Episode 546: Tesla's FSD Is Going Subscription-Only
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Car
Tesla Cybertruck
The Tesla Cybertruck is a new type of electric truck that looks very different from regular trucks because of its sharp, futuristic shape. It's designed to be strong and high-tech, making it interesting for people who like trucks and new technology. Many people talk about it because it's so unusual and has some cool features.
Term
supercharger
A supercharger is a special charging station for electric cars that lets you charge the battery quickly. It's really helpful for long trips when you need to recharge fast.
Term
megachargers
Megachargers are special charging stations that can quickly charge electric trucks like the Tesla Semi. They are much faster than regular chargers, which helps big trucks get back on the road more quickly.
Term
supercharging stalls
Supercharging stalls are special parking spots where you can quickly charge your electric car, especially Teslas. They help you get back on the road faster than regular charging stations.
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is a fully electric car that is designed to be safe and efficient. It's popular for its modern technology and good safety ratings, especially for families.
Car
Tesla Model Y
The Tesla Model Y is a smaller SUV that runs on electricity. It's known for being safe and is a good option for families looking for an electric vehicle.
Term
Euro NCAP
Euro NCAP is a group that tests new cars to see how safe they are. They give ratings that help people know which cars are the safest to drive.
Car
Tesla Semi
The Tesla Semi is an electric truck made for transporting goods, and it's designed to be cheaper to run than regular trucks. It has cool features like self-driving technology and can go long distances on a single charge. People discuss it because it's trying to change how goods are delivered in a more eco-friendly way.
Car
Tesla Model S
Car
Tesla Model X
The Tesla Model X Plaid is a faster version of the Model X SUV. It has a lot of power and cool technology.
Term
zero emissions
Zero emissions means that the car doesn't release any harmful gases into the air when it runs. Electric cars like Teslas are designed this way.
Term
dash cam
A dash cam is a small camera that you put on your car's dashboard. It records everything that happens while you drive, which can be helpful if there's an accident.
Term
FSD
FSD means Full Self-Driving, which is a feature from Tesla that lets the car drive itself in some situations. It's not fully autonomous yet, but it's getting closer.
Term
ASP
ASP means Average Selling Price, which is how much money, on average, people pay for a car. It helps companies understand their sales better.
Term
Alcantara
Alcantara is a soft, suede-like fabric that's used in car interiors to make them look and feel nicer. It's popular in luxury cars because it's both stylish and strong.
Part
headliner
The headliner is the fabric or material that you see on the inside of the car's roof. It's there to make the car look nicer and to help with insulation.
Company
X Care
X Care is a company that provides extra insurance for electric cars, helping owners pay for repairs after the original warranty runs out.
Term
all-wheel drive
All-wheel drive means that all four wheels of the car get power from the engine, which helps the car grip the road better, especially in rain or snow. It makes driving safer and more stable.
Term
rear-wheel drive
Rear-wheel drive means that the back wheels of the car get the power from the engine. This can make the car handle better in some situations, but it might not be as good in slippery conditions like rain or snow.
Term
dual motor
Dual motor means the car has two electric motors, one for the front wheels and one for the back. This helps the car go faster and stay stable on the road.
Term
performance version
A performance version of a car is designed to be faster and more fun to drive than the regular version. It usually has better handling and more power.
Part
helix 2.0 wheels
Helix 2.0 wheels are a type of wheel that Tesla makes for their cars. They are designed to look good and help the car perform better.
Part
19 inch Nova wheels
The 19 inch Nova wheels are a type of wheel that you can get for the Tesla Model 3. They are silver and are the only option of that color for this car right now.
Car
Tesla Robo Van
The Tesla Robo Van is a self-driving van created by Tesla. It's meant to help transport people, especially in busy areas like cities during events.
Concept
Vegas Loop
The Vegas Loop is a plan to build tunnels under Las Vegas to help people travel around the city more quickly. It will use special vehicles to move passengers.
Car
Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is a fast electric car that was one of the first cars made by Tesla. It's known for being really quick and stylish, and it shows how electric cars can be just as exciting as regular sports cars. People talk about it because it's a symbol of how electric cars can perform well.
Term
electric vehicle (EV)
An electric vehicle, or EV, is a car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. They are often better for the environment because they produce fewer emissions.
Brand
Volvo
Volvo is a car company from Sweden that is famous for making safe and reliable cars. They are also moving towards making more electric vehicles.
Car
Polestar 2
The Polestar 2 is an electric car that looks like a sporty hatchback and is made to be both fun to drive and good for the environment. It has a modern design and lots of tech features, making it attractive to people who want a stylish electric vehicle. It's mentioned a lot because it's part of a growing trend of electric cars that are becoming more popular.
Car
Polestar 4
The Polestar 4 is a new electric SUV that is part of a brand that makes cars focused on being good for the environment and fun to drive. It's designed to look nice and have the latest technology, making it appealing to more people who want electric vehicles. It's talked about because it's part of a growing trend of electric cars.
Car
Polestar 3
Term
EV
An EV, or electric vehicle, is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas. This means it doesn't produce exhaust fumes and can be cheaper to drive.
Part
pencil brace
A pencil brace is a part of the car's structure that helps make it stronger and improve how it handles on the road. It's important for keeping everything stable, especially in the suspension.
Car
Rimac Nevera
The Rimac Nevera is a super-fast electric car that is designed for high performance, meaning it can go really fast and handle well on the road. It's known for having some of the best technology in electric cars, making it very special and exciting. People talk about it because it's one of the fastest electric cars in the world.
LIVE
On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, Tesla will soon
remove the option to purchase FSD outright, plus model-wise design changes from last week
plus a couple more come to the United States even sooner than expected, a California Supercharger
station will soon expand to a record number of posts, Polestar shows some impressive growth
and more.
What's happening friends, I'm Ryan McCaffrey joining you for episode 546 of your weekly
Tesla and EV podcast, I call it Ride the Lightning.
It's for January 18th, 2026 to my left, Daisy the Boxer just below me at my feet chewing
on a bone is Lily the Silly Labrador.
Hope you're all having a great week wherever and whenever you are listening to this and
I want to start this week's podcast by once again acknowledging there's one more little
fun development in my ongoing quest to see Bigfoot aka the long range rear wheel drive
Cybertruck that I've been somewhat half jokingly questioning the real life existence of, thank
you to Vitor in Florida who sent me photographic evidence picture proof of that long range
rear wheel drive Cybertruck, I will say so yes I now all jokes aside 100% believe that
they did get delivered to actual customers, but at the same point I will say as a final
point on this, I do genuinely wonder how many of them are actually out there, they weren't
on sale for very long, the Cybertruck just hasn't been selling super well relative to
the other, well at least relative to its expectations and relative to the three in the Y and I haven't
seen any here in my very Tesla-tastic San Francisco Bay area at all so I think we can probably
safely add the long range rear wheel drive Cybertruck to the list of Tesla unicorns which
I've done a lightning round mini episode on for Patreon, basically I refer to very rare
configurations of Teslas as Tesla unicorns and I think we can add all of the long range
rear wheel drive Cybertrucks to that list.
Next time I see Franz I'll have to ask him how many of those variants exist, I'm not
sure he'll tell me on that one but I am curious for sure.
Something there is a lot of are superchargers in California and specifically there's going
to be a whole lot more at one particular supercharger in California so it seems as though the Tesla
Oasis as the company is calling it, the recently opened giant world's largest in fact supercharger
in Lost Hills California, it's got 164 stalls but it will not be the world record holder
for very long, it will not hold the championship belt for much longer.
Fireball California which is just a bit further north up Interstate 5 between Los Angeles
and San Francisco is getting a massive expansion and will take back the title, now it's worth
pointing out just as a fun little note here, for a time this station Fireball which I've
actually been to a couple of times, it was the world's largest supercharger for a minute
when it first opened with 56 stalls so that's what I mean when I say it's taking back the
title.
So the news on this comes courtesy this week of our eagle-eyed supercharging loving friend
Marco RP on X, he posted a picture of the site plan and said quote, a massive new supercharger
expansion is coming soon to Fireball California, last month Tesla was granted a conditional
use permit for the addition of, and this is, let me just make sure I'm saying this very
crystal clear, 232 stalls in the agricultural lots north of the existing site, the expansion
will also feature 16 new megachargers, so just to do the math for you here, remember
I'm a trained journalist so math is not my strong suit, that's 232 v4 superchargers going
in and 16 megachargers on top of the 56 v3 superchargers that are already there, that
adds up to a grand total of 304 supercharging stalls, now granted 16 of those can't be used
by your car or mine, but still 304 total fast charging Tesla supercharging stalls, that
is absolutely bonkers, now regarding the 16 megachargers and just to, if you think, well
16 that's not that much, picture it for a second, picture 16 Tesla semis with fully
loaded trailers all parked there at the same time, that's a lot of real estate, like that's
a lot, so Tesla semis program manager Dan Priestly posted a comment and response to
Marco's post saying simply, quote, lots of trucks to electrify on I5, end quote, so now
the next thing I want you to do, because it's the same thought exercise I did, try to imagine
this station being completely full, like try to imagine a lot of 300 plus, I mean okay, what 288
I guess that cars can plug into, 288 passenger vehicle supercharging stalls that are entirely
full, that's just like a giant parking lot all charging up at the same time, that is crazy,
it's nearly, it's pretty close to double what the aforementioned Tesla Oasis is
with its 164 V4 chargers, man the Tesla charging team they are cranking the dial up to 11 on fast
charging infrastructure, particularly here in California where yes we do have a much higher
rate of EV adoption, but man that is so cool and I for one absolutely love it, big salute to the
Tesla charging team. Next up this week as we continue to get warmed up, the Model 3 and the
Model Y have been named Europe's safest new cars by Euro NCAP, that's the independent authority
that basically their NHTSA essentially that's that's giving the safety ratings for new cars.
Tesla took to their official Europe and Middle East account on X to say quote Model 3 and Y
both receive Euro NCAP's best in class award, Model 3 is the safest large family car, Model Y
is the safest small SUV, then the Euro NCAP organization itself said quote Model Y proved
the gold standard for small SUVs specifically excelling in child occupant protection that's
big news for families and safety assist tests Euro NCAP said they continued with the updated Tesla
Model 3 remains a leader in safety, the electric family car achieved high scores across the board
and particularly impressed in child occupant protection, its safety assist score shows Tesla's
continued improvement of driver assistance safety features and that was the end of their quote.
Tesla's top engineer and friend of this podcast Lars Morevi commented on this saying quote awesome
results mighty thanks to the engineers associates techs and whole team that make this real and
quote well said Lars on that one and you know when I when I talk about this when I tell you this story
this will not surprise a single listener of this podcast who all of you know about Tesla's
track record when it comes to safety but the thing is for the non-enthusiast out there who's
subjected to just one heaping pile of fud after another those people might without any malice
in their hearts think that Teslas are death traps right the dichotomy between the I hate to say it
semi pervasive belief of what's out there and the actual reality that all of us know about
it's a stunning dichotomy but as I've often said the really neat and I would say personally
unheralded part about Tesla vehicles is that there's a few different entry points for the brand
for different kinds of people if you're all about safety like maybe you've owned Volvos in the past
well there's your reason to buy a Tesla if you're into tech the regular free software updates and
the ever-evolving autonomous driving features well that's another reason to buy a Tesla if you're
into performance which I am you can buy a model 3 performance as I did a model y performance
a model x plaid or the king of the tesla brand performance wise the model s plaid or in fact
the cyber beast and that is your entry into the brand if you're into sustainability and reducing
your carbon footprint being zero emissions as all Teslas are of course that is obviously not unique
to Tesla it's true of all EVs obviously but that's yet another way into the brand for a lot of people
so my point is you've got all of these factors that can appeal to wholly different kinds of buyers
and yet all of those different kinds of people end up choosing Tesla and end up happy doing so
but safety above all of them I think we'd all agree is the most important one so congrats to Lars
and his team for engineering the very safest cars on the planet well this week's headline story
which I'll get to in a moment is about fsd and so was this week's lightning round mini episode over
on patreon I compared fsd on my ai4 car to fsd on my ai3 car since I am lucky enough to have one of
each both with fsd so that's a topic that people have been asking me to do for a little while
I thought this week I would finally do it so if you are kindly supporting my efforts here
with ride the lightning over on my patreon page which you can find at patreon.com slash tesla
podcast or just click the link in the episode description I hope you'll check out and enjoy
this week's lightning round mini episode as well as the other 175 of them so if you're just
now going to join the patreon a thank you and b make sure to dive in to all of the rest of those
lightning round mini episodes at your convenience of course the easiest way to find them is right
from my patreon page just click collections at the top and then once you get there click
lightning round and it shows you takes you to a page with every single lightning round mini episode
on there and a reminder that you can support this podcast and what I do here for free each and
every week every sunday a new episode comes out for the last 10 years and counting for just five
bucks a month and for five bucks a month you will get an ad free episode and you'll get early
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and if you join that ten dollar per month tier that's the most popular one you'll get the early
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all the new ones that I do each successive week don't forget there's an annual pledge option
which you get a 10 discount off of if you just want to support me once for an entire year there's
a 10 thank you discount on that and patreon also offers a seven day free trial if you'd like to
sign up for that and just take a test drive if you will take a demo drive of supporting this podcast
on patreon without actually putting down any money to do so but anyway the patreon page again
patreon.com slash tesla podcast let's talk now about in my opinion the biggest tesla news story
of the week and that is this tesla will stop selling fsd outright next month and will move to
a subscription only option tesla ceo elan musk posted on x at 10 30 p.m pacific which if he was in
texas meant it was 12 30 a.m for him saying quote tesla will stop selling fsd after february 14th
fsd will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter end quote you know when i saw this i
had a vague memory of predicting this outcome when tesla first introduced the monthly subscription
option i don't know if i actually said that but it sort of struck a struck a chord in my brain but
regardless this is not pleasant news because removing a choice for the customer is never good
in my opinion it might be good for the company to remove this option but for me it's not good
for the customer i mean hey maybe the take rate on the eight thousand dollar purchase option for
fsd was exceptionally low i mean i've done it twice but i am just one person but having a choice
is always better than not having a choice i think most people would agree with me on that
and i think that tesla might find that this move negatively affects customer loyalty or at the very
least delays a new car purchase for a customer who would have otherwise upgraded because they own
a car with fsd purchased outright now that is unless that purchased fsd can be transferred to a new
car the thing is though as of this recording we don't have any more details and thus we don't
know if that will be the case fsd transfer is currently a thing but tesla has made no promises
that it's going to stick around from one quarter to the next in fact they keep using it as a demand
lever i know i've been on this podcast saying that it's unofficially permanent but now with this
change it throws that into question i'm not sure in fact i'll say uh i woke up to texts from my
cousin zack in new jersey shout out to zack who uh i'm looking forward to seeing this summer when he
gets married he i woke up to text from zack he's got a hardware three model three and he was itching
to buy it thinking i better just buy this now right like and i had to i had to talk him out of it or
least my opinion was my counsel to him was i would i would recommend that you don't pull the trigger
and spend eight thousand dollars on this spend the eight grand on the wedding instead on your
future house but this is i i told him this was probably not something i would recommend doing
at least not without an assurance that anybody who buys it now or already owns it
will for sure be able to transfer it whether that's in one year two years five years whatever
down the road after this policy change goes into effect excuse me goes into effect next month
if we get that assurance and particularly in writing on tesla.com uh versus just a post on x
from the ceo i would feel a lot better about it but it just honestly we we don't have that yet
we just we don't have it so i strongly advise zack to not do it especially not on a hardware
three car i would offer that same polite counsel to any of you who may be thinking about it
um i i'm just again i'm not gonna celebrate this at all but what i do think that elan and tesla
could do in order to take the sting out of this a little bit as well as perhaps push a little
one-time rush of fsd purchases would be to come out right now or very soon as soon as possible
and flat out say very clearly anyone who's bought fsd for their car prior to february 15th will be
able to transfer it either for life to any newly purchased tesla or at least a one-time transfer
at the absolute minimum we will allow you for sure you know anytime you want in the future
you can transfer it once to a newly purchased car basically i'm asking for tesla to make this
make the transfer an early adopter thank you gift and i think we've all we've all earned that
if we if you've purchased fsd at any point in the last by the way almost 10 years i had to
stop and think about this i was like oh yeah it was fall of 2016 as of this fall tesla will have
been selling fsd for a full decade and we are only just now on the fourth generation of the
hardware with the current generation of the software that we just got what a month or two ago
we're finally getting to a place where it's like legit good and it can the cars can
self deliver themselves from the from the texas factory from giga texas but i say that to to point
out that in my humble opinion all of us who have purchased fsd at some point in the last 10 years
we're still in the early adopter phase of fsd and i say that since the software still has not reached
unsupervised fsd status yet we can't go to sleep in the car and wake up at our destination we are
at least we can't do it legally so we're not there yet and so that's what i would like to see from
tesla is an assurance that if you purchase it now or you've purchased it in the past on a car that
you still have that you'll for sure be able to transfer it now for those of you out there who
might think well eight grand that's silly i mean hey i i get that the math really only not really
only it definitely only works out on purchasing fsd for eight thousand dollars if you plan to
keep the car for more than seven and three quarter years that's the break even point and then you
start quote unquote making money on the deal if you purchase it for eight grand i also want to
acknowledge the number of you out there that some of you paid 10 grand for fsd as the price
first went up some of you paid 12 000 for fsd as the price continued to go up and some of you
out there paid 15 000 for fsd and i say that i'm not trying to speak ill of you in any way it's
the opposite i am saying that you probably even more than the people that paid eight grand
deserve an assurance that you're going to be able to transfer it to a new car rather than just
if you get a new one you're stuck with the 99 dollar per month subscription rate then that's
99 bucks a month at the current price so that's that's kind of where i stand there plus and i'll
acknowledge as well as far as people that don't like the eight thousand dollar outright purchase
option that the way tesla's system has been set up you are out of luck on that eight thousand
dollars if for any reason even if it's your not it's not your fault if your car gets totaled
you are probably not getting full restitution from your insurance company on that eight thousand
dollar fsd purchase so i acknowledge all of that but uh it's again it's about the removal of the
choice and the i'll point this out too there's there's the question of does this affect any change
with the luxe package that's recently become mandatory on model s model x and cyber beast
because as all of you know among other things the luxe package includes fsd i suspect at least
after i thought about it for a couple minutes i don't think that tesla will make any changes to
the luxe package because number one they want the higher average sale price the higher asp on the
relatively few s's x's and beasts that they sell so i think they are going to continue
forcing the luxe package which includes fsd on those cars so i don't think that this policy
change to fsd is going to impact the luxe package at all the good news here in terms of trying to
get an assurance or get additional details on this is that we do have an earnings call coming
up in just two weeks so i am going to politely and humbly task all of you retail shareholders out
there with upvoting a question about fsd transfer on the onto the next earnings call so that we can
first and foremost get elon to have to think about it on the call we've seen this before we've seen
good questions put up on the earnings call before that he then listens to contemplates and sometimes
takes action on and so i think that he needs to think about it a little bit more i'm not okay i'm
saying he's quote unquote wrong it's it's his company he's the boss right there's that's that's
the deal but as a customer i am sitting here wanting to advocate to have the choice restored
because and i'll say this too i i don't want to get like too far into the weeds it's not like i
take this personally or anything because i bought fsd twice but i will say that i think the optics
on this are a little not great because you're talking about a substantial policy change
to what is currently the entire crux of tesla's business in the words of the ceo himself tesla
is all in on autonomy this is the focus of the company and so a policy change posted by the ceo
on social media and not coming from the company itself on the company website that's posted in
the middle of the night well it doesn't exactly inspire confidence that this decision was very
carefully considered maybe it was but i'm just saying the optics on it aren't great in my opinion
so hopefully a question can and will be put to him on that upcoming earnings call
and we can get him to give it some more careful consideration at the very least
because like i said he has changed his position before on policies and things based on customer
feedback so we'll see what he says in a couple weeks if the question gets put to him but if in
fact this policy does end up going into effect it is at least for now going to be 99 bucks a month
and here's the thing this is part of the reason why i don't like the choice being removed if we
get to unsupervised and tesla decides to raise the price well guess what for any new customers
and or basically anybody that didn't purchase the fsd prior to the february 14th deadline
well guess what if the price goes up you either pay the new price or you you cancel that's it
those are that's your really your only option so to me again it's i know i'm beating the dead
horse it's just a bummer to me to have a choice taken away from customers i don't regret buying
twice myself even on the ai3 car i'm glad i did some of you may feel differently but
surely you would agree with me that having choices is a good thing next up this week
well the this isn't much happier news nothing nothing to complain about here the two design
changes out of giga shanghai that i headlined the podcast with last week did as i predicted come to
the united states and we didn't even have to wait long at all it was just a few days instead
of a few months as it has typically been in the past from changes initiated at giga shanghai
so it turns out it was exactly as i predicted last week not that it was some sort of nostradamus
level prediction so here's here's what the deal is the model y standard will not get the black
headliner or the slightly larger slightly higher resolution 16 inch center touchscreen
but every other model y that's the premium rear wheel drive the premium all wheel drive and the
performance version will get the black headliner and the slightly larger slightly higher resolution
16 inch center touchscreen so i already said my my piece on this last week
i do prefer the black headliner especially with the white interior but i can also completely
understand if others don't because as i was talking about last week with my delorean experience
it might make the cabin feel a little bit smaller more claustrophobic for some people
but i'm gonna add this to what i said last week now that these changes have come to the
american factories i would expect the model three is going to follow suit on these changes
before too long maybe as soon as next week maybe even as soon as you hear this but also maybe once
tesla's black headliner supplier is able to ramp up their supply and provide enough parts
for all the cars the three in the y the s and x and cybertruck do have black headliner as well
but theirs is an alcantara material whereas this is a black fabric it's simply it's the same
fabric material that's already in the three in the y just a different color version um
but you know i think the reason besides just supplier simplicity i mean that's the main reason
but another reason to bring this over to the model threes is the same reason that they're
doing it on the the premium model y's and not the standard y which is having the black headliner
and the slightly larger screen it's a way to differentiate the premium model threes versus
the standard model three as well uh side note by the way i would love to get this retrofitted
into my model three performance i just think it would look as i said last week i think it would
look so good with the white interior which i have i mean i suppose i could retrofit it in
i just have to pay tesla a pretty penny in labor to do it if they'd even take the job i mean they're
they're i don't know if they would they might just be like sorry no we're we're not gonna take on
a job like that go to a you know interior upholsterer or something and have them do it
but um because i mean i guess it wouldn't be all labor there would be some parts costs too
besides the headliner materials that would be black sun visor pieces and the black dome light
plate up on the you know the ceiling of the car so if i will say this if anybody from tesla
wants to give me a quote for this you know for science i would love to hear it feel free to
reach out to me tesla podcast at gmail.com i would be curious what the cost of this would be if it's
even something that tesla would entertain well you guys know me you know that i love little
design changes so i made the new headline color the subject of this week's patreon poll thank you
to everybody all 273 of you as of this recording that stopped by my patreon page to vote uh the
patreon poll is free it's open to everybody i want everybody to stop on by and cast your vote each
week on whatever the poll question is stop by patreon.com slash tesla podcast typically new
questions go up on tuesday evenings sometimes it's a day later sometimes it's a day earlier
but typically tuesday nights anyway uh the question was simply what color headliner do you prefer and
i did put a picture of each one so you had a little visual there and uh shout out to the 42 of you
that voted the same way i would have voted on this one uh 42 which won the poll chose black
headliner all the way no matter what color the seats are and then it was pretty close between the
next two 19 percent of you said gray headliner all the way no matter what color the seats are
21 percent of you voted i prefer black headliner with the black seats but gray headliner
with the white seats so 21 percent of you wanting to kind of go with the kind of all dark interior
or the all lighter color interior and then just five percent of you voted for the opposite five
percent voted i prefer gray headliner with the black seats but black headliner with the white
seats but the the majority of votes cast went to the black headliner all the way no matter
what color the seats are so thank you again to everybody that kindly took the time to vote
in this week's patreon poll before i continue with the rest of this week's tesla and ev news and
there is plenty more to talk about a quick note for my rivian owners listening out there it's from
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i am a two-time customer now of x care so i definitely vouch for these guys i'm glad i have
them backing me up on our 2018 model 3 performance so shout out to my rivian listeners out there
from x care well the change in model y headliner to the dark headliner is not the only new thing
going into the model y this week teslas also launched the seven cedar that was promised
early last year by the aforementioned larz mary v when he appeared with franz on j leno's garage
to show j the then brand new model y it is a $2,500 option for the seven cedar which i do believe
is the same price as it was on the gen one model y and it is otherwise seemingly identical to how
it was on the previous version which means they will not in my humble opinion be useful for
really anybody but families with fairly young kids and uh they are going to encroach on your cargo
area when those seats are up but they'll be there if you want them and if you don't you can just
fold them flat just like the second row seats and then they're really hardly taking up any
space in the car so it may be an appealing option for a number of families out there
and if you're wondering by the way whether or not the addition of the seven cedar negatively
affects the chances of the model y l coming to the united states well i can't say for sure obviously
because i'm not tesla but i personally don't think it negatively affects the chances of the l
coming here and the reason is because the l is still a pretty different animal six seats with
the two captain's chairs for the second row and that longer wheelbase so i just think the market
for that is different the market for the seven cedar is probably going to be people with either
more kids or maybe a family of four that just wants to have that third row there occasionally but
maybe a lot of the time that third row is going to stay folded flattened out of the way like say
maybe if you have your kids friends in the car with you or something whereas with the model y l
i think that is going to be more appealing for families of four or more who will use all six
seats frequently so i do think there's there's not nearly as much of an overlap with those two
versions as you might initially think so nice to have that seven seat option there i know there
are plenty of you out there that have that have it on the gen one model y or maybe have been waiting
for it here on the generation two model y well it has arrived i should point out it is only available
on the premium all-wheel drive version you so you do have to spend a little bit more money to get
it so if you were hoping to get it on the premium rear wheel drive model y sorry to tell you that
that it's not the case and quite honestly i will say it's it's i don't think unless lars wants to
call me up call the podcast and and tell me why i'm wrong it seems like it's more of a business
choice versus an actual like engineering limitation or anything like that like tesla
probably could offer it on the premium rear wheel drive they just want to have that on they want to
make you spend a little bit more money to get there and to have that at higher average sale
price at least again i don't know for sure i'll ask lars the next time i see him but because you
know there's there's no it's just the the difference it's a front motor if you get the if you get the
all-wheel drive version so it's really not affecting anything there in the rear of the car but anyway
that is a key bit of information to pass along only available on the premium all-wheel drive model
y uh there's another change as well the model y's are now switching to matte black badging
on all trims well sort of when i say all trims turns out the model y standard doesn't have
any badging so it both does and doesn't get this change same with the premium rear wheel drive
actually because there's no badging on that car either but the dual motor version that the premium
all-wheel drive gets the dual motor word mark badge on the bottom right corner of the rear trunk
lid the rear uh hatch lid there it gets it in matte black instead of chrome and the performance
versions insane mode flag badge rectangular shaped flag badge presumably stays the same now the new
model y of course doesn't have a badge on the front in any trim at least here in north america it does
have a have a tesla t logo up there in china but not here in in the the states and then the rear
badge the rear word mark tesla badge on the new model y it's baked into the light bar assembly
and that was already black plastic so there's no there's no change there it's basically it's just
that dual motor badge if you're purchasing the premium all-wheel drive version and the model
this in this case the y is following the model three because the model threes made this change
already for the 2026 model year vehicles in the last couple of months and lastly on this there's
still one more component of this particular topic speaking of changing a design item to a darker
color we're going to continue with that theme there is one more change to tell you about
the model wise 20 inch helix 2.0 wheels are now a dark gray color they cost the same $2,000 as an
upgrade over the default 19 inch cross flow wheel two grand but now it's a dark gray color and you
guys know me well enough by now i very much prefer dark wheels to light wheels on pretty much all the
teslas so for me this looks a lot better it makes the the helix 2.0 wheels look a whole lot better
on the car for me i do wish tesla would do the same thing on the model threes 19 inch nova wheels
that's currently the only silver wheel option on the three just as the 20 inch helix 2.0 wheel
was the only silver wheel option on the y and now there isn't one um and i i would love to see the
the 19 inch novus get changed over to a dark gray color for for the new model three as well
i just think they would look great if they were dark gray but anyway i definitely like this change
for the model y and its helix 2.0 wheels i think it's going to make the car look a lot sharper
really in any paint color even white i think it'll look a nice bit better
moving along this week to our final tesla news story the boring company is in the news regarding
the tesla robovan aka the robo van the boring company president steve davis has shared the most
likely first real world use for tesla's robo van via tesla roddy thank you to my friends over
there for posting this news story they said during a feature with the los vegas review journal
boring company president steve davis stated that the tesla robo van will be used in sin city once
the vegas loop expands across the strip and downtown and the fleet grows to about 1200 teslas
at that scale robovans would be prime would primarily be deployed during predictable surges
such as sports game days and large shows when many riders are traveling to the same destination at
the same time quote the second you have four passengers and you have to start stopping the
best thing you can do is put your smallest vehicle in which is a car but if you know people are going
to the stadium because of a game you'll know an hour before two hours before that a lot of people
are going to a game or a sphere show if you're smart about it that's when you put a high occupancy
occupancy pardon me vehicle in that's when you put the robovan in davis said steve davis's
robovan comment comes amid the boring company's efforts to expand the vegas loops airport service
phase one of rides to harry reed international airport began last month allowing passengers
to travel from existing loop stations such as resorts world on core west gate and the
los vegas convention center phase two will add a 2.2 mile dual direction tunnel from west gate
to paradise road that section is expected to open within months and will allow speeds of up to 60
miles per hour on parts of the route while expanding the fleet to around 160 vehicles
future phases are expected to extend tunnels closer to airport terminals and add multiple
stations along university center drive at this point the system's fleet is expected to grow
close to 300 teslas the final phase an underground airport station was described by davis as the
system's quote holy grail this however has no definite timeframe as of yet thank you to tesla
roddy for that one well i am on record as saying that i don't believe that the robovan will ever
get built because i don't know who would buy it it's not for individual families because it's too
big for them as a giant 20 seat vehicle it seems too small for me for municipalities but okay i will
give it to the boring company the vegas loop would in fact be a good use case for it the problem i see
is that it would still be a really small number of robovans and i just can't imagine tesla is
they can build a meaningful number of them i guess the exception there's the roadster and in fact
i bet the tesla of today on kind of a side note but sort of a related note the tesla of today
probably wishes it had never announced the roadster in the first the new roadster in the first place
because i would imagine that they'd prefer to never build it but they committed themselves to
doing so eight years ago but anyway with the robovan i do see the use case with the boring company
but i don't see the scale needed to justify building it unless pardon me unless the tesla is just
going to hand build them basically like prototypes which could make perfect sense right they're not
to go through all the usual government certifications in order to that you have to do in order to sell
a car to the public if it's all just private enterprise in the vegas loop maybe tesla just
builds just hand builds i don't know 20 maybe 50 robovans something like that so we'll see what
happens as these phases for the vegas loop project progress that's it for tesla news this week but i
wanted to give you one bit of other ev news that i liked seeing this week and i mentioned at the very
top it's about Polestar which is a an ev company that admittedly i don't talk about very often on
here because well quite honestly they haven't really given me anything super exciting to talk about but
here's some good news to share which i'm always happy to share good news about an ev only company
although yes i know the Polestar one was not a pure battery electric vehicle but that was sort of
the just initial car and then the Polestar two onward are all ev so here we go Polestar
posts its best ever year as sales grow 34 percent in 2025 i saw this story on drive tesla canada
who wrote Polestar closed out 2025 with its strongest performance since the brand was founded
reporting record global retail sales as the swedish electric car maker continued to expand its
footprint in new markets according to the figures released last week the company delivered an
estimated 60 119 vehicles worldwide for the full year marking a 34 increase compared to 2024
the surge was especially pronounced in the final quarter Polestar said it sold approximately 15
608 vehicles in q4 2025 a 27 percent year over year jump from the same period in 2024
that late year acceleration helped cement 2025 as a breakout year for the geely and volvo backed
brand even as much of the global ev market grappled with higher interest rates intensifying
competition and shifting incentive structures Polestar ceo michael loesch letter uh low
low sheller there we go i got it the second time credited the company's expanding reach
and product strategy for the results noting that the automaker has been gaining ground
against traditional car makers in europe quote for retail sales volumes 2025 has been the best
year ever for Polestar despite continued external headwinds and challenging market conditions
we are gaining market share and outselling many established car brands across key european markets
a testament to the expansion of our sales network which has grown by over 50 percent this year
our attractive model lineup and the team's hard work end quote that expansion has been a key driver
of Polestar's growth over the course of 2025 the company significantly increased the size of
its global sales network giving it more physical and digital points of contact with customers
combined with a broader lineup that now includes vehicles like the Polestar 2 fastback and the
Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 suvs the brand has been able to reach more buyers looking for premium
performance oriented evs the company also confirmed that more details about its future
plans are coming soon Polestar management will hold a strategy update on february 18th
where it will outline upcoming product developments and provide a refreshed financial outlook well
i'm really glad to see this because as i was seeing it just kind of monitoring the ev world
it seemed like things weren't looking too good for Polestar for a while i mean they've got some
really nice cars design wise and a subjective opinion i know and i do see in my neck of the woods
i see a good number of the Polestar twos around here i've started to see the threes a little bit
and i'll say this about Polestar i was really impressed by their Polestar 6 concept which
i was lucky enough to see in person back at the monoray car week event in 2022 that car if you're
not familiar it's a 2 plus 2 roadster but unfortunately it's not cheap much like tesla's
upcoming next gen roadster back then again in 2022 they told me that it was supposed to be around
$200,000 i don't know if i mean it's probably not going to get any cheaper between then and now
and the time it actually comes out but you're talking you know well well well into six figures
for that car and i remember thinking at the time when i saw the car at monoray car week
i remember thinking huh i wonder if this will end up shipping before the new tesla roadster does
if like you know which which open top sports car you know ev sports car will hit the market first
and at the time it kind of looked like it would be close but then both of them have been delayed
i i looked it up it was originally set to launch this year whereas uh i think originally well
maybe originally it was supposed to be even earlier it could have been 2025
back at its 2022 unveiling but now the 2026 window is gone it's been delayed again to
either 2027 or 2028 poll star won't say so it's still anybody's guess as to which
expensive ev roadster will make it into production and start deliveries first but regardless of that
i really do hope that the poll star six does get built eventually even if i wouldn't be able to
afford one i just love to see one on the road and maybe even some way somehow get a chance to drive
one because it is it was a beautiful car if you just if you look it up on on google image search
just search poll star six you'll see it it's uh i'm a big fan of how that how that sports car looks
all right that's everything i've got for you in the world of tesla and other ev news this week
let's move right along now to the ride the lightning hotline as always i've got plenty of
your excellent ride the lightning hotline phone calls queued up and ready to go but before i get
to the first one which is from scott in rochester new york i will remind you that if you've got a
question comment or discussion topic for the podcast there are two easy ways to call in first
you could use your smartphones built-in voice recording software record your question and
please try to keep it to 90 seconds or less so i can get to as many calls each week as possible
then just email that recorded file to me at tesla podcast at gmail.com or the second way to call in
is to take that same 90 second call that 90 second question and just dial me up on the ride the
lightning hotline anytime toll free and leave a message on there and i'll get the i'll get the
message the toll free number is 1-888-989-8752 or if it's easier to remember it this way 1-888-989
tesla and by the way if you know someone special 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
on to a keepsake visit life on record com to learn more so as i said first up this week is scott
from rochester new york with a psa for those of you with the new model y hey ryan this is scott
from rochester new york with some information about an issue that many new model y owners are
currently experiencing i'm a three-time model y owner myself i took delivery of my 2026 model y
in august shortly after delivery i noticed a rattling thunking noise coming from the front
driver's side front suspension by the wheel when going over bumps and little divots under 40 miles
per hour it happens on pretty much every drive um and it's it's distracting it's unnerving to
hear and feel it shortly afterwards i found out i wasn't alone on the tesla motors club
dot com there's a forum post starting in april that currently has over 2000 posts from hundreds of
other owners who are also experiencing the issue many of these owners have spent a lot of time
trying to determine the root cause and an ultimate fix however there hasn't been a lot of success in
doing so many including myself have brought in their vehicles for tesla service visits
with varying results um there is some kind of bolton technical service bolton that tesla has
that points to potential methods of trying to reduce the noise uh this typically includes
replacing the upper control arm mounts which have been revised with part numbers replacing them
removing something called a pencil brace under the front cowl underneath the hood however
this repair typically does not take care or eliminate the noise completely for some owners
it's reducing the noise making it a little bit better and for others there's no change at all
there is indication that an improved service bolton is coming soon that will address more
parts in suspension so a lot of us continue to wait on what could be coming to make this better
for us um thanks for everything you do for the pod have a good one thanks oh boy i am sorry to
hear about this scott for you and for anybody that's been listening to this podcast for a while
you know that something like this would drive me absolutely insane so i am very empathetic to
your situation here to everybody affected by this thank you for raising it i confess it's the first
that i am learning of it which i mean i'm not a model y owner so hopefully you give me a little
a little slack on that one but i am happy to put this out there as a psa for the many other new
model y owners and future potential buyers out there and hope that airing this helps inspire tesla
to prioritize the fix for this if they have not already done so and honestly i imagine they've
done so and from what scott was was saying about the service bulletins on this it is known about
and it is clearly being worked on so thank you scott for doing your best to get this documented
with tesla and help push for a fix for yourself and for all your fellow new model y owners that
are affected by it fingers crossed tesla completely resolves this for you and everybody else that's
dealing with this soon next up this week here's a long time caller bill from wisconsin responding
to my new year's predictions specifically the one about the range of the tesla roadster go ahead bill
hey ryan it's bill from triple falls wisconsin listening to episode 544 your predictions for
the coming year first of all congratulations on garnering as many points as you did for your 2025
predictions i thought you did quite well uh your second prediction or i should say your your ninth
prediction uh the one talking about the roadster um not having 620 miles of range the one thing that
you need to keep in mind i don't think their goal was ever hey we need that car to have a thousand
kilometers of range i think the reason why it's that it's that long is a byproduct of the amount
of power that it needs in order to be able to accelerate at the rate they want to and what i
mean by that obviously the cold gas thrusters could potentially change this but the the energy
capacity of the battery pack is one thing but how quickly can you get the energy out of the cells
of the pack because you need to you know you need to draw a certain amount of amperage in order to
accelerate at the rate that they want to be able to accelerate and i think the reason why they had
such a big battery pack 200 um kilowatt hours was because of the fact that they calculated that's
how many cells they needed to get the power output that's required to accelerate that quickly
just spitballing here i didn't do the math or anything but but i'm thinking that you maybe
didn't take that into account so if it does end up having that that many miles of range it's not
because they think people are going to be road tripping it's because they think they need that
in order to be able to accelerate at the rate they want just say it take care give uh Daisy
lily um hugs and kisses for me and Kerbal bye bye thanks as always for your call bill i hear
where you're coming from on this and it may very well have been true when the original prototype
was conceived and developed back in 2017 but here's the thing rimock has proven that you don't need
a 200 kilowatt hour pack to get a supercar to achieve the roadsters originally stated specs
rimock beats those 2017 numbers and does so i had to double check and look this up with a 120 kilowatt
hour battery pack in fact there is now a rimock nevera r a new variant that has a smaller battery
pack which by the way also makes the car lighter it's a 108 kilowatt hour battery pack and that car
is even quicker and faster than the base nevera was so i'm not saying you're wrong at all bill
not at all my point is that tesla as they're going to finally build the roadster here on
the next couple of years they clearly don't need that much juice in the version of the car that
they're going to make in order to achieve their spec so i just don't think it's going to carry
all of that weight but we'll see you you could end up being correct in which case i'll buy you in
an outburger the next time that you're in my neck of the woods i've met bill before he's been out
here before we had a good time he met daisy and bill's a good guy but yeah bill if if it ends up
having a 200 kilowatt hour battery pack lunch is on me my friend thank you as always for your call
next up here's officer greg calling in from camarillo commenting on a real life accident
situation with regard to dash cams go ahead greg iran greg from camarillo thanks for taking my
call i'm a law enforcement officer i wanted to share a real world traffic crash investigation
that highlights potential opportunity for tesla to enhance an already strong dash cam system
i had a three vehicle traffic crash where none of the involved drivers could give a definitive
statement about what happened and the vehicle damage didn't clearly establish fault or a
sequence of events as a result there is no conclusive evidence to determine the cause of the crash
one of the vehicles involved was a tesla model y naturally i hope to review dash cam footage
however because airbags did not deploy and the damage wasn't significant enough to trigger an
event no footage was saved the owner contacted tesla directly since they have tesla insurance
in hopes that the footage could be recovered but tesla was unable to retrieve any of the video
what stood out to me was every vehicle i personally owned prior to my teslas i always put
an aftermarket dash cam usually something i picked up on amazon for around $50 and they had the
ability to have this five or ten minute loop option allowing the driver to go back
and establish a specific event in that loop recording for an investigative standpoint
that kind of continuous recording is incredibly valuable my suggestion is that tesla could consider
offering an option to continuous record dash cam footage to an st card or storage device in the
glove box to have that rolling loop similar to those basic dash cams that even our body warm
cameras have that capability had been in place in this crash the tesla owner would have had the
definitive video evidence of what happened i wouldn't have to document the collision as unknown
due to lack of reliable statements or physical evidence i think this would be a major benefit
for drivers us as law enforcement officers and insurance investigators and further reinforce
tesla's leadership in safety and transparency thanks for taking my call appreciate your podcast
take care greg it's great to hear from you and it's nice to have law enforcement officers out
there who are familiar with teslas as that will absolutely be helpful in these kinds of situations
some way somehow weirdly they do have the very feature that you asked for take a look at yours
when you get a chance it does loop i think it's 10 minutes at a time i believe i have to double
check it if they've changed that recently i'm not sure what happened with the model y that was
involved here certainly maybe they didn't have things set up properly i'm not sure but i will say
i have heard of teslas in accidents not saving the footage so maybe there's some flaw in the system
somewhere along those lines that where when there's an impact when there's a crash it doesn't record
doesn't write the or save the the footage to the drive i'm not sure but hopefully that's something
that tesla can address just to make the built-in totally free dash cam system that they give us
even more useful i've got one more call for all of you this week it comes from glenn in south africa
now if you remember glenn had called in he has never seen in person a tesla because he's in
south africa there just aren't any there he's a big fan he's a big listener of the podcast
and he had a trip to the uk to see families so he was going to get to see teslas one way or another
and here i had said to glenn hey call back after your trip and share your enthusiasm with us well
glenn has kindly done just that hey ryan it's glenn here from cape town south africa i'm back
from the uk and many of my tesla dreams came true for the first time in person i got to see
all sexy models in person on the roads and it was awesome i was pointing them out to my family
probably for the first three days and i think they got a bit annoyed with me
then i got them to take me to a tesla dealership where i was hoping to test drive but unfortunately
i don't have a uk u license but i got to play with the new model y just with the infotainment
system i got to sit on it and enjoy it and the new model 3 and of course i am used my family with
emissions testing mode that was super funny but i did eventually get to drive the new model 3 standard
range and it was unbelievable unfortunately i was unable to drive it on in a car park as the
insurance of the owner doesn't allow me to drive on public roads but that was that was just the
ultimate i got to put my foot down so i could feel that instant torque i got to try out one
pedal driving which was the goat and i got to supercharge for the first time so i got to plug
the charger in unplug it feel the cable and and and you know it just brings down how heavy these
cables are i got to touch the version three supercharger which was super cool i know this is
this must be just ridiculous to you guys who live with these cars all the time but i must say
expectations exceeded big time that's what i can say i'll remember this for the for forever
and i cannot wait to drive these cars again for much longer this time round ryan thanks for an
awesome show have a fantastic 2026 and let's do this cheers bye glenn thank you so much for
honoring my request for a follow-up phone call after your trip i am so thrilled that you had
such a great time and you got a lot of quality tesla time for yourself i do have some bad news
for you though glenn there's there's a downside to what you've just finally experienced now you're
going to be thinking about teslas even more than you did before this is what happens once you get
to experience one yourself i speak from experience here it just gets into your head a whole lot of
my listeners can back me up on that too but it's fun and that's what life should be about right so
i hope you get more time with the teslas soon and thank you so much for being such a loyal
listener of the podcast that's all the phone calls that i have time for on this week's podcast
but keep them coming keep those calls coming i promise i will get to more of your ride the
lightning hotline calls on next week's podcast and if you're wondering how to do that well i
gave you the call-in instructions at the top of this segment so refer back there if you'd like to
call in as for what's going on with me and my car we after enduring a whole lot of rainy weather
we are currently blessed with some absolutely beautiful weather here in my neck of the woods
my weather forecast app on my phone says no rain for the next 10 days and it said it last weekend
too so we're in a nice sunny beautiful stretch in fact gosh it was in the 60s today and last weekend
i washed both cars got them super nice because i knew that i was going to have a nice long stretch
of good weather to enjoy them with and i am looking forward to getting both of them out this weekend
because one of the older one we take the dogs the new one we don't we keep it keep it dog fur
free in the new one but i'm looking forward to getting those cars out there and by the way
the cleaning the inside of the windshield method that i talked about on last week's podcast at
this at this segment it totally worked like a charm as i expected it would the it was you know
was out of spec detailing had put that up i i tested it out on the 2018 car which actually
needed it like the inside glass was getting kind of you know hazy and it transformed that glass to
just completely opaque i mean just perfectly clear glass so now i'm standby i've got all the
material i need i've got the right cleaners the right the the foam applicator the right glass
towels i've got all my stuff to do this whenever either car needs it but that was an awesome video
i'm glad i found it and now i have nice clean glass on the inside which is sweet here's an
entertainment recommendation for you this week my wife and i have been watching this one in like
20 minute chunks at supercharger stops when uh as i think i've probably mentioned here before
the 2018 car which is now officially my wife's car we're lucky enough that that one has free
lifetime supercharging on it and so we mostly just drive it around on the weekends and at the end
of the weekend if we've got time we stop at a supercharger and juice up for the week and so
while we're doing that we'll throw something on netflix in the car and watch it and we've been
shipping away we finally finished a documentary on netflix it's not exactly new i mean it's not
it's recent ish but anyway the documentary was called aka charlie sheen it was the charlie
sheen documentary now if you're my age you're in your mid your mid 40s let me try that again my
my mouth has decided to stop working after an hour plus on this week's podcast sorry about that
but uh like i have memories of charlie sheen from uh from the hot shots movies the parody back when
back when parody films were would get made and would go to theaters and would do well and so
yeah hot shots and hot shots part do were uh were favored to mine so yeah and and obviously i've
heard all about his his more recent history uh i never watched his his big show the two and a
half men i i never did watch that but anyway we we did enjoy the aka charlie sheen documentary
on netflix so i'll give that a recommendation certainly not one that you want to watch with
the kids or around the kids but uh there you go there's an entertainment recommendation for this
week now let's do your pro tip of the week it comes from jason in texas hi ryan it's jason
from texas with a pro tip for a reference i drive over 2020 model 3 so this is probably a little
bit niche but i live out on the farm here and for a variety of reasons our main gate is not electric
yet so get to get out of the farm i have to drive the car up to the gate get out of the car open the
gate get back in the car pull car pull the car through the gate get out of the car close the
gate get back in the car when i do this if i'm not careful my phone um will disconnect from bluetooth
once i'm on the other on the other side of the gate and getting back in the car
what i have found is that if i am careful to tap on the brake before i close the door it does not
do this i don't know if it thinks that maybe the car is going to be parked for a while and so it
doesn't recheck to try to reconnect the bluetooth i think if tesla were to make it so that when you
put the car in drive it automatically tries to reconnect the bluetooth that would be helpful
but for now just tapping the brake before i close the door seems to fix it
gives the dog some pets for me you have a great day jason thank you very much and i can't imagine
that you're the only person in this situation a manually operated gate like on your farm is
certainly not some sort of archaic thing it's it's pretty normal so i appreciate you calling
in to share this little work around that seems to be working for you hopefully it will work well
for other folks in this situation as well thanks so much again for that pro tip of the week and if
anybody else out there has a good tesla or ev pro tip of the week please call in and share it with
me so that i can share it with everybody and we can all add to our collective tesla and ev
knowledge base all you got to do is send it in like you're sending in a regular ride the lightning
hotline call and i gave you the two call-in methods for that just a little while ago in the
podcast so refer back there well we're just about done with episode 546 but before i go let me
mention some friends of ride the lightning that can hopefully be useful to you maybe today maybe
tomorrow maybe next week maybe soon and i'll start with abstract ocean dot com they've been a friend
of this podcast for years and years now and they have just got so many great aftermarket accessories
for not just your tesla but also your rivian as well i'm just gonna i'm on there right now and
i'm clicking on new model three the 2024 refresh model three just to see what they got so tesla
center wheel cap kit if you want to take your aero caps off but have not have the lug nuts
showing nice center wheel cap kit there so check that out there's the mega bright led premium
puddle lights from 40 bucks that's cheaper than teslas price there's the door bin liners
for the refresh model because as i learned they don't they don't come with them anymore
those are just 30 that's cheaper than teslas price the premium rear footwell lights from 45
dollars you've got a sunglass tray that goes behind the screen rests on the back of your dash
that's a clever little product 20 bucks there just a million great aftermarket accessories
check them out abstract ocean dot com and click on whichever vehicle you own and it'll show you
all the products available for that vehicle once you've put everything that you like into your
online shopping cart when you get to check out use the coupon code rtl podcast that's all one word
no spaces rtl podcast to get 15 off of your first order that's a nice discount how about snap plate
as well as the newer snap plate plus available for all the teslas and plenty of other evs as
well get yours at every amp dot com slash rtl and when you've chosen the the snap plate that's
right for you in your car and you get to check out before you go make sure to put in the coupon
code rtl and you will get a nice discount on that snap plate so super appreciate that from my friends
at every amp for offering that ride the lightning listener discount and if you're hearing snoring
in the background that would be daisy the boxer they're both they're both out right now but daisy's
doing the boxer snoring uh so if that's picking up on mic that's what that is anyway snap plate
this is the front license plate bracket that's a nice clean minimalist design goes on safely and
securely but also comes off all the way without leaving behind any unsightly hardware whereas the
front license plate bracket that tesla gives you with your car is adhered to the front of the car
with automotive tape with actual adhesive so if you ever want to take it off good luck without
damaging the paint so that's why i recommend the snap plate from everyamp.com slash rtl check them out
you should also check out my detailer immaculate reflections if you're in or going to be in the
greater san francisco bay area their website is irdetailing.com they offer all the awesome
professional detailing services that you might want from paint protection film maybe you want to
do the front of the car protect those key areas where the the bulk of the debris rock chips and
things are going to impact keep that factory that beautiful tesla paint as pristine as possible
with some paint protection film maybe you want to not have to wax your car for the next five
plus years so that means get it ceramic coated by a professional detailer like immaculate reflections
i again you've heard me say it our 2018 car i am actually i have an appointment for early next
month early february to get a fresh ceramic coat after the first coat lasted seven years on that
car was money well spent on that ceramic coating from a professional detailer uh maybe you want
to do paint correction service on your car which will take all the little flaws scratches and
things out of your paint get it restored to well better than new in a lot of cases whatever you
want to do you got to make an appointment first so go to irdetailing.com you'll see the contact
button either in the middle of the page or in the upper left corner and you can talk to jeff the owner
and detailer there about what you're interested in just make sure to mention that you're a ride
the lightning listener so that any detailing service that you have done you will get the ride
the lightning listener discount my patreon found again at patreon.com slash tesla podcast
or just click the link in the episode description i know i mentioned it earlier but just one more
time uh this is how you can support the podcast if you'd like to do so and my goal is to eventually
earn your support i know it's it is earned it's not given uh and my goal is each and every week
is to deliver you a podcast that you enjoy that you find informative and to show up for you
each and every week as i've done for the last 546 weeks and counting so you can find all the
information about supporting me on my patreon page the support tiers start as i said earlier
at just five bucks a month you'd be helping me out a whole lot if you just do that five
dollar per month pledge and as a thank you for that five dollar per month pledge you will get
an ad-free episode and you'll get early access to it every week you'll get it as soon as it's done
edited and uploaded so uh that's usually friday evening sometimes earlier if i have to record
earlier if you jump up to that ten dollar per month tier that's the most popular tier you get the
ad-free early access and you get the dozens and dozens of hours of extra content in the form of
those 176 lightning round mini episodes so again check it out patreon.com slash tesla podcast
if you're not already following this podcast on your preferred podcast platform you can do so by
first searching for me to search ride the lightning tesla podcast should come right up then click the
follow button and you're good to go what does that do for you well it doesn't cost you anything and
what it does is when there's a new episode every week which is every sunday at nine a.m eastern
six a.m pacific you'll get a push notification on your device letting you know that there's a new
ride the lightning ready to go and waiting for you i'm on apple podcasts spotify youtube
podcasts tune in pretty much all the big ones so check that out and finally if you'd like to
follow me on social media i'm on x as well as instagram i have the same username on both
that username is dmc underscore ryan you can also email me anytime about tesla or ev related
things at tesla podcast at gmail.com and my final item of business for this week which i am always
thrilled to do here is to say hi and say thank you to my top tier patreon backers these are the
extra generous folks supporting at the higher tiers of the patreon i will start with the maximum
plaid crew big thanks goes out to jonathan wales cameron clark daniel grummer seth capello
nick and tony the galpin family ryan from new york city darin nickle cos barns patrick wasneski
gill cabrera todd badger joe edgel kevin yank the tesla owners club of sandwalking valley
wil steadman jeremy harris chris beach tom mills choreo donnell aron john codie jolsap
paul casarino chris osbourne kb adam lavoix jason chelukas travis krenzel bruce otterstein
tom behan josh pennington john from cream ridge new jersey dustin hart dereck finley
charles clement daemon kline jeff brown jerry slinger kenneth corbett brian vertoglio kim bae
troy sievers chip hooper matt chinander robert moran rav christopher man michael williams and
eric harbert next up the roadster in space tier backers who in addition to their standing
invitation to our monthly patreon hangout on zoom as well as the lightning rounds and the
early access and the ad for you all that stuff they also get a one-on-one hangout with me each
month if they elect to choose it and no number of them do and it's always fun talking to these
folks so big hello and big thank you go out to pete white lile austin steve radspinner
fernando cordero laughton from chicago sean nidig neal weaver jackson wallace ralph and jennifer
evers howard anthony smith victoria aya cavetto tesla hitchhiker 42 carol weston robert from
near philly american home contractors dug carry michael gallo and tony figaroa and last but certainly
not least the grandfathered in plaid tier supporters the plaid tier is officially no more
but these kind folks continue to kindly support me at that level and so they continue to get all of
the perks they should get from that which includes this shout out at the end of each each week's
podcast so big hello and thank you to george cassiopo logan willis peter chalet eric randolph
dory and steve guberman the tesla owners club of taiwan ron lee charlie gillespie jeff angwin
chase cabaneas the lydia family erin alchool jared brown gerome strack jamie dalton
mike and barber from louisville matt nixon the tesla owners club of wisconsin ish not elon musk
peter and the bear boys of colorado and that my friends brings us to the end of episode 546
i've had a good time this week i've had i hope you've had a good time listening to this one
from my currently snoozing pups daisy and lily we say happy electric motoring to all of you
hope you're all doing well and i'll see you back here next week one week's time for episode 547
see you soon
elon musk people don't like elon musk the guy found a paypal and tesla and people were like
he's a troll and a bad dad i'm like so is mine he did nothing to fight climate change
also have you been in a tesla have you been in a tesla my buddy let me drive his tesla i laughed
out loud at how fast it went been clinically depressed my entire life on dozens of medications
in a tesla for 13 seconds cured forever
i mean i think a tesla is the most fun thing you could possibly buy ever
that's what it's meant to be our goal is to make it's it's not exactly a car it's actually
a thing to maximize enjoyment it's maximum fun
About this episode
Tesla is shifting its Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature to a subscription-only model starting February 14, 2026, eliminating the outright purchase option. This decision raises concerns about customer choice and loyalty. The episode also covers exciting developments like the expansion of a California Supercharger station, safety accolades for the Model 3 and Model Y in Europe, and updates on Tesla's design changes. Additionally, Polestar reports impressive growth, and the podcast features listener calls discussing Tesla experiences and suggestions for improvements.
Original notes
Tesla will soon remove the option to purchase FSD outright. Plus: Model Y's design changes from last week – plus a couple more – come to the United States even sooner than expected this week, a California Supercharger station will soon expand to a record number of posts, Polestar shows some impressive growth, 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 you can support for just $5 per month. 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!).
Ride the Lightning: Tesla and EV Podcast
Ryan McCaffrey
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