Episode 537: Apple CarPlay Reportedly Coming to Teslas
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Term
Apple CarPlay
Apple CarPlay is a feature that lets you connect your iPhone to your car, so you can use apps and music from your phone on the car's screen. It makes it easier to use your phone while driving.
Term
EV sales
EV sales are the number of electric cars sold. More people are buying electric cars because they are better for the environment and often have lower running costs.
Car
Tesla Model
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is a popular electric car that is known for being efficient and having a long driving range. It's made by Tesla, a company that specializes in electric vehicles.
Car
Tesla Cybertruck
The Tesla Cybertruck is a new electric truck from Tesla that looks very different from traditional trucks. It's made to be strong and has lots of high-tech features.
Term
giga Shanghai
Giga Shanghai is a big factory where Tesla makes cars in China. It's important for helping Tesla sell more cars in Asia.
Car
Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is a fast electric sports car that was Tesla's first model. It's known for being really quick and having a long driving range on a single charge.
Car
Dodge Journey
The Dodge Journey is a family-friendly SUV that has a lot of space for people and their stuff. It's designed to be comfortable and practical for everyday driving.
Term
NPI
NPI means 'New Product Introduction.' It's a term used to describe how companies create and launch new products, like cars.
Term
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine is what most cars have used for a long time. It works by burning fuel to create power to move the car.
Car
Tesla Semi
The Tesla Semi is a big electric truck that is made for transporting goods. It's designed to be cheaper to run than regular trucks and helps reduce pollution.
Term
fully autonomous
Fully autonomous means a car can drive itself without anyone needing to control it. It uses technology to see and understand its surroundings.
Company
PepsiCo
PepsiCo is a big company that makes snacks and drinks, like chips and soda. They are working with Tesla to test out the new Tesla Semi trucks for delivering their products.
Term
factory warranty
A factory warranty is like a promise from the car maker that they will fix certain problems with your car for a certain time or distance. If something goes wrong, you won't have to pay for repairs covered by this promise.
Term
extended warranty
An extended warranty is like buying extra protection for your car after the original warranty runs out. It helps pay for repairs if something breaks down later on.
Company
Xcare
Xcare is a company that offers extra protection plans for electric cars. If your car's original warranty is up, they can help cover repairs and other issues that might come up.
Term
Android Auto
Android Auto is similar to CarPlay but for Android phones. It lets you connect your phone to your car and use apps like navigation and music on the car's screen.
Car
Tesla Model S
The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that doesn't use gas. It's known for being fast and having a long battery life, which means you can drive it for a long time before needing to charge it again.
Car
Tesla Model X
The Tesla Model X is a big electric SUV that has unique doors that open upwards. It's designed to be comfortable for families and has a lot of cool tech features, making it a popular choice for those who want an electric vehicle.
Concept
electric vehicle (EV)
Electric vehicles, or EVs, are cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. They are better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
Concept
electric vehicles (EVs)
Electric vehicles, or EVs, are cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. They are better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
Company
Rivian
Rivian is a company that makes electric vehicles, like trucks and SUVs, which are designed for outdoor adventures.
Company
Lucid
Lucid is a company that makes luxury electric cars, like the Lucid Air, which can go very far on a single charge.
Company
Kia
Kia is another car company from South Korea that makes many cars, including electric ones like the Kia EV6.
Company
Hyundai
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes many types of cars, including electric ones.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a well-known car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars, including some electric models.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a famous car brand from Germany that makes high-performance sports cars, including electric ones like the Taycan.
Term
battery
A battery in an electric car stores energy so the car can run. The bigger and better the battery, the longer the car can drive without needing to recharge.
Term
EV
EV means electric vehicle. These cars run on electricity instead of gasoline, which can be better for the environment and save money on fuel.
Term
mid-sized truck
A mid-sized truck is a pickup truck that is not too big or too small. It's a good size for carrying things and is popular for both work and personal use.
Car
Ford F150
The Ford F-150 is a popular truck that many people use for work and everyday driving. It's known for being tough and reliable, and it can carry heavy loads or tow trailers.
Car
Ford F150 Lightning
The Ford F-150 Lightning is the electric version of the regular F-150 truck. It's part of Ford's effort to make trucks that run on electricity instead of gas.
Term
tax credit
A tax credit is money that the government allows you to subtract from what you owe in taxes. For electric cars, it helps make them cheaper for buyers.
Car
Nissan Leaf
The Nissan Leaf is a small electric car that you can charge instead of filling up with gas. It's designed to be affordable and is great for city driving because it's easy to park and helps save on fuel costs.
Car
Volkswagen Id Buzz
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a new electric version of the old VW bus that many people loved in the past. It's designed to be eco-friendly and has a fun, retro look while being modern and easy to drive.
Car
Volkswagen Id4
Car
Chevrolet Volt
The Chevrolet Volt is a car that can run on electricity and gas. This means you can drive it using just electricity for short trips, and if you need to go further, it can use gas like a regular car.
Car
Chevrolet Blazer EV
The Chevrolet Blazer EV is a new electric SUV that looks stylish and is designed to be eco-friendly. It's part of a trend where car companies are making more electric vehicles to help the environment.
LIVE
Coming up on this week's episode of Ride the Lightning,
the Tesla and EV podcast, in a big surprise,
Tesla is reportedly working on adding
Apple CarPlay to its vehicles.
Plus, Tesla sweeps the global EV sales charts
for September, Ford CEO Jim Farley says his company
was shocked when they took apart a Tesla Model 3 and more.
What's happening friends? I'm Ryan McCaffrey joining you as I always do every Sunday at 9am
Eastern 6AM Pacific for another episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast.
This one is releasing on November 16th, 2025.
It's episode 537.
To my left, looking calmly out the window, is Daisy the Boxer.
And chewing on a toy that might start squeaking at some point
is Lily the silly Labrador puppy.
And I want to do apologize to all of you up front this week.
If I sound a little tired or low energy,
it's Lily the Labrador's fault because the poor dog, actually I feel really bad for her,
she ate something yesterday and ended up up in the middle of the night with an unfortunate situation in her crate that required immediate attention.
Let me just phrase it that way.
So I was up from like 3.30am to 4am this morning and I'm starting to feel it now.
Like I was able to get through the work day okay, but now I'm starting to run out of fuel and I'm ready for bed.
But I've got a very chock full of action episode here of Ride the Lightning for you first.
I'm going to start with this one.
This was a bit of a surprise this week.
Maybe not so much an isolation, but for the story that will immediately follow it together, they are a little bit surprising.
So this first one is that the Cybertruck program manager at Tesla, who was also the Model 3 program manager, has departed Tesla.
His name is Sedant Awasti, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, I hope I've got that correct.
And he posted on X saying,
I recently made one of the hardest decisions of my life to leave Tesla after an incredible run.
Eight years ago, when I started as an intern, I never dreamed I'd one day have the opportunity to lead the Cybertruck program and bring it to reality.
It's been an absolute privilege filled with mostly high intensity days working alongside talented, driven and truly rockstar colleagues across Tesla.
I want to extend a huge thanks to Elon, all Tesla leaders past and present, mentors and our amazing customers, huge shout out in parentheses,
who fueled my drive and kept me pushing forward through it all.
It's tough to sum up eight years in just a few lines, but what a thrilling journey it's been.
Ramping up Model 3, working on giga shanghai, developing a new electronics and wireless architectures,
and delivering the once in a lifetime Cybertruck all before hitting 30.
The icing on the cake was getting to dive back into the Model 3 work toward the end.
This decision wasn't easy, especially with so much exciting growth on the horizon.
Tesla vehicles are incredibly complex systems that often don't get the credit they deserve,
but I've witnessed firsthand how they've changed lives for our customers, my friends and my family,
adding real value and, above all, improving safety.
I'm confident Tesla will nail its next big mission, especially after last week.
He's there referring to the presentation that Elon gave at the annual shareholder meeting,
and he concludes by saying, and I'm truly excited for the next chapter of my life.
So, first of all, this gentleman was the Model 3 program manager in his early 20s, that's crazy!
He must be an absolute rockstar, just one of those wonder kind people that comes in
and is just, you can just tell right away, is special.
And that alone makes it sad to see him go as somebody that owns two Model 3s.
And then, even though, okay, yes, the Cybertruck sales have been quite a bit below what certainly
Tesla had hoped, and definitely what people like me thought they would be,
you can't fault the truck itself. It is absolutely jam-packed with genuine next-gen tech
that makes the Cybertruck an absolute joy to drive and to live with.
So, boy, what a resume for Sedant here. That is, he'll probably not have any trouble getting
a job anywhere else, should he decide to join another company, or maybe he'll decide to start
his own thing, and who knows what he's gonna be up to. I'm sure we'll hear about it at some point
whenever he decides to pop his head back up above water and let us all know.
For all we know, he might be taking a good bit of time off. It seems like, I mean, I'm not in
the tech world, per se. I mean, I'm tangentially involved as a media member, somebody that covers
it. Although, even there, it's like, I do this in my spare time, and for my day job,
I cover the video game space, which is definitely a different world than the actual Silicon Valley
tech world. And my point in saying all that is that in that space, it certainly seems to be
fairly common that when folks leave a high-profile position after a long time at a company,
they take some time to theirs themselves, because they typically can afford to,
and then eventually they pop back up. So, I'm not expecting to hear from Sedant again, like,
in the next couple of weeks or this year, but maybe sometime next year. He'll post again and
let the world know what he is up to, but again, just what a resume for him. Absolutely incredible.
Now, it's entirely possible that he's chosen to leave because he's just burned out, and or
his stock compensation, which I imagine had added up as he moved up the company,
has matured to such a point that he's sitting on a huge stack of well-deserved cash and just
doesn't want to go all out hardcore 24-7 anymore, which is what Tesla seems to demand. He even
alluded to it in his post there. I mean, I don't know, maybe he's starting a family or has started
a family and he just doesn't want to do the 24-7 grind anymore, but whatever the case may be,
he has certainly earned a lot of praise, a lot of respect, and certainly as somebody with two
Model 3s, again, as it's such a great privilege for our family to have two of them, I owe him a
tip of the cap for sure. Now, the other slightly more selfish and depressing thought here is,
I know I try to be optimistic with this podcast, and I think most of the time I am,
but I've got to share this as well because I think it's a fair thing to bring up.
So the slightly more selfish and definitely more depressing thought here, that's hopefully not
the case, but maybe he's leaving because there are no other new vehicles to work on at Tesla,
that after the Roadster, they're just going to keep SX3Y Cybertruck and CyberCab,
and there isn't a big new vehicle challenge for him to take on. And I also acknowledge,
it could be some combination or even all of those things. It could be burnout, it could be family,
it could be he's got plenty of money, it could be because there are no vehicles, it could be any
and all of those are some combination thereof, so whatever the case, I certainly again wish him
the best and boy, doing all of that before 30, that's pretty darn impressive. Now, that wasn't
the only notable departure at Tesla this week, the Model Y program manager also announced his
departure this past week as well. I saw this written up on TeslaRadi who wrote,
Emanuel Lemakia has been in the role for almost five years, responsible for the rollout of the
all-electric crossover in several markets. He announced his departure on LinkedIn saying,
quote, after eight incredible years, I'm moving on from Tesla. What a journey it's been, from
leading NPI for Model 3 and Model Y variants, I'm not quite sure what NPI means, to becoming the
vehicle program manager for Model Y, the best-selling car in the world, he adds with a well-deserved
exclamation mark. Leading the all-new Model Y launch was the highlight, converting all four
factories across three continents in just two weeks, something that had never been done before
in the auto industry. To the teams who made this possible, you should be incredibly proud.
This achievement belongs to you, the engineers, designers, buyers, and associates in Fremont,
Shanghai, Berlin, and Austin who turned an impossible timeline into reality. Grateful
to the leaders who trusted me with programs that stretched my capabilities and to the cross-functional
partners who showed me that great solutions come from collaboration, not hierarchy. Tesla taught
me how to move fast without breaking things and how to scale from prototypes to millions of units.
Excited for what's next, more to share soon, end quote. So I think you can take most of what I just
said about Sedant and it could apply to Emanuel also. So that's where I come back to what I said
at the very top there. Taken individually, these two notable departures aren't necessarily anything
to really quote-unquote worry about if you're a Tesla fan, Tesla shareholder, etc. But admittedly,
both of these happening at the same time, it does send up a yellow flag for me. Not a red flag,
could be nothing, could just be a coincidence, could be, who knows. It's not necessarily a
red flag, but a yellow one, caution flag, yes. Again, it could also be clear internally at Tesla
that as I was saying, there simply are no more new vehicle programs to work on and I sure,
sure, sure hope it's not that. But regardless, I really do wish both of these gentlemen the very
best. They worked really hard and have a lot to be proud of. Speaking of vehicle program managers,
we did hear from one at Tesla this week who is still at the company. His name is Dan Priestley
and he heads up the Tesla Semi team. He posted on X after the annual shareholder meeting that
revealed the redesign, as I was telling you about on last week's podcast, the redesign for the semi.
And he took to X and said, quote, immense number of improvements in next year's semi stemming from
pilot fleet learnings and amazing innovations from the Tesla teams working on it, end quote.
And then an ex user responded to Dan's post there and asked him, quote,
can't wait to see it on the roads. Will you use it next year at giga texas to haul new cars to
the railroads? To which Dan kindly responded to that user, quote, Tesla will be the first customer
as we electrify our supply chain. This includes Texas operations. So in other words, yes, it's
the answer to the to that ex user's question. So Tesla itself will get the first final production
Tesla semi trucks that are being spit out or that will be spit out of the giga Nevada semi factory.
And that's not really new information, really. As as Tesla has been saying that for years,
including, in fact, they've not just said it, they've they've shown it to Tesla has been using the
original two prototypes for years to do everything from haul parts back and forth between giga
Nevada and the Fremont factory to actually delivering cars to customers. So those prototypes
have been getting plenty of run at Tesla as well. And now the imminent final the 1.0 version
of the Tesla semi that'll be going into production next year, Tesla will be putting those
to internal use as well. So I think the better question is what external customer that's not
Tesla gets the first production trucks? Well, my mind there would go straight to PepsiCo,
since of course they've been Tesla's biggest partner in the pilot program. But then again,
it's also possible that PepsiCo got their full order of trucks. They were clearly okay with being
essentially beta testers. And they're going to be good just continuing to run those pilot
trucks around until they reach end of life after however many hundreds of thousands or millions
of miles on those vehicles. So it does remain to be seen which customer that's not Tesla
will be the first one to run that 1.0 build out in the real world.
Before I get to this week's main story about Apple CarPlay, I wanted to mention this week's
lightning round mini episode that I do exclusively for all of the wonderfully generous folks
supporting me over on Patreon. I hope those of you with access to that enjoyed this week's
lightning round. It was about my newly updated method for washing my car. So if you're a
detail oriented person with your car like me, somebody that likes their car clean,
I hope you'll enjoy that, maybe get some good information out of it and maybe something that
you want to try in your own car detailing routine. So anybody that's with me on Patreon at that most
popular tier that's the $10 per month tier or higher has access not just to that lightning round
mini episode but all of them and there are over 160 of them now. You can find them on my Patreon
page at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast or just click the link in the episode description.
A friendly reminder that the lightning rounds aren't all you get at that most popular $10 per
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you'll get a 10% discount there patreon.com slash Tesla podcast. And one more thing before I move
on, if your factory Tesla warranty, your four-year 50,000 mile warranty from the factory is expiring
or about to expire or has already expired, what's next? You know, you don't want to be worrying
about something like a dead battery, flat tire, some roadside surprise. That means when your factory
coverage ends, the higher risk begins. And that is where my friends at Xcare come in
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or talk to a real person about it right now at 844-755-4186 that's Xcare.com or call 844-755-4186
and drive with confidence. Let's get to our main story this week which comes in the form of a new
report that says that Tesla is working on adding Apple CarPlay to its vehicles. I saw this on Reuters
who wrote Tesla is developing support for Apple's CarPlay system in its electric vehicles.
Bloomberg News reported this week marking a potential shift in the car maker's long-standing
resistance to third-party software integration. The company's potential adoption of CarPlay
which allows users to control iPhone features such as navigation music and messaging through a
vehicle's built-in display would mark a major departure from its preference for its own ecosystem
to maintain control over the in-car experience. Tesla has discussed rolling out CarPlay in the
coming months but the plan is not yet finalized and the release could be delayed the report said
citing people familiar with the matter. The report also said Tesla plans to integrate CarPlay
within a window inside its existing interface which could mean Apple software would not
fully replace Tesla's operating system as it does in many other vehicles. Well there you go,
uh that one I'll tell you I did not have that on my bingo card for any point ever. It's like if I had
a bingo card with potential Tesla headlines on it I that that wouldn't I would not be xing off
that square because I would not have had that square CarPlay in Tesla appears to I mean it's like
I I'm I know this sounds like I'm exaggerating but when I first saw this like I first saw the
headline on social media I almost literally could not believe it until I saw that it ultimately
came from Bloomberg who again there's no guarantee I can't say with 100 percent certainty that this
is real but Bloomberg is a serious news organization that doesn't just print gossip so this this is
coming from somewhere and and so that's when I went oh so wait this might actually be real and then
after I saw it later that day a test a reliable Tesla source reached out to me unprompted to mention
it and to corroborate the report just again to me personally with and they gave me a specific
detail that I'm just respectfully not going to share here because I don't want to risk
sort of giving any indication of who or where who this person is or where in the company
they work but let me just say it was it was corroborating evidence
to not that Bloomberg needs little me corroborating their report but if it if it helps you believe
it because it did help me believe it a Tesla source offered me some additional corroborating
evidence to this and so yeah this is seemingly happening now look I mean we all know it was
even it was in that Reuters story that I read you there we all know that Tesla has always
gone its own way and understandably so Tesla's software Tesla's user experience is really good
I don't think very many people out there would really complain about what the experience is
like software wise in a Tesla in terms of well really in terms of any piece of it I guess
probably the number one thing that anybody might complain about if we were to survey
like family feud style just find a hundred people survey them what is the most annoying thing to
you about the Tesla user experience and then it would be number one answer would almost certainly
be the lack of physical buttons because I know I mean it doesn't really bother me
and you also have voice control at your fingertips on the steering wheel to just say you know turn
my seat heater on or set the set the climate control to 64 degrees or whatever but that's
still a common one that I see not just with Tesla but as more and more cars go with a more of a
touchscreen based experience but I'm getting a little sidetracked point is in that family
feud style survey I'm not even sure that anything about the user experience in terms of like audio
entertainment or or what the like sort of what is offered in that front end in your car would
even make that top five that family feud top five of things that that people might criticize but
that said a lack of carplay or android auto that might be the number two answer on that family
feud board so uh Tesla appears to be taking action against that um and and I guess on the back of
Tesla's software being really good what I as I thought more about this I think this move seems
to me to be something that's very much aimed at people who don't already own a Tesla I realize
wait I think I'm looking at this from the wrong perspective I'm looking at it not wrong but um
maybe just I'm looking at it from the perspective of a Tesla owner when I should be looking at it
from the perspective of someone who's not yet a Tesla owner because those of us that that own the
cars that drive the cars which is most of you I think most of you probably aren't clamoring for
carplay or for android auto I'm not saying that people haven't asked for it or that people wouldn't
welcome it if it did show up as it appears to be doing but this does seem like something that Tesla
is doing as a way to try and lure potential new customers particularly when a lot of the rest
and maybe this is a coincidence or maybe it is by design maybe if Tesla is zagging here while the
rest of the industry zigs we are right now witnessing a lot of major players a number
of major players in the auto industry purposefully moving away from carplay and android auto right
now so um there's that Tesla may just be deciding okay well we stand to potentially gain a competitive
advantage here if we were to offer this so let's go ahead and do it um in fact as I thought more
about this part of the impetus for doing this might be because the standard three and standard y
which Tesla certainly hopes are gonna draw a lot of people into Tesla's ecosystem and they're gonna
sell a lot of standard three's and wise those cars have next to nothing in them in terms of
audio entertainment they don't even have FM radio so maybe Tesla wants to give people
not just any option for audio entertainment but an attractive one that many people are already
familiar with and comfortable with in fact kind of on that note maybe familiar familiarity and
comfort might be at the heart of this for Tesla again having this be such a surprise they've just
never they've always done their own thing software-wise but maybe they're thinking okay with where we
are on the EV adoption curve we've reached now most if not all of the early adopters because
quite frankly I would probably be considered an early adopter I mean there are phases there are
levels to it right like those of you out there that have an original roadster you're an OG okay you
get you get extra extra street cred model early model s owners you're on the next level early
model x owners same thing and then three y you know it's it is certainly this is the EV movement
has happened in phases and and that it's slowly gotten bigger but that I wonder if Tesla feels
like okay we've we've run out of the eager early adopters to sell to and now we need to sell to
the masses and for them they're not going to be as eager we need to help lure them and convince them
that to just to just try this to to make the switch from a from an internal combustion engine car
to an electric vehicle and so it's such I've talked about this a million times and those of you with
Teslas or other EVs have already lived this it is such a paradigm shift it really is to go from
a gas car to a battery electric vehicle it is a completely different experience it does require
a willingness to take on a new challenge of sorts in that it's completely different from how
you've always operated a vehicle I mean yes there's still a steering wheel there's still
pedals but there's still a door but but there's a lot that's different about the operation of
the car the fueling of the car the fueling requirements and habits of the car meaning
like you know you're charging from you're you're charging to 80% most nights unless you've got
an LFP vehicle whereas a gas car you just put the gas filler in at the gas station and and squeeze
the handle and turn the little lock thing on until it stops until it's full you don't do that in it
so that's the kind of thing I'm talking about so perhaps Apple CarPlay is something of a familiarity
olive branch to that to that segment of of customers potential customers out there
who have not yet made the switch to EV and need that sort of Linus's blanket from peanuts to just
kind of cling to that security blanket oh okay if I all right if I buy a Tesla I can I can just use
I can use CarPlay and I've got my Apple ecosystem in there that I'm familiar with
and that may really make a difference out there for some potential customers and I want to recognize
here my non-American listeners I know that Apple and iPhone is a much bigger deal it's a much bigger
piece of the market here in America versus worldwide like Europe much more android dominant so
hopefully obviously this report only mentions CarPlay that's America is Tesla's number one market
so it does make sense that Tesla would start with CarPlay but I can't imagine it would end with CarPlay
I have to imagine that Android Auto would follow probably fast follow before you know after after
not too long but as Lily is just walking around with of course a heavy toy that she wants to
drop on the ground and make noise as I'm trying to record but this is again such a surprise
such a a potentially big deal I mean in fact I'm I think I'm going to run a Patreon poll
this week so if you want to stop by and vote in the Patreon poll which is always free doesn't
require supporting me doesn't require giving me a dime on Patreon it's free and open to everybody
if you stop by the Patreon page for this week's poll I'm going to make it about Apple Play I'm
not I haven't quite decided how I'm going to word the question but it'll be CarPlay related
because I I want to get a sense of what all of you think of this as existing Tesla owners or
existing Tesla enthusiasts and how exciting or not this might be to you and then last point on this
if I were a betting man I would wager that the Tesla team is working extremely hard to try and
deliver this in the holiday software update which should be out in about a month or so now
I fully recognize the very report I just read to you said that there's not that it's there's no
immediate timeline on this it could get delayed yeah the the it says the rolling out in the coming
months but Q4 is Teslas and every car maker's biggest quarter it does make sense for them
for the Tesla software team to prioritize this but and make it try to make it into the holiday
software update so that they can start really getting the word out on this right away as people
are shopping for vehicles during that big Q4 season so stay tuned this is a very pleasant
surprise and we'll see what happens from here next up this week Tesla sweeps the global EV sales
charts for the month of September with of course the Model Y and then the Model 3 on top I saw this
on Drive Tesla Canada who wrote Tesla continues to dominate the global electric vehicle market
claiming both the top spots in worldwide EV sales for September of 2025 according to data
compiled by Clean Technica and shared on X by user X Freeze the Model Y once again secured the number
one position with 140,904 units sold worldwide while the Model 3 followed in second place
with 67,374 units delivered globally now what's interesting to me about this isn't necessarily
that Tesla's on top and in fact they're on top as you heard there buy a long shot in the Model
Y's case even over its own sibling the Model 3 but what's interesting to me is what the rest of
this list looks like so the entire rest of the top 15 all of it is Chinese EVs so 3 through 15 is all
Chinese EVs there's not a single other American car company on this list or a European car company
for that matter again we're just talking EVs here but still and then numbers 5 through 12 and 15
not only are those positions all Chinese EVs they're all one brand BYD so in terms of overall
volume BYD is actually beating Tesla quite handily BYD's cumulative total just from this top 15 list
is over 291,000 cars compared to Tesla's 208,000 now the Model S X and Cybertruck
aren't on this top 15 list so they did contribute but they wouldn't contribute much here unfortunately
which is why they're not on the list and then I must fully confess I have no idea how many other
models that BYD might have that could contribute to their number as well that just didn't make the
top 15 but the point is BYD has gone to another level those of you outside of the United States
are no doubt much more aware of this than I am we literally do not have them here and we probably
well I won't say never will but we probably won't anytime soon and that's that's most likely going
to be a a bipartisan agreement there that the American auto industry doesn't want BYD coming
into the American market because they could very easily undersell under price and and outsell
and really put the herd on the American automobile alright Lily you are I'm sorry I think this is
probably making a ton of noise I gotta sorry Lily I gotta take action I gotta take this toy I do
apologize I'm sorry pups you can find something else to chew on I hope that doesn't make noise
but anyway uh yeah BYD would probably cause a serious problem for the American automotive industry
and that's why regardless of of what political party is in charge in the United States it doesn't
seem like we're going to see BYD uh sold here anytime soon but overall Tesla is still clearly
in excellent shape for the time being like they're one and two by a mile uh you heard Frans von
Holzhausen on my most recent interview with him here just what a month ago that Tesla is focusing
on just a few vehicles and making them amazing versus making a whole bunch of vehicles that only
you know this one only sells a few units and that one only sells a few units which I mean
that strategy is working for BYD but also Tesla's strategy is clearly working pretty well for them
too but it is safe to say certainly the true competition for Tesla has finally arrived just
not in the U.S. but on the global scale yes BYD is here and they are a big deal they are a very
high volume EV automaker and ultimately that's a good thing right if we believe in Tesla's mission
to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy you love to see a especially in China which
I think don't please don't quote me on this because I don't even have this in my notes I'm just
kind of riffing here I have a memory of reading something some years back I know already you're
like oh gosh you're you're just pulling this out of your hat but I believe that China is the most
polluting country in terms of the like the air pollution in the world which makes sense they
have a billion plus people there right but I believe China is number one in polluting and
I think the U.S. is number two I think so if BYD is just pumping out EVs that's a good thing for the
overall mission that Tesla has to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy
and Tesla here in the U.S. certainly doing its part with the the Model Y being the top-selling
vehicle in the world for well the previous couple years probably not going to be number one this
year but it's still going to be very very high on that list and Tesla's still pumping out it's
going to end up being 1.7 million units probably this year thereabouts we'll find out in about a
month and a half exactly where Tesla lands but that was a that was a pretty cool story that Tesla
is still on top on a global scale in fact I made non-Tesla EVs the subject of this week's Patreon
poll and it was it was purposefully an open-ended question a not clearly defined question which
which uh maybe people in the comments a couple people in the comments were were maybe looking
for some more clear direction on this but I purposely wanted this to be just a more open to
interpretation question so this week's Patreon poll question on my Patreon page which again
totally free to vote in the poll every week it's open to everybody the question was what non-Tesla
company do you think makes the best EVs and so again I I kind of wanted to leave that to you
do you do you think that's styling do you think that's performance do you think that's efficiency
do you think you know what however you wanted to think of it I just wanted to ask the question
and 50% of you voted Rivian with another 18% of you choosing Lucid and 14% of you choosing
Hyundai slash Kia because they are the same company and then almost nothing for a lot of the other
choices BMW for GM 5% chose Porsche and 7% said other because I knew I'd need an other on this one
and there was a lot of commentary there were actually a lot of comments 48 comments
and there were a lot of votes here 328 votes in this week's poll so thank you to everybody
that took the time to stop by and vote a lot of comments about BYD and I had left them out of the
and not put them as a choice in the poll just because again they are a blind spot for me I
don't know anything about them and I and I know that those of you outside the US do and I'm glad
a bunch of you mentioned it mentioned them in the comments but uh yeah here in the US we just we
don't have any visibility into BYD so I thought that was a really interesting poll result this week
and yes I read and granted probably most of my audience the majority of my audience is in the
United States and so the Rivian result makes a lot of sense right I can't disagree with that choice
even though again you could define best by any number of ways but thank you to everybody
that took the time to vote in this week's Patreon poll on something of a similar topic to Chinese
EVs as I move now to other EV news Ford CEO Jim Farley says taking apart Tesla and Chinese EVs was
quote shocking and pushed him to shake up the legacy automaker I saw this story on Business Insider
who wrote Ford CEO had an EV wake-up call after tearing apart cars from Tesla and its rivals in
China speaking on the new episode of the office hours business edition podcast Jim Farley said
the quote shocking realization of how far ahead Elon Musk's automaker and China's EVs upstarts were
pushed him to overhaul the company quote I was very humbled when we took apart the first Model
3 Tesla and started to take apart the Chinese vehicles when we took them apart it was shocking
what we found the Detroit executive said Ford's Mustang Mach E had around 1.6 kilometers more
electrical wiring than the Tesla adding extra weight to the car and requiring a much bigger
and more expensive battery Farley who's led Ford since 2020 said the tear downs convinced him the
company had to change to match its new rivals quote we can't walk away from EVs not just for the US
but if we want to be a global company I'm not going to just seed that to the Chinese to meet
that new market Ford is once again shifting its EV strategy in August which I already talked about
this in the podcast Farley unveiled a new EV production line that he said would help Ford
beat BYD and Tesla the first vehicle to roll off the retooled production line will be a $30,000
mid-sized truck which is expected to launch in 2027 so I read this story and then I started trying
to picture 1.6 kilometers for my fellow American friends that's about exactly one mile so a mile
worth of wiring and that's extra that's not total that's on top of what's in a Model 3 or the Chinese
EVs an extra mile worth of wiring that is a lot but hey I'll say this about about Mr. Farley
good on him for recognizing that Ford was going to have to step up its game in order to better
compete and that mid-sized truck that's due out in a couple years using their new EV production
process that is the evidence that Farley is walking the walk on that and not just paying
lip service to it so I for one am rooting for Ford to fully make the switch to EV and to do so
successfully now I know it will not be a 100% switch over for probably many many years and the
reason for that is because it's not going to happen while the F-150 gas powered truck continues
to be the best-selling vehicle in America for literally decades running and the market for
the F-150 Lightning the electric F-150 unfortunately just isn't there quite yet but if Ford can
successfully electrify everything else besides the gas powered F-150s boy would that be fantastic
to see so I'm rooting for you guys Ford and and for for Mr. Farley I think Jim that he he
good on him for admitting you know a little little slice of humble pie that he was willing to eat
publicly there and just say hey yeah I was shocked by what what we found when we tore apart
the Tesla and when we tore apart the Chinese EVs so good on him for for being open and honest about
that next up this week in other EV news JD power reports a JD power report shows EV interest
surging in the United States despite the end of the federal tax credit another tip of the cap to
drive Tesla Canada who writes according to the latest JD power e-vision intelligence report
for November 2025 while sales declined sharply following the repeal of the federal $7,500 EV
tax credit underlying demand and ownership loyalty remain robust particularly among existing EV
drivers October marked the first full month without the federal incentive and the impact was immediate
EV sales fell by 53 percent dropping from 12.9 percent of total new vehicle sales in September
to just 6 percent in October many buyers had rushed to complete purchases before the credit
expired creating an artificial sales spike that has now subsided analysts say the current downturn
likely reflects a quote rebound effect rather than a long-term collapse in demand still JD power's
findings suggest that the end of the tax credit will affect sales volumes for several months quote
the bottom will not fall out of the EV market the report notes pointing to strong loyalty
among EV lesseys and growing consumer awareness of the benefits of electric ownership one of the
industry is the high rate of repeat EV ownership in 2026 approximately 243,000 franchise EV leases
are expected to expire more than triple the number in 2025 based on current patterns 62 percent of
those returning lesseys are likely to replace their vehicles with another EV the 2025 US electric
vehicle experience ownership study found that 94 percent of current EV owners plan to consider an
EV for their next purchase or lease with 79 percent saying they quote definitely will consider this
strong retention rate suggest signals a deepening attachment to electric mobility among early
adopters while actual sales dipped consumer intent is climbing the number of active car shoppers
who say they are quote very likely to consider an EV rose to 24.2 percent in october its highest level
since january of 2025 overall nearly 60 percent of potential buyers said they are at least quote
somewhat likely to go electric in the next 12 months a 2.6 percent increase from september
well those numbers certainly bode well for evs overall this is not a tesla specific report
and i can't help but wonder how much higher those last numbers the 24 percent who are very likely
to consider an EV and the 60 percent who are somewhat likely how much higher those numbers would
be if the 7500 tax credit was still there but what's done is done so i'll simply take the optimistic
road here we've got the model 3 standard on the market now model y standard on the market now
the chevy equinox ev that's doing very well in the low 30s price point wise the redesigned
nissan leaf that's coming very very soon so there are some fairly affordable options out
there in the marketplace hopefully they help get more people into the ev tent that's what we're
looking for because as we've all found out it's really nice in this tent once you're willing
to step foot inside finally this week in more other ev news volkswagen has announced that starting
on november 18th i had to think about for a second when this episode's publishing so
starting this week owners of the volkswagen id4 and the id buzz will gain access to tesla's
expansive supercharger network in north america drive tesla canada had this and they wrote the
move allows volkswagen's ev owners to plug into more than 25 000 tesla superchargers
across canada and the united states significantly expanding their charging options beyond
electrify america electrify canada and other ccs based networks to enable compatibility with tesla's
nac s volkswagen has developed a dc fast charging adapter that connects tesla's nac s plug to the
ccs ports used on vw's current ev lineup the adapter will be available through volkswagen
dealers or online via the volkswagen virtual parts counter beginning on november 18th for id buzz
customers adapters will be distributed directly through their selling dealers while id4 owners
can purchase one for their vehicle well i think this might be just about everybody now volkswagen
might have been about the last big automaker to officially have access to the tesla supercharging
network i i can't think off the top of my head of anybody that's still out in the cold on this
and again this is great for the ev movement at least here in north america because having
access to all of those tesla superchargers just goes a long way for obviously for tesla owners
but now for pretty much everybody else it goes a long way towards eliminating or at least mitigating
range anxiety which as we all know is a crucial and understandable mental barrier for a lot of
potential buyers no matter what brand of ev a north american buyer is considering hi this is
france von holthausen and you're listening to ride the lightning with ryan macaferi the tesla
unofficial podcast it's time for your phone calls in the ride the lightning hotline yes
it's back after a little break last week because of the tesla shareholder meeting i've got plenty
of your ride the lightning hotline phone calls queued up and ready to go got time for a few of
them here so if you've got a question comment or discussion topic for the podcast i welcome and
invite you to call in with it either way however you call in and i'm going to tell you the two
ways here in a second please try to keep your call to 90 seconds or less so that i can get to
as many callers each week as possible now as for those two methods to call in you can either use
your smartphone's built-in voice recording software record your question and then send it my way via
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the recordings can be podcasted or put onto a keepsake visit life on record.com to learn more
first up this week is long-time listener and caller brian from pennsylvania
thanks ryan appreciate that i've got a serious question here for you do you honestly feel
that tesla will solve full self-driving with vision only and if you do
do you think they'll do it before someone else does who is using lidar and radar uh
because it really does sound like gm with their cruise is coming along pretty well with that and
also rivian is making great strides with theirs as well i just feel that you know with a hardware
three car here we've been waiting for this for years it seems like every arrange talk we're on
the cost we're almost there we're almost there but we never actually seem to get there um i'm
starting to become a doubter uh we're before i used to be yeah it will be here before we know it
and my car is going to pick up my kids at school well my last kid is graduating high school this
year and my car is definitely not taking my kid up from school for me back to you thanks as always
for your call brian i would be curious if you'd feel the same way if you had a hardware four car
an ai four car i don't say that as a dig of course there are so so many hardware three owners that
tesla has to take care of when the time comes but as someone lucky enough to have both a hardware
three and a hardware four car to me the difference between the two is stark and that difference is
only widening now with the ai four cars getting version 14 i've had that for what i guess a
couple weeks now i also wish brian i wish you could try out the robotaxi service i'm extremely
extremely privileged to have access to it here in the san francisco bay areas you know the second
market to have it uh but boy it is it is impressive and i and i wish you could get a look at it so
all of that said and and i recognize maybe i'm just being a tesla fanboy here i would say yes
i do believe tesla is going to solve it and they're going to do it first with one potentially
significant caveat and it's one i've brought up before and it's weather is a vision only system
going to work in a for instance pennsylvania winter tesla has not proven that at all as of yet
and it is a really big hurdle at least on paper for a vision only system so i think in the sun
of your climates it's happening and it's happening soon for regions with inclement weather there is
still a lot left to prove take care brian thank you so much as always for your thoughtful calls
next up this week is joel from florida go ahead joel hey ryan and uh and pets uh this is joel
from florida i called years ago about a uh a cybertruck question and i never got the cybertruck
but i did get a model three for an awesome price it was a perfect price point so question um model
three with my wife and my 13 year old son i'm thinking about taking a road trip up in i'm in
i'm in florida thinking about going up to naggerfalls uh and actually driving and going on up on the
north bay and then over to sous st marie and down through what's constant i grew up in wisconsin
so it's going to be nice to see that country again so i'm looking at over 3000 miles and
about two and a half maybe up to three weeks and uh just wondering is that even a good idea with
model three um it looks like there's chargers all the way up it i don't think that's going to be an
issue but comfort wise um you know we're going to pack light um i'm just wondering if is is
has anyone been on i'm sure people have been on road trips that long but have they absolutely
hated the model three after going that far are they actually happy and uh still comfortable with
it after a 3000 plus mile trip just curious if you've heard anything thank you and uh always
look forward to listening to you every week thank you bye bye hi joel thank you for calling in
this sounds like a really fun family trip i say go for it if you find your model three comfortable
in day to day driving i think it's pretty unlikely that you're going to find it much different on
a long road trip especially with autopilot slash fsd to help you out just make sure that you've
got all season tires on the car which unless it's a model three performance it's already got all
season tires and that those tires are in good shape and then i would also say just as a general
road trip thing in for any car maybe buy a tire patch and repair kit and a compressor to bring
with you just in case of any road hazards and i think you're going to love the car more when you
get done with this trip rather than potentially less so joel have a fantastic time and as i always
say at the end of every episode happy electric motoring finally this week the last call i've
got time for is another regular caller always good to hear from him here's robert from texas
responding to my comment about tesla not having any vehicles on the roadmap past 2027 or so go
ahead robert hey ryan it's robert from texas uh just listening to your show just this past week
talking about what new cars uh might tesla have for 2028 and i actually think what they should do
is a regular truck i think we have to be honest the cyber truck's an amazing car it's it's so
innovative incredible features and everything but i just don't think that most people are ready to go
there uh and the cost is so high i think with a regular truck uh tesla could deliver something
really interesting and you might wonder what the differentiation is i actually think the
differentiation is the full self-driving i mean think about someone who use a truck uh works all
day construction you know hauling things whatever at the end of the day they're exhausted tired
and they've got a you know or they either have to go home or they got to go to a site
which might be quite far away hour and a half two hours away i think the fsd is the game changer
and that allows someone to work with their contractors or you know ordering materials
or doing whatever they can in their car while they're on the way to work on the way to site and
back anyway so that's the differentiating feature and if only tesla breaks that um for a while uh
that could be the difference uh in addition to obviously they can make a great truck thanks
appreciate your show bye as always robert i appreciate your call elan did say a number of
years ago at this point i guess it was in the wake of the cyber truck unveiling so it would have been
late 2019 or maybe sometime in 2020 that if people didn't like the cyber truck that tesla
would make a quote-unquote regular truck and thus far the numbers suggest unfortunately
that people don't like it or at least they don't like it at its current prices as you wisely noted
there the key with a normal truck of course would be that it would need to be priced reasonably so
presumably that would be easier without steer by wire without 48 volt low voltage without 800
volt high voltage architecture without rear wheel steering and maybe even without air suspension too
unfortunately as i've been talking about in recent weeks here it doesn't seem like tesla plans to
make anything with a steering wheel on it after the new roadster and therefore it could be normal
in every other way but if tesla made a so-called normal truck that was fully autonomous with no
inputs i fear that that might be a bridge too far for a lot of buyers so we'll see what if
anything happens but i'm not sure if elan would want to build a so-called normal truck at this point
tesla's last normal vehicle was the model y five years ago now in fact almost six because it was
shipped in march of 2020 so it's just about six since that time we have had decidedly
abnormal vehicles we've had the cyber truck of course the tesla semi which is sort of out
the cyber cab which is going into production in april and the new roadster which is apparently
quote unquote more than a car it's it's insane whatever it is so none of that i would call normal
but we'll see what tesla does and yeah i i would not bet on tesla making a normal looking truck but
that's one of those cases where right again i'd love to be proven wrong thank you robert thank
you everybody that kindly took the time to call in and with your with your questions your comments
your discussion topics if you've got one if you've got a question comment or discussion topic i would
love to hear from you there are two easy ways you can call in i gave you both of those at the top
of this segment so refer back to that if you need to as for what's going on with me and my tesla
which i've named the soul of adventure well not much honestly it's expected to be a rainy weekend
so no car activity plan no car washing planned and that's fine that's all good i'm still having fun
with dispatch the game that i think i told you about on last week's show um half all the episodes
are out now all eight episodes you know they're about an hour each i'm halfway through as of
recording this and i really want to get done i don't know if i'll get done this weekend but
i'm having an absolutely fantastic time with that game so far but how about a different
entertainment recommendation for this week this is not a new show it's one that i've just discovered
my wife in fact recommended it to me and i finally decided to to dive in and give it a
shot and i've really been enjoying it i'm only in season one of what is currently four seasons
but the show is called hacks it's on hbo max and it is about a a comedy writer and a and an older
stand-up comedian two women who kind of end up the writer ends up working for the older established
rich and famous comedian and they clash and they butt heads and it's been a fun first season so far
so if you need and it's they're only 30 minute episodes so if you'd like a you know a no drama
just a fun 30 minute easily digestible comedy give it a go now for your pro tip of the week it comes
from the owner of a new model y and his name is mike in oklahoma city hey ryan this is mike in
oklahoma city area aka okie tesla on x and youtube i'm a new tesla owner got my new model y may 21st
and drove out the x takeover had a great time heading up to pike's peak later this month for
another great time i've been playing around with fsd and it was kind of frustrating with the
deviation in the max mileage or max uh miles per hour headset and been reading the law and
listening to the law and your podcast has been very helpful on getting me up to speed on eb vehicles
but uh one thing i did notice i set uh zero percent over speed limit in the fsd settings
and then i would roll the scroll wheel up five or six miles over the limit
to get to where i wanted to go but by accident today i accelerated like 46 miles per hour just
manual driving then i hit uh the right scroll wheel to go to fsd and it's at the max speed
at 46 i tried it a few more times and realized that if you just accelerate to the speed you want
to go over the limit and then press the scroll wheel that automatically sets your max speed
without having to roll up the scroll wheel up and down when the speed limit changes so
i don't know if everybody else knows that or not but i certainly found it out by mistake today
so i thought i passed along really enjoy the podcast and the uh tesla community is a great
community i'm thrilled with my new model y and hope to learn a lot more thanks
mike welcome to the podcast and welcome to the tesla community i am very happy to hear that your
new model y is treating you well so far and that you've been putting some miles on it and
getting out to some events that's awesome i am going to go ahead and count your call as a pro tip
even if it's maybe more of a psa than anything else because i bet you that not quite everybody
knows that if you're manually going faster than your max offset speed and then you activate which
was zero in your case and then you activate fsd the max speed will be set to whatever speed
you are going and uh i guess maybe this tip is going out of style as version 14 continues to
roll out but for anybody still on 13 hopefully that is of use and if anybody has a useful pro
tip of the week for your tesla or any other ev i'd love to hear it i would love for you to
call in and share it with me so that i can in turn share it with all of you with everybody else
so if you've got a pro tip of the week please feel free to call in with it the same way that you
call in with a regular ride the lightning hotline call which i gave you the instructions for just
a few minutes ago before i go this week let me mention some friends of the podcast that can
hopefully be useful to you and in fact specifically right now i know i always say like oh maybe useful
to you sooner or later but it could be sooner in this case abstract ocean dot com who's got so many
great aftermarket tesla and rivian accessories is currently having a black friday sale uh 25 percent
off of orders up to 150 30 percent off of orders over 150 i will be honest with you i am not sure
if my discount code is able to stack on top of that but it can't hurt to try for an extra 15
percent off or if it doesn't work well guess what you can still get 25 percent off here on this black
friday sale on the orders up to 150 and if you're spending more than that 30 percent off so head on
over to abstract ocean dot com they've got so many great tesla and rivian accessories let me click on
the refreshed model y accessories here and just see uh see what we've got there's again the big one
the ultra premium tempered glass screen protectors for all the cars uh you've got let's see here again
all those cyber truck expel armor pre-cut pieces to help keep the non-stainless pieces looking great
there's the puddle lights with the the tesla wordmark logo or other options there's the
ultra bright lights for the refreshed model three just kind of moving them to other vehicles so
meaning the inside of the car those those accent lights just all sorts of stuff and you just head
on over see what you like click on which car you have see whatever all they have and then
pile it all into your cart and when you get to check out you can try the code RTL podcast
all one more no spaces and if it doesn't work well again you'd still be getting 25 to 30 off
in their black friday big sale so abstract ocean dot com and if it works with that sale
use the coupon code RTL podcast all one word no spaces the snap plate available at every amp
dot com slash RTL this is available for gosh they're oh they've they've really expanded here they're
they're on everything they got uh they've got them for teslas rivians chevys catalax fords pole
stars lexus subaru toyota um boy yeah the blazer ev the bolt the catalac lyric the fort f-150
lightning the pole star two and pole star three just all kinds of vehicles that they've uh that
they're supporting now with their snap plate and the newer stronger snap plate plus i'm a big fan
of these products because they do not stick with automotive tape to the front of your car if you
either want or are legally required to have a front license plate on your vehicle so use the
nice minimalist design but secure when it's on snap plate or the newer stronger snap plate plus
to get it go to every amp dot com slash RTL or just click the link in the episode description
and use the coupon code RTL at checkout for a discount as well if you're in or going to be in
the greater san francisco bay area treat yourself treat your car to a spa day if you will over at
my detailer immaculate reflections they are running as always the discount for ride the
lightning listeners so uh you can reach out through the website which is ir detailing dot com
and when you do that you will uh make sure to mention that you're a ride the lightning listener
so that any uh any service you have booked in will have that ride the lightning listener
discount applied maybe you want ceramic coating so that you don't have to bother with wax for the
next five plus years maybe you want to do paint correction get that paint finished looking as
good as it possibly can maybe you want to do paint protection film on the front of the car or all of
the car potentially whatever the case may be the place to start is ir detailing dot com you'll see
right on the front page either in the very top left you'll see contact jeff a link there
there's a phone number or right in the middle of the page you'll see a big red button that says
inquire slash book here and then there's a nice easy form to fill out on the website
finally my patreon let me mention that one more time if you would be so kind as to humor me there
patreon dot com slash tesla podcast again you can also just click the link in the episode
description that is the best way to support this podcast if you see fit to do so and my hope is that
eventually if you've been listening for weeks months years that you will feel like that i have
earned your support on patreon you'd super be helping me and my family out by contributing on
patreon the support tiers start at just five bucks a month and for those five bucks a month you'll
get in return as a thank you an ad-free episode as well as early access every week to that ad-free
episode as well if you step up to the ten dollar per month tier which is the most popular one
you'll get the ad-free early access and access to the entire stash now 160 something episodes
of those lightning round mini episodes that i do each week exclusively on patreon so one more time
the the link is patreon.com slash tesla podcast and if you're not already following this podcast on
your favorite podcast service i recommend that you do so because that way every time
there's a new episode you'll get a push notification letting you know hey there's a new ride the
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makes it nice and simple so you can follow me on any of the big podcast services whether that's
apple podcasts spotify tune in youtube podcasts etc to find me on those just search ride the
lightning tesla you should see this podcast pop right up and then just click the follow button
and you're all good finally you can follow me on x and or on instagram the username is the same
in either place and that username is dmc underscore ryan you can also email me anytime about any tesla
or ev related stuff my email address is tesla podcast at gmail.com finally allow me to say hello
and thank you to the top tier patreon backers before i head out this week i'll start with the
roadster in space tier big thanks to pete white lile austin steve rad spinner fernando cordero
laughton from chicago shawn nightig neal weaver jackson wallace ralph and jennifer evers
howard anthony smith victoria aya coveto tesla hitchhiker 42 caro weston robert from near philly
american home contractors dug carry michael gallo and tony figaroa next up the maximum
plaid crew a big thank you and shout out to jonathan wales cameron clark daniel grummer
seth capello nick and tony the galpin family ryan from new york city darin nickle cos Barnes
patrick wisneski gill cabrera todd badger joe edgel kevin yank the tesla owner's club of
sandwalking valley will stedman jeremy harris chris beach tom mills choreo donnell aron
john codie jolsap paul casarino chris osbourne kb adam levoi jason chelukas travis krenzel
bruce otterstein tom behan josh pennington john from cream ridge new jersey dustin hart
derek finley charles clement daemon klyne jeff brown jerry slinger kenneth corbett
brian bertoglio kim bae troy sievers chip hooper matt shinander robert moran rave christopher man
and michael williams and last but certainly not least the grandfathered in plaid level supporters
big thank you to george cassiopo logan willis peter chalet eric randolph dory and steve guberman
the tesla owner's club of taiwan ron lee charlie gillespie jeff angwin chase cabineas the lydia
family erin alchool jared brown gerome strack jamie dalton mike and barbara from louisville
matt nixon the tesla owners club of wisconsin ish peter and the bear boys of colorado and with that
we've reached the end of the 537th official edition of ride the lightning your weekly tesla
and ev podcast i hope you've enjoyed it i am ready to pass out so i'm gonna try to do that fairly
soon but i'll be back raring to go for you next week of course every sunday 9 a.m eastern
six a.m pacific unless you're with me on patreon in which case it's the show is typically waiting
for you when you wake up on saturday morning because by the time i mean it'll be done it'll
be uploaded to patreon by what let's see at least tonight 8 30 p.m pacific so maybe i'll
catch some of you patreon folks still up on the west coast but otherwise for all of you kind
patreon backers it's waiting for you when you wake up saturday morning anyway happy electric
motoring my friends and i'll see you back here next week
music
ilan musk people don't like ilan musk the guy found a paypal and tesla and people are like
also have you been in a tesla have you been in a tesla my buddy let me drive his tesla i laughed
out loud at how fast it went been clinically depressed my entire life on dozens of medications
in a tesla for 13 seconds cured forever i mean i think a tesla is the most fun thing you could
possibly buy ever that's what it's meant to be our goal is to make it's it's not exactly a car
it's actually a thing to maximize enjoyment it's maximum fun
About this episode
Tesla is reportedly working on integrating Apple CarPlay into its vehicles, marking a significant shift from its previous stance on third-party software. The episode also covers Tesla's dominance in global EV sales for September, with the Model Y and Model 3 leading the charts. Additionally, Ford CEO Jim Farley shares insights from tearing down Tesla and Chinese EVs, highlighting the need for Ford to adapt to the competitive landscape. The discussion touches on notable departures from Tesla's leadership and the implications for the company's future.
Original notes
In a surprise, Tesla is reportedly working on adding Apple CarPlay to its vehicles. Plus: Tesla sweeps the global EV sales charts for September, Ford CEO Jim Farley says his company was "shocked" when they took apart a Tesla Model 3, 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.
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Ride the Lightning: Tesla and EV Podcast
Ryan McCaffrey
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80:37