.

They just announced a new off menu 18 month no interest payment plan on their X care EV

protection product for new and used Teslas. This is a pilot offering and in order to get this,

you have to call or request a custom quote on X care.com, but it's currently available on all

Tesla models. I can tell you, I just took advantage of this. So the three year 40,000 mile X care

plan that I had from when my four year factory warranty ended, it's up because my car is seven

years old now. So I just renewed, I took advantage of this 18 month no interest payment plan.

I did another three years and 36,000 miles. That'll take me to 10 years and then we'll

see from there. So I'm a customer here. If you're considering Tesla's extended warranty option,

you owe it to yourself. Just compare the two coverages and to do so, shop X care for your Tesla.

Just go to X care.com X, C, A, R, E.com. And if you want to take advantage of the 18 month

pilot offer, just request a custom quote on the site or call them. Yes, a human being will greet

you on the phone, not an AI, not a robot. Call them at 1-800-655-3509. Their whole team comes from

Tesla. They're super educated on all things EV. Again, that's X care.com. The number one ranked

EV protection plan according to, and this is true, GROC and chat GPT. Ask either one of them what the

number one ranked EV protection plan is and it's X care.com. Continuing with more news this week,

unfortunately not the good kind in this case, California slams Tesla insurance for systemic

failures and claim delays. Saw this on Drive Tesla Canada who wrote, Tesla's insurance business has

been accused of glaring delays and institutional failures by a California watchdog. The automaker

is allegedly causing harm to its policy holders. California's Department of Insurance, the CDI,

has slammed Tesla's insurance arm and partner state national insurance company. The regulatory

body is alleging that Tesla's insurance business engaged in willful unfair claims settlement

practices leading to unreasonable denials and unnecessary delays in each step of the process.

CDI stated that Tesla's insurance business practices have brought financial harm and distress

to its customers. Tesla began offering insurance products in 2019 with the promise of more

affordable premiums and faster services. CEO Elon Musk described them as revolutionary,

but by 2022, CDI had brought allegations of infractions to the company's attention.

Three years later, the situation has worsened instead of improved despite being subjected

to a six-month monitoring period. CID stated, quote, in 2025, the Tesla companies have already

had more complaints, more justified complaints, and committed more violations than in the three

previous years combined, end quote. Tesla and its partner have 15 days to respond

and potentially face fines of up to $10,000 for each quote, unlawful, unfair, or deceptive

act, end quote, and willful act with violations totaling nearly $3,000. The company was sued

by a group of customers for failing to process claims in a timely manner in July.

So, I'll just add to this slightly by saying, very anecdotally, it's one person,

but I had an unsolicited message come in, had nothing to do with this story,

I had an unsolicited message come in from a long-time listener named Steve, who said, quote,

Regarding the issue of Tesla insurance in California, I live in California and have Tesla

insurance, and I agree with the regulators that it is not working well. I had a claim last year

that is still unresolved. I logged all the details of the accident in the app, and yet no one had

ever contacted me, and when I tried contacting the rep by phone, their voicemail was full.

Incredibly frustrating experience, honestly, I think California should revoke their license to

do business here. So, those are pretty strong words from not just the watchdog agency on a macro

level, but pretty strong words from an individual Tesla insurance customer and a fellow listener

on a more micro level. And I'll be honest, I had no idea it was even a bad situation at all,

but it sure as heck sounds like it's really bad. I'm not going to even attempt to defend Tesla here,

I mean I'm here to be fair to everybody, this is not good. Tesla needs to just be better,

I mean there's really no other way to say it. I will add this, just as a personal anecdote,

I was considering going with Tesla insurance for my Roadster if and when it finally ever arrives,

just thinking that my traditional insurance company that the other cars are on might not

be the best fit for a crazy supercar, but honestly, after reading all this and hearing Steve's

experience, I think I'm just going to go with Haggerty instead when the time comes, because

I mean the Roadster is a crazy car and Haggerty's entire business is ensuring crazy cars and

exotics, that kind of thing. So when it comes to insurance, at least here in California,

because in fairness to Tesla, I know it's, and Tesla has told us, it's a very different ball

game from state to state in the insurance business, but here in California, it sure sounds like Tesla

either needs to shape up or ship out as the saying goes. Some other EV news before I move

along to your phone calls in the ride the lightning hotline this week. First up, Lucid.

They achieved a new delivery record in the third quarter of 2025, signaling progress for the

California-based luxury EV maker as it works to expand production and capture a greater share

of the premium SUV market. Saw this one on Drive Tesla Canada who wrote,

According to Lucid's latest report, the company produced 3,891 vehicles in Q3 with over 1,000

additional units built for final assembly in Saudi Arabia. Total deliveries reached 4,078 vehicles,

marking Lucid's seventh consecutive quarterly delivery increase and its highest ever quarterly

total. Through September of 2025, Lucid has produced 9,966 vehicles and delivered 10,496,

that's again for the year. The automaker still projects it will build 18 to 20,000 units this

year, which seems a little optimistic to have that good of a fourth quarter when that would be a

Lucid, unlike Tesla, really wasn't aided by the rush to take advantage of that $7,500 federal tax

credit before it expired. None of their sedans start anywhere close to the $5,500 MSRP limit

for sedans on the tax credit. And as of now, their brand new Gravity SUV doesn't start anywhere close

to the $80,000 MSRP limit on SUVs and trucks for that matter, which of course Lucid doesn't make.

So I suspect that the Gravity's launch here, that's the huge part of their momentum,

obviously understandably. I've now personally seen a few of them out on the road,

which is great because I see a ton of Lucid airs. The air is getting pretty common on

San Francisco Bay Area roads, and I've seen my first few Gravity's, so I expect that that will

become a more and more common occurrence. I also have to confess, actually, that I hadn't checked

up on Lucid in a while directly, so it was a bit of news to me personally that they've got a base

variant of the Air sedan that starts at $71,000, so good on them for getting downmarket quite a bit,

at least from where they started. The news is worse for Nissan, unfortunately,

as they are pressing pause on their plans to manufacture EVs in the United States.

One more time via Drive Tesla Canada, who writes,

the decision follows the elimination of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit on September 30,

becoming the latest automaker to rethink its electrification strategy in the US.

The Japanese automaker confirmed it will suspend preparations to build two electric SUVs

at its Canton, Mississippi facility, one under the Nissan brand and the other for its luxury

mark, Infinity. Both models were previously scheduled for production in late 2028 or early

2029, following a delay announced earlier this year. Suppliers have now been told to halt related

projects. Instead, Nissan is evaluating the potential to produce hybrid SUVs at the same plant

by 2028, reflecting a growing belief that hybrids and internal combustion vehicles

will remain more viable in the US market through the decade.

Nissan is responding to evolving consumer preferences and market conditions, said a company

spokesperson. We continue to believe in electrification, but the pace and mix will vary by

region. While Nissan has shelved US EV production, it will continue selling electric models in North

America, the next generation Nissan Leaf produced in Japan's Tochigi Prefecture will remain available

to American customers. While I'll be honest here with Nissan, they are also Infinity,

correct answer. I'm not sure what kicking the can down the road is going to do for their transition

to electric in the long run. Sure, I get the thinking in the short term, but it's going to

leave them in catch up mode in terms of technology and EV manufacturing prowess in the long run

when electrification is inevitable. So companies like Tesla, Lucid and Rivian,

they're all going to keep their foot on the accelerator so that when the likes of Nissan

decide, oh okay, let's get back in the market now in however many years, they're just going to have

a long way to go to catch up. Best of luck to them. We'll see, hopefully, I mean we got that leaf

coming. It's not going to be built here, but it'll be available here and we'll see how that vehicle

turns out. Seems like really good value on paper. Between the new Leaf and the car I'm about to

talk about next, they've got a real opportunity at the lower end of the EV market that Tesla is

seeding because they're not investing in a more affordable, totally new car. They are instead

and this on a positive is GM. Here's some great news from GM. The Chevy Bolt is back. Saw this on

Tesla Roddy who wrote, this week the company launched its second generation Bolt EV. What is

it technically the third because they pulled them all after the fire thing? Anyway, I guess it

doesn't matter. The new Bolt which starts at just 29k, 28,995. Here are the full specs from Tesla

Roddy. 65kWh LFP battery. An EPA estimated 255 miles of range. Native NACS port for Tesla Super

Charger accessibility without an adapter. Up to a 150kW charging speed, that's not great.

Bidirectional power of 9.6kW, that's pretty good. Front wheel drive, 10-80% charging in just 26

minutes, not awesome. No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, join the club. Super Cruise capable.

It's got an 11.3-inch touchscreen and 11-inch digital gauge cluster, 16 cubic feet of cargo

capacity and then there will also be an RS version for $32,000 after that base LT. That's the one I

love. But in a sense, that's an upgrade from the previous Bolt since this one's an LFP, meaning

as all of you know, you get 100% of that range usable to you every single day since the LFP

can and should be charged to 100% on a regular basis and it will suffer no degradation penalty for

doing so. And then with that Tesla port, the NACS charging port and thus Super Charger access,

that's pretty sweet. Bidirectional power, that's a bonus. And for under 30 grand, I think that's

going to be a great option for a lot of people. I am genuinely happy that GM is bringing this car

back. Bravo to GM on this one. And that'll do it for this week's Tesla news and EV news. So much to

talk about. And there's still, I want to get at least a few of your phone calls in here because

there's some great stuff from you guys in the Ride the Lightning hotline. So I'll do that in just a

moment. This is Bill Daniels, the voice of Night Industries 2000, or Kit. You're listening to Ride

the Lightning, the Tesla unofficial podcast. Happy electric motoring. Let me do a few of your phone

calls here in the Ride the Lightning hotline. This is the segment of the podcast where you can

potentially be featured on an upcoming episode by calling in and leaving a message on the Ride

the Lightning hotline. There are two easy ways to do that. 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 calls each week as possible, then email that file to me at my podcast email

address, which is teslapodcastatgmail.com. Or you can take that same 90 second or less question

and call in and leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline. You can do that anytime,

day or night. It's a toll-free number, and that number to call is 1-888-989-8752. That number,

again, 1-888-989-TSLA. And if you know someone special out there with an upcoming birthday

anniversary graduation or some other 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 onto a keepsake. Visit lifeonrecord.com to learn more. First up this week

is Crystal from Philadelphia. Hi, my name is Crystal, and I'm calling from Philadelphia,

first-time caller. I really appreciate the show. We do a great job. As far as the listener

calling in for last week's show regarding the school bus and school zone situation and

full self-driving. Actually, a couple weeks ago, I ran into that situation, and I was approaching

a school bus with full self-driving on. I have a Model 3 Performance 2024, and I had full self-driving

on during the drive. And I was approaching the school bus, the stop sign on the school bus,

the red lights are flashing, and the school bus stop sign started to come out. As I was approaching

the school bus, full self-driving did not stop. And I went through before I could hit the brake,

and I thought because the stop sign did not fully extend it, I would be okay.

But unfortunately, that school bus was equipped with an automated

video recording device. So, I received just a few days ago a ticket in the mail for $300

ticket because full self-driving did not stop for that school bus stop sign. So, beware out there,

Tesla drivers that are using full self-driving, and you're approaching a school bus,

it may or may not stop for that, and you might get a ticket, unfortunately. So,

be careful out there, and thanks again for a great podcast. I learned a lot,

and keep up the great work. Thanks. Thank you for the call and the kind words, Crystal. I'm sorry

that you ended up with a ticket there, especially since it sounds like it was a bit of a borderline

situation. I wonder if a human cop would have given you that ticket. Like, maybe you'd have

gotten pulled over, but maybe they would have just issued you a warning since you said the stop sign

hadn't come fully out from the bus yet. I will say I got a lot of calls and emails on this,

the school zone thing that I was openly wondering about, so thanks to all of you who wrote in or

called in to share your experiences with FSD Supervised, both on AI3 and AI4 in school zones.

And unfortunately, the reports were almost universally negative there, just as Crystal's was.

Dave from Virginia was the only person that contacted me to say that his AI3 Model Y had

responded appropriately to school zones. So, small sample size, not hugely representative, but

it does seem like overall, this is certainly a big area, a critical one that I would say,

that Tesla needs to make improvements on, and the good news is, it seems like they have. So,

version 14.1 of FSD went out to AI4 cars this week, and of course, it's all the influencers,

the people that usually get it first, got it first, I haven't gotten it yet. And Chuck Cook,

who I like because I think compared to a lot of those folks, he's pretty levelheaded about this

stuff, which I always appreciate, he posted a video of an active school zone with flashing lights,

and the car did exactly what it was supposed to do. It slowed down to 15 miles an hour,

just as the sign said to do. So, that's obviously too small of a sample size to draw any firm

conclusions from, but it is an optimistic sign. Thank you, Crystal, and thank you to everybody

that either called in or wrote in on the school zone FSD subject. Next up, here's Michael from

Baltimore. Hey, Ryan, it's Michael from Baltimore. I wanted to touch base because this past weekend,

before the federal tax credit expired, I, as well as probably everybody, got a lot of ads on YouTube

and X and some emails trying to get everybody to buy before the federal credit expired. However,

I was disappointed and wanted to get your take and see how you felt. All the ads that I saw,

it felt like we're more geared towards existing customers maybe upgrading to the new versions

of the Model Y and Model 3, as opposed to trying to attract ice owners. There was no talk about

features or benefits in terms of gas savings, maintenance savings, safety in terms of top

ratings, et cetera. So, I just think it was a real lost opportunity to try to go after

those customers that aren't current EV owners. So, anyhow, just curious on your thoughts.

Am I overreacting or did Tesla lose an opportunity there? Take care.

Thank you for calling in, Michael. And honestly, no, I don't think you were overreacting to them

at all. I'll be honest with you and tell you that I really didn't give the ads a second thought

because I absolutely saw them as well. And honestly, I should have given them a second thought.

I would not disagree with your assessment about who those ads were targeting at all. And you know,

this actually ties into something I talked about on last week's Lightning Round mini episode on

Patreon, where I gave suggestions for strategies that Tesla might employ to keep getting more people

into the tent in the wake of the tax credits demise. One of those strategies that I suggested

was a three-pronged mainstream advertising campaign with each of those three prongs focusing on a

different key benefit of going electric and specifically Tesla. One of those prongs I suggested,

so one campaign would be focused on safety, one would be focused on total cost of ownership,

and the other one would be focused on FSD. So really, Michael, you and I are very much of the

same mind here, I think. So yeah, I would agree that it was a missed opportunity with the tax

credit ending, but it remains an opportunity, especially with these cheaper Model 3 and Model

Y vehicles now being officially launched to reach gas car owners who haven't made the

switch to electric yet. Thank you again for your call. I super appreciate it. And I've just got

time for one more call this week because we are already well over an hour on this week's episode

and I want to be respectful of everybody's time. Here now is Jacob from Virginia to take us home

in this segment. Hey, Ryan, this is Jacob from Virginia. Long time listener, first-time caller.

Like you, I got my Tesla back in 2018 and I think I've clocked at about 140,000 miles on my Model

West, so I road trip and supercharged quite often and I never had a major charging issue until a

road trip this past Labor Day. So as I was driving back home to Virginia from Indiana,

trip planner routes me to a supercharger in Ohio about seven o'clock in the morning.

That's my rival 10% per usual. Well, I get two to three minutes away from that supercharger and

trip planner tries to route me to another supercharger, which I can't reach because I'm at

10%. Turned on the car navigation, that site is now temporarily closed. Well, I go to try to

charge there anyways. No luck and look across the parking lot and see Lionman doing some

work on the utility pole and power lines and electrical equipment close by,

which I suspect to be the cause. Anyways, thankfully, I was able to pull out my plug-share app,

found a charge point, 60 kilowatt shadow mode charger, pulled out my dusty shadow mode adapter,

was able to charge, albeit an extra 30 minutes and got back on the road. So I was curious if

you or your audience knew exactly how that temporary closure process worked. I've seen

before on my road trips, but trip planner always route it past them and if power goes out, power

goes out. But I'm sure there is some corrective or preventive maintenance that Tesla's or

utilities have to do with that. I'll take out the supercharger. So I wonder if you get

some kind of warning, maybe closed on arrival or something like that, or if it just goes out.

Anyways, thanks for all you do. Looking forward to hearing many, many more podcasts.

Hi, Jacob. Thank you for sharing your story. I'm glad it turned out okay. I imagine this was

pretty stressful in the moment. I for sure would have been freaking out a little bit,

I guarantee you that. I wish I had some concrete information to share with you here,

but sadly I don't. I'm not sure how superchargers get flagged as unavailable or just being down

in the UI and whether that's an automated process that can happen instantly or if it requires

manual input from the Tesla charging team. I don't know if Max Deziger from the Tesla

charging team actually listens to this podcast or not. He does follow me on X, I follow him as well,

because he would be the guy that could speak to this, explaining it to us and perhaps even taking

some learnings from your experience to try and make the system better if indeed there is a lesson

for Tesla to be had here. Now normally I honestly don't feel good about putting phone calls on the

podcast that I can't offer some kind of helpful response to, but in this case I not only wanted

to kind of send the bat signal into the sky for Max on the charging team, but I also wanted to share

your very constructive backup solution to this that you wisely employed, which was to use the

PlugShare app to find a nearby charger that would work. I would absolutely second your

recommendation to keep that in mind for emergencies like this, and also in your case,

you were lucky enough to have the adapter that you needed in the car, and I think that in and of

itself is a good tip for folks going on road trips. It's not a bad idea if you're going on a road

trip to have a Chatham-O and or a J1772 adapter in your car just in case. Thank you, Jacob. I

appreciate you taking the time to call in, and thank you to everybody that kindly took the time

to call in and possibly be featured on the podcast. If I didn't get to you this week, I will do my

best to get to your calls on an upcoming episode. Keep those calls coming. I gave you the two easy

call-in methods at the top of this segment. As for what's going on with me and my car, well,

not much. The Soul of Adventure, my new one, actually both of them are in pretty bad need of a wash,

but there's rain guaranteed in the forecast. Yep, Monday's 75% chance, Tuesday 90% chance,

Wednesday 40%. So probably going to hold off until next weekend, which will

annoy me slightly in the most first world of ways, staring at my dusty, dirty cars, but

if that's all I have to complain about on this podcast, I can't really complain too much. Things

of the week. This comes from regular listener, long-time listener, Jerome from the North Bay

here in the San Francisco Bay area. He's got a pro tip about tire PSI.

The foam had broken loose on the inside after 30,000 miles on the tire, which was causing random

out-of-balance shaking behavior. I mention this because one of the most useful tools on the

interface for the Model 3 and Model Y, I think the S and X have a different design to their

interface, but where you see the lower left corner music window, you can scroll left and right

and see your trip information, but also you get to see your tire PSI pressure. I think some people

know about it. Many people probably don't, and some probably forgot, but it's a very useful tool

if you're trying to diagnose tire behavior, and that's my pro tip. I'll have a show, have a good one.

Thank you, Jerome. Yeah, this is one of those tips that you think that everybody probably knows,

but since it's not explicitly obvious in the UI, there are three small dots below that bar

on the lower left corner there to indicate that there are other tabs that you can swipe to,

but they are very small and very subtle those three dots, so it's entirely possible that there

are newer owners out there that might not use it. I, for myself, I do look at my tire PSI sometimes.

I mean, those of you that have been listening for a while are very aware of the rampant tire

puncture issues that I've suffered through, so I know exactly where to go to check those PSI levels,

but even more than that, I swipe over on that card to the trips slash efficiency tab

to see just how efficient my current trip is, and the reason that I am still addicted to doing that

on a regular basis is because I am lucky enough to have this apples to apples comparison between

our Gen 1 Model 3 performance and my new Gen 2 Model 3 performance,

and I continue to be fascinated at how much more efficient the new one is. They're both

Model 3 performances, pretty similar weight, pretty similar lots of things.

They're both on 20-inch wheels, tires, in fact the new one is on wider tires in the back,

which should reduce efficiency, and in fact if I were to put a square setup, I would gain even

more efficiency on the new one, but even with the wider tires, the new one is way more efficient

than the old one, like by a lot. So my lifetime efficiency on the 2018 car after 76,000 miles,

it's at about 298 watt-hours per mile. On the new car, granted it's a smaller sample size,

it's only several thousand miles so far, but it's 278, so 20 watt-hours per mile, and again,

if I wanted to make it more efficient, well I wouldn't have bought the performance car if I

were really hyper focused on efficiency, but yeah I could put square tires on it instead

of the wider ones in the back, and then the other part too is technically I'm losing a little bit

of efficiency because I pulled out the aero inserts on my new Model 3's wheels because I like the

look of it better without them in there, but in any case, thank you Jerome for this excellent tip,

I think it will be useful to at least some of you out there, and that's the point of this segment,

is to try and be useful to our fellow Tesla owners and enthusiasts. A reminder,

if you've got a Tesla or EV pro tip of the week, please call in and share it with me and your fellow

Tesla owners and EV enthusiasts. The way to do that is just send it in, just call in like you're

calling in with a regular ride the lightning hotline call, and I gave you the two easy call-in

methods for that just a few minutes ago. A quick mention of some friends of Ride the Lightning

that can hopefully be useful to you before I go here this week, first up abstractocean.com,

just check them out sometime, if you've never been there abstractocean.com, just pause this,

take a look, and click on whichever Tesla or other EV that you own because they have products for a

stuff now. There is so much cool aftermarket stuff that they have, a lot of lighting kits,

a lot of interior customization stuff, like puddle lights for the doors, which I guess that would

fall under the lighting kits category, the fourth generation tempered glass custom fit screen

protectors for your Tesla or other EV as well. Just so much stuff, what you want to do is browse

around, buy vehicle, again whichever vehicle you have, add everything you like into your online

shopping cart, then when you get to check out, use the coupon code RTLpodcast to get 15% off

of your first order, that coupon code again, RTLpodcast, it's all one word, no spaces.

Snapplate, and the newer, stronger Snapplate Plus available for all the Teslas including

the Model Y, and hopefully they're going to have to redo the one for the Model 3 as well,

now that that's getting a front bumper camera, maybe just maybe, well actually no, the 3 and

the Y are very different up front now, so maybe the one for the Model Y won't fit the Model 3,

but I guess they'll figure it out, I'm sure they'll just try it if they've not already tried it,

but yes, they've got all the Teslas covered in terms of making a nice minimalist front

license plate bracket for all the Teslas that doesn't obstruct the front bumper camera,

but is just a nice clean minimalist design that stays on securely when it's on,

but if you want to take it off for whatever reason, it will leave no unsightly hardware behind.

This is the one that I recommend, if you either want to put a front plate on your car,

or you are legally required to, where you live, use the Snapplate or the Snapplate Plus,

I offer a discount on those, and the way to get that is to go to their website everyamp.com

slash RTL, pick whichever one you want, get everything you like into your shopping cart,

then when you get to check out there, use the coupon code RTL for a nice discount, so click

the link in the episode description or go to everyamp.com slash RTL, and again, use that coupon

code RTL as well. Immaculate Reflections, that's who takes such awesome care of both of my Teslas,

and they can do the same for you, for your Tesla or any other car that you care about that's in

your garage. If you're in or going to be in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, I promise you

will not regret making an appointment and bringing your car to Immaculate Reflections,

go to their website to find out more, IRDetailing.com, they offer a nice little discount for listeners

of this podcast, which is super nice, all you got to do is when you go to the website and contact

them through there, you'll find the contact link, just make sure to mention that you're a Ride the

Lightning listener, and that way any work you have done, whether that's paint protection film,

ceramic coating, paint correction, or some combination thereof, you will be given the Ride

the Lightning listener discount, which is super cool of Immaculate Reflections to do, so again,

the website is IRDetailing.com. Finally, my Patreon, I'm going to mention that one more time,

it's found at Patreon.com slash Tesla podcast, or just click the link in the episode description,

that is how you can choose to support this podcast, and I hope at some point, and maybe that

point is today, you will do that. We're 532, actually more than that episodes in,

every single week I'm here for you, I love doing this, I put a lot of time, research, love,

enthusiasm into this thing, hopefully some professionalism as well, but still make it fun,

and if you're able to support me on Patreon, even for just that $5 per month tier, you will be making

a positive difference in the lives of me and my family, which very much includes these dogs. In

Patreon, but as it so happens right now, she is wearing a 24-hour halter monitor for one of her

regular cardiology checkups that have been twice a year, typically, and unfortunately,

I was given the news today that I was braced for, I was warned that this was probably going to happen

last time, she is just by virtue of her age, she's 8 now, her heart starting to trend in the wrong

direction, her heart function is getting a little reduced, and her electrical, well the

electrical is being managed by, that's already managed pretty well, but the heart function,

oh the heart size, that was the other thing, the heart size is getting a little big, we don't want

that, so we're starting a new medication here, which hopefully is going to help super control it,

she should hopefully be fine for a long time, but it is a thank goodness for pet insurance,

like I've got the extended warranty on the car, I've got the extended warranty on the dog too,

on both of them with the pet insurance, I'm a believer and I'll tell you it's really paid off

on the boxer, but yeah, you're, again, I'm not trying to, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to get sappy

here, I'm literally looking at Daisy right now and she's got the vest on, so this is just a thing

we're dealing with right now, yeah, and of course the new medication is not cheap, but again,

yay pet insurance, so if, forget about that, that's not why you should sign up for Patreon,

you should join my Patreon if you like the podcast, you get something out of it every week

and you'd like to support me, you don't have to obviously, it's no pressure, the podcast is always

free and it'll always be free, but if you'd like to join the Patreon, I would be so humbled and

grateful, you can do that at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast, most popular tier, again is that

$10 per month tier, where you get all 160 something of the extra lightning round mini episodes,

plus you get ad free early access to each week's episode as well, so those are the perks I offer

to try and say thank you there on the Patreon and finally, let's see here, ah, just where you get it,

if you get this podcast from a podcast service, I encourage you to click the follow button on

this podcast on that service, whether that's Apple podcasts, Spotify, tune in, or YouTube podcasts,

and if you'd like to set that up so that you get a push notification every time there's a new episode,

which for me is every Sunday, 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific, but if that sounds good to you, it's

totally free, there's no money involved at all, you just go to your favorite podcast service,

statistically for most of you, it's Apple podcasts, type in ride the lightning Tesla,

and you could even add podcast if you really want to be sure, you should see this podcast pop right

up, click the follow button, and that's it, you're done, you can follow me on X and or on Instagram,

I have the same username in both places, that username is DMC underscore Ryan,

you can email me anytime for Tesla or EV related things, the email address is teslapodcastatgmail.com

Before I go, I just want to say hello and thank you to the top tier Patreon backers, these folks

are extra generous, and as part of their generous support, they get their names shouted out at

the end of each week show, and sure enough, last weekend we did have an awesome monthly Patreon

Zoom hangout, lots of great topics, the hour flew by, to the point that we ended up going about 75

minutes instead of the scheduled 60, so I'm always, again, always trying to be respectful of people's

time, but we're all having a good time, it's a great conversation, it always is every month, so

if you're at these top tiers, any of the ones that I'm about to read, you get invited to those Patreon

Zoom hangouts every month, I always send out an email, make a post on Patreon, and send out

calendar invites, so hopefully I find you get your attention one way or the other, come join us,

I typically try to do those the first Saturday of each month, and yeah, if you're not at that Patreon

tier that gets invited to that, maybe that's one reason you want to step up and jump on that higher

tier, because you'll get all the perks, including an invitation to those awesome conversations that

we have every single month, so now a quick hello and thank you, first to the Roadster in Space

tier backers, the tippy top tier, thank you to Pete White, Lyle Austin, Steve Radspinner, Fernando

Cordero, Lawton from Chicago, Sean Nightig, Neil Weaver, Jackson Wallace, Rolf and Jennifer

Evers, Howard Anthony Smith, Victoria Aya Caveto, Tesla Hitchhiker 42, Carol Weston, Robert from

Near Philly, American Home Contractors, Doug Carey, Michael Gallo, and Tony Figueroa.

Next up as I reach for my water here, I'm really, I am, for some reason, I am cooked at the end of

15 at this point, I think I'm pretty, just pretty toast for today, but it's been, it's been a good

one, it's been a good episode here, this has been a fun one to do, I hope you've been enjoying

listening to this week's episode and if everything goes according to plan, you're gonna have fun,

well we're all gonna have fun on next week's episode, so that's all I'll say about that,

say about that, see I really do need to go to bed, so stay tuned next week, that's all,

that's the only teaser I'm gonna give you. Thank you and hello to the Maximum Pladbackers,

Jonathan Wales, Cameron Clark, Daniel Grummer, Seth Capello, Nick and Tony, the Galpin family,

Ryan from New York City, Darren Nickel, Cos Barnes, Patrick Wisneski, Gil Cabrera, Todd Badger,

Joe Edgel, Kevin Yank, the Tesla Owners Club of San Joaquin Valley, Will Steadman, Justin Perez,

Jeremy Harris, Chris Beech, Tom Mills, Cory O'Donnell, Aaron, John Cody, Joel Sapp, Paul

Casarino, Chris Osborn, KB, Adam Lavoie, Jason Chalukis, Travis Krenzel, 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 Severs, Nick Jacoby, Chip Hooper, Matt Chinander, Robert Moran, Rav and Christopher Mann.

And finally, the grandfathered in plaid level supporters, big thanks for your continued support

to George Casiopo, Logan Willis, Peter Chalet, Eric Randolph, Dory and Steve Guberman,

the Tesla Owners Club of Taiwan, Ron Lee, Charlie Gillespie, Jeff Angwin, Chase Cabanillas,

the Lydia family, Aaron Altschule, Jared Brown, Jerome Strack, Jamie Dalton, Mike and Barber

from Louisville, Matt Nixon, the Tesla Owners Club of Wisconsin, Ish, not Elon Musk, Peter,

and the Bear Boys of Colorado. That'll do it for what was definitely a very long episode,

let's see here, where are we? Oh yeah, we're passing the 90 minute mark for the non-patreon

folks this week, which means I should not dawdle here at the very, very end and I should wrap this

up. So I am very looking forward to next week's episode, here's hoping that everything that's

planned happens as planned, because it's going to be super fun if it does. That's all I'll say,

because again, I don't like to tease things until they've actually happened because you just never

know, plans can change, things can change, and then I don't want to just let you guys down, but

next week, next week my friends, hopefully it's going to be a special one. So until then,

you know me, I'm Ryan McCaffrey, you know the pups I've got, Lily the silly Labrador puppy right at

my feet here, petting her, Daisy the boxer is to my left on the couch, snoozing away, and that'll

wrap it up for Ride the Lightning episode 532, 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 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 not exactly a car. It's actually a thing to

maximize enjoyment. That's maximum fun.

About this episode

Tesla has unveiled more affordable versions of the Model Y and Model 3, with the Model Y Standard priced at $40,000 and the Model 3 Standard at $37,000. This episode dives into the features and specifications of these new models, including their range, interior options, and notable omissions like basic autopilot. The host also discusses the implications of these changes for Tesla's market strategy and shares updates on other EV manufacturers, including Lucid's delivery records and Nissan's production pause. Listener feedback on the new models adds to the discussion.

0-60 miles per hour 18 inch tires aftermarket autopilot bioweapon defense mode EPA rated miles EV FSD full self-driving glass roof

Lucid Air Lucid Gravity Nissan Altima Nissan GT-R Nissan Leaf Nissan Maxima Tesla Cybertruck Tesla Model 3 Tesla Model S Tesla Model Y

Original notes

Tesla reveals not just a more affordable Model Y but also a cheaper Model 3! I'll tell you all about these Standard trim cars and what I think of them. Plus: good news at Lucid, better news at GM, bad news at Nissan, 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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