The Ferrari Luce is an electric car from Ferrari. The podcast is mentioning it because Ferrari has revealed it publicly and people reacted to it. It’s part of Ferrari’s move into electric vehicles.
The Tesla Model S is an all-electric car made by Tesla. It’s a higher-end sedan that’s known for going a long distance on a charge. The podcast mentions it because it’s being phased out or celebrated as it reaches the end of its run.
Rear wheel drive means the power goes to the back wheels. That can affect how the car grips the road and how it feels compared to versions that drive all four wheels.
Cannibalizing sales means one product is hurting sales of another product from the same company. In this case, the host thinks people who would have bought a Model 3 are instead choosing a Model Y.
The Tesla Model 3 is an all-electric sedan made by Tesla. It’s one of the more affordable Tesla models, so it often sells in large numbers. The podcast is discussing how well it’s doing compared with other Tesla models.
APR is the interest rate on a car loan. “Low APR financing” means the loan is cheaper, so the monthly cost is lower and more people are willing to buy.
Supercharging is Tesla’s fast-charging network for its electric vehicles. A “one year of free supercharging” incentive reduces the cost of charging during the first year of ownership, which can make the car more attractive compared with a model that doesn’t include that perk.
These are spacecraft design constraints that strongly affect electronics and compute systems in orbit. Radiation and thermal cycling can degrade components over time, while launch mass, power generation, and heat rejection determine how much hardware you can carry and how you keep it cool.
The Tesla Roadster is Tesla’s high-performance sports car concept. Here, the host is saying it might use a special kind of pressure container technology that’s usually found in space hardware.
A COPV is a strong, lightweight tank for storing gas under high pressure. The “composite overwrapped” part means it’s wrapped with strong fibers to handle the pressure without being as heavy as a traditional metal tank.
The Starlink antenna is the part on the car that talks to Starlink satellites in space. If it’s smaller and built into the car, it can provide internet without relying as much on cell towers.
Starlink Mini is a smaller version of the Starlink satellite antenna. The idea here is that Tesla could use a smaller dish/antenna so it’s easier to put Starlink into cars.
A cellular data provider is the company that provides internet through regular cell towers. The host is saying Tesla could use Starlink satellites instead of relying on those cell networks as much.
AT&T is a company that runs cell-phone networks. The host is saying Tesla currently uses AT&T for car internet, but might switch more toward Starlink if possible.
Retrofit means upgrading older cars after they’ve already been sold. The point is that it would be too expensive and impractical to add Starlink to every existing Tesla, so older cars would still need cellular connectivity for years.
Cold gas thrusters are like tiny rocket jets that push the vehicle using compressed gas. The idea is that the car would be designed to fit those thrusters, similar to how spacecraft are built to use them.
Autonomy means how much the car can drive by itself. Here, the host is saying Tesla focuses on that, while the Roadster is meant to be driven more directly by a person.
A spherical camera lens refers to a lens shape designed to cover a wider field of view, often used in automotive cameras. The transcript notes that these shapes can be harder to clean with conventional systems, which is why the patent focuses on cleaning efficiency for spherical optics.
Here, “image quality” means how clear the camera picture looks. The car checks whether the image is getting worse (like from dirt or water) and only cleans the lens when needed.
A fixed cleaning schedule means the car cleans the camera on a timer. This patent instead cleans only when the camera image is actually getting worse, which can save fluid and reduce unnecessary moving parts.
Real time means the system checks the camera picture continuously and reacts right away. Instead of cleaning constantly, it cleans only when the picture actually gets worse.
Visibility degradation means the camera can’t see as clearly anymore because the lens is dirty or covered. The system detects that drop in clarity and then cleans the lens.
“Vision-only” means the car tries to understand the road using cameras. Instead of using other sensors, it depends on clear camera images to drive safely.
Radar is a sensor that uses radio waves to detect objects around the car. The host is saying Tesla used radar before, but is now relying more on cameras instead.
LIDAR is a sensor that uses lasers to measure how far away things are. In this discussion, Tesla is described as choosing not to use it and instead relying on cameras.
If the car uses cameras to “see,” then the cameras have to stay clean. Smudges, dirt, or obstructions can make it harder for the car to understand what’s around it.
First-principles problem-solving means breaking a problem down to fundamental truths and rebuilding a solution from there, rather than copying existing approaches. The host describes Tesla engineers using how the human eye works as an inspiration for designing a vision-based system.
Manufacturing capacity means how many cars a factory can make when it’s running at full speed. If it’s only making cars at about 60% of that, it suggests there’s slack in the system—so building more factories is harder to justify.
“GigaMexico” refers to Tesla’s planned Gigafactory project in Mexico. The host says Tesla started land grading for construction but stopped soon after, and suggests it could be revived as a manufacturing project.
A Tesla wall connector is a home charger for a Tesla. The host says the raffle prize could include the charger and have it installed by an electrician.
The EV tax credit is a government discount that can lower the price of an electric car. The host says that discount is no longer available, so the raffle becomes a better deal for people trying to get an EV.
X-Care is an extra warranty plan for EVs. It’s meant to help pay for certain expensive repairs and also includes things like roadside help and rental coverage if something happens.
An extended warranty is extra coverage you buy after the original warranty ends. If something breaks later, it can help pay for repairs so you’re not stuck with the full cost.
In an EV, the drive system is what actually makes the car move—things like the motor and the electronics that control it. It can be costly to fix, so warranty plans may cover it.
Approved EV repair facilities are specific shops that the warranty company allows to do covered EV work. It helps ensure the shop has the right training and equipment, and it can affect whether your claim gets paid.
Trip interruption coverage helps pay for extra costs if something goes wrong and you can’t continue your trip. It’s basically financial help for travel disruption.
Roadside support is help you can call if your car breaks down or you’re stuck. It can include things like towing or getting assistance so you’re not stranded.
This is Ferrari’s new electric car. The host is saying the full reveal didn’t land well with people, especially compared to what Ferrari is usually known for.
An embargo is a rule that says media can’t post their stories until a certain date/time. It’s often used when car companies want everyone to share news at the same time.
They mean a real physical switch you can press or flip, not just a button you tap on the screen. They’re describing a mix of physical controls and touchscreen controls.
Jony Ive is a well-known industrial designer associated with Apple, and the host credits him with designing the Ferrari “luce” interior and exterior. In car design discussions, his involvement is often used to signal a strong focus on user interface and material/ergonomics.
The Tesla Cybertruck is a very unusual-looking pickup that lots of people either love or hate. The host is saying the new car’s backlash feels as intense as the Cybertruck’s early backlash.
The host is using “weird mobile” to mean an EV that looks so different that people assume they won’t like it. Their idea is that if a car looks strange, it can make people avoid it—even if the technology is good. They’re arguing Tesla succeeded by making EVs look more appealing.
Project Titan is what the speaker calls Apple’s attempt to build an electric car. They’re saying that if Apple had finished it, it might have looked like this. It’s mentioned to connect design origins to the current EV discussion.
This is the former Ferrari boss the speaker quotes. He’s basically saying the electric Ferrari they’re talking about could hurt Ferrari’s reputation. The host uses his words to support the idea that design and branding matter a lot.
The “prancing horse” is Ferrari’s famous logo. The speaker is saying the critic wants Ferrari to remove that logo from the electric car, because it doesn’t feel like a real Ferrari in design. It’s about brand identity, not just the car’s technology.
A reservation is basically a deposit that says, “I want to buy this later.” The host is saying that lots of people reserved the Cybertruck, but fewer actually ended up buying it.
For an electric car, range is how far it can drive on one full charge. The host is saying the advertised range didn’t end up matching what people were expecting.
Take rate means how many “interested” people actually end up buying. The host is saying that even though many people reserved the Cybertruck, only a smaller portion followed through.
An internal combustion engine is the traditional type of engine that burns gasoline or diesel to make power. The host is saying Ferrari might release a new gas-powered supercar to shift focus away from the EV.
A hypercar is an even more extreme version of a supercar—usually very fast, very expensive, and built with top-tier technology. Here it’s mentioned as a likely Ferrari headline-grabber.
Concept
conspiracy theories
They’re saying they can’t explain the strategy normally, so they’re joking that it must be some kind of behind-the-scenes plan. It’s more about marketing timing than car engineering.
Wheel size is the diameter of the wheel, measured in inches. Bigger wheels usually mean a thinner tire sidewall, and the host thinks these huge wheels make the EV look wrong for a Ferrari-level car.
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. It’s known for using less fuel than many regular cars. The podcast mentions it because someone thinks another EV looks similar to a Prius.
The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car made by Nissan. It runs on a battery instead of gasoline. The podcast mentions it because someone thought another car looked like a Leaf.
Open source means the software code is shared publicly. In this case, owners used that approach so they could keep their cars working even after the company that made them went away.
Fisker Incorporated is the company that made the Fisker Ocean. When that company filed for bankruptcy, owners had to step in to keep their cars working.
Chapter 11 is a type of bankruptcy where a company tries to reorganize with court oversight. In practice, it can leave customers without normal support like software updates, parts, or repairs.
Cloud-dependent software relies on internet-connected services hosted by the manufacturer or a third party. If those services degrade or shut down, functions that were designed to be controlled or authorized through the cloud can fail, potentially making parts of the vehicle inoperable.
Reverse engineering means figuring out how something works by taking it apart conceptually and studying it. Here, owners did that to understand the car’s software so they could keep it running.
Firmware is the low-level software stored on a device that controls how hardware behaves. “Proprietary firmware” means it’s owned and controlled by the manufacturer, so owners may not have access to updates or documentation—making reverse engineering necessary when support disappears.
CAN bus is the car’s internal messaging system. It’s how different computers in the vehicle communicate, and mapping it helps owners figure out how to restore or replicate functions.
A key fob is the remote you use to lock/unlock the car and often start it. If replacement fobs get expensive or hard to source, it becomes a real problem for owners.
A safety recall is when a car maker (or regulators) identifies a safety problem and arranges a fix. If a company goes bankrupt, owners may need legal help to make sure those safety fixes still happen.
Company
American lease
American lease is a company mentioned as buying up Fisker’s remaining stock. Deals like that can influence whether parts are still available for repairs.
Remote connectivity refers to a vehicle’s ability to communicate over the internet for functions like app access, diagnostics, and over-the-air services. Revoking it can effectively remove features that depend on the manufacturer’s servers, even if the car’s core hardware still works.
Software escrow is like a backup plan for a car’s computer software. If the company disappears, the stored software can be released so the car can still function instead of becoming unusable.
Right to repair laws are meant to stop car makers from blocking independent mechanics. They push for easier access to the information and tools needed to fix a car.
Parts pairing is when a replacement part has to be “matched” to your specific car using the manufacturer’s systems. If the maker restricts that process, independent shops may not be able to fix the car easily.
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a sports car from the past that’s known for its unusual look. People still talk about it because it’s recognizable and has a big fan base. The podcast brings it up as a specific example tied to the conversation.
The Fisker Ocean is an all-electric SUV. The podcast is talking about it in terms of keeping the cars running and supported. That means owners care about service and parts so the vehicle can stay on the road.
Rivian’s R2 is an all-electric SUV. This part of the show is about when Rivian will start delivering the first customer cars, which is when the vehicle moves from planning into real ownership.
A reservation timestamp is basically when you signed up for the car. Rivian uses that time (along with where you live) to decide when you’ll get an invite to order.
These are places Rivian uses to help owners—one for service/repairs and another for showing cars. If you live near them, you’re more likely to get an early delivery invite.
Expiring leases are lease contracts that are nearing their end date, meaning the customer’s current vehicle is about to be returned or replaced. Rivian uses this timing to prioritize who can realistically switch into a new R2 during the ramp.
Term
purchase process
Here, “purchase process” means how Rivian lets people place orders during the early rollout. They’re using batches so the timing and ordering steps are clearer.
They’re saying that once you confirm your order, you should get the car in about 2 to 6 weeks. That’s how long it typically takes to build and deliver it after ordering.
“Ramp production” means increasing manufacturing output from early, limited builds to steady, high-volume production. The host is emphasizing that scaling up EV production can be difficult—especially during the first year or two—so early deliveries may face delays or quality/throughput issues.
The Rivian R1S is one of Rivian’s more expensive, higher-end electric vehicles. The host is saying the new R2 should deliver most of the same “good stuff,” but for a lot less money.
“Taking delivery” just means picking up the car you ordered and getting it in your possession. For new EVs, it usually happens after the company starts building enough cars to fulfill orders.
The Kia EV3 is a new electric car from Kia. The speaker is saying it should come to the US soon and cost around the mid-$30,000s, which is important because there aren’t many EVs that cheap in the US.
Modability is a UK program that helps people with disabilities get access to a vehicle. Instead of paying out of pocket, it uses disability benefits to cover a lease, and it can include things like insurance and coverage for breakdowns.
Vehicle excise duty is a UK government tax you pay for owning a vehicle. The speaker is saying that, in the Modability program, that tax is included as part of the overall package.
Instead of buying and owning a car, you pay for transportation—like using a ride or a car service. The idea here is that self-driving cars could make that cheaper per mile.
Here, “sensory videos” just means the video clips the car records from its cameras. The caller wants easier tools to edit and find the important clips.
Sentry Mode is Tesla’s “watch the car while it’s parked” feature. It uses the car’s cameras to record events so you can review what happened if something seems off.
Tesla has a website where you can find electricians it approves for EV charging work. The caller says using that specific Tesla process can add an extra inspection cost.
Term
NEMA 1450 outlets
A NEMA 14-50 (often said like “1450”) is a common type of 240-volt outlet used for Level 2 EV charging. The caller is saying they had that kind of outlet installed at relatives’ houses.
A 240-volt outlet is the kind of power used for faster home EV charging. The caller suggests asking for a 240V outlet and not focusing on Tesla when you talk to the electrician.
Tax incentives are money-saving programs from the government. They can lower what you pay for installing an EV charger, and the rules depend on where you live and whether it’s at home or at a business.
It’s a plan from your electric utility for how you charge your EV at home. It can include cheaper electricity rates or discounts, but you usually have to sign up or switch your account to the program.
A rebate is like getting money back after you buy and install something. In this case, it means you paid for the charger setup, then later the utility gave you back part of the cost if you qualified.
RPM Tesla is a company that sells add-on accessories for Tesla cars. They make things like exterior kits and interior upgrades that are meant to fit Tesla models.
The Rivian R1T is an all-electric pickup truck. It’s built to handle rough roads, not just city driving. The podcast mentions it because it has protective parts near the bottom to help when you’re off-roading.
LIVE
On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, rumblings of a Tesla
SpaceX merger have begun, Tesla's new camera-cleaning patent resembles the human eye, Ferrari fully
unveils the luce EV and gets quite the public reaction and more.
What's happening friends, welcome to Ride the Lightning, your weekly Tesla and EV podcast
for May 31st, 2026, recording on Friday evening, May 29th.
This is episode 565, that's a palindrome and it's always fun to acknowledge those
every what, 11 episodes I guess?
I want to start this episode by saying thank you to so many of you for sending me kind
emails, kind messages regarding the Lars and Franz interview on last week's podcast.
I'm so glad so many of you enjoyed it, I had such a great time conducting that interview
from inside an air conditioned Model X in the middle of a pretty toasty afternoon at
the Fremont factory, it was such a treat to get to do that and again, like I said last
week, it's a privilege, right?
I recognize fully that I'm on a very, very short list of people that really have ever
gotten to sit down with those guys and I do take it seriously and I try to try to prepare
well and conduct a good interview and I thought we had a great conversation and I'm so glad
that so many of you reached out to me to tell me that you thought so as well.
Now, amidst the farewell celebration for the Model S and Model X last week, Tesla did
unfortunately sneak out a little bit of bad news last week and that is price increases
on the premium trims of the Model Y.
So the base Model Y rear wheel drive, for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to continue
calling it the Model Y standard.
That one does not get a price increase, it's staying right at $40,000 and the standard
all wheel drive stays at 42, but the premium rear wheel drive goes up by $1,000, it is
now $46,000 and the premium all wheel drive also jumps up $1,000 bringing its base price
to 50 grand.
Meanwhile, the Model Y performance sneaks up by just $500 bringing it to an even, well,
not quite even because it's $57,990, but for all intents and purposes $58,000 on that one.
Well, what does this tell me?
That clearly demand for the Model Y must be strong and it sure seems like the Model Y
is doing well enough that it's even cannibalizing Model 3 sales.
Do I have data to back that up?
No, this is just a gut feeling based on the indicators that I see and what is that indicator
well?
The Model 3 is currently running a couple of pretty strong incentives, low APR financing
and one year of free supercharging.
The Model Y doesn't have really either of those in place right now, so it seems like
people are between the price increase and the lack of incentives, plenty of people are
lining up for the Model Y and the 3 needs a little bit more of a nudge from Tesla to
help sweeten the deal for people.
I mean I suppose it just says that most customers are happy to pay a little bit more, a few
utility of that SUV form factor rather than the sedan form factor.
Now certainly the Model 3 continues to do well, don't get me wrong there, but even the
Model 3 doing however many six figures, however many hundreds of thousands of units it's doing
a year is still a fraction of the Model Y sales which are roughly 1.2 million per year.
Although in fairness to the Model 3, almost every car on earth sells a fraction of what
the Model Y does each year.
So I hate to be the bearer of bad news there, but certainly worth passing along to all of
you.
By the way, I hope those of you who are kindly and generously supporting me over on Patreon
enjoyed this week's Lightning Round mini episode which was me updating my rankings
of all the Tesla paint colors ever.
And it turns out I needed to do this because there have been five new colors since I last
did this exercise and I did it a little bit differently this time.
I borrowed a page from Bill Simmons, a sports writer slash sports podcaster that I really
like and have been a fan of for a long time.
And I did the Tesla paint color power rankings and I split them into five groups from number
25 all the way up to number one.
So if you're curious where some of the new colors slotted in, you can sign up for my
Patreon over at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast.
Sign up for that $10 per month tier.
You'll have access to that lightning round and all the other 190 something lightning
rounds plus you'll also get early access and you'll get ad free early access to each episode
from there on out as long as you're supporting.
Those are my ways of saying thank you for kindly supporting what I'm doing over at patreon.com
slash Tesla podcast.
I'll also remind you, a few of you have been kindly taking advantage of this lately.
There is an annual pledge option in which you get a 10% discount.
So if you'd rather not do a monthly pledge, you'd just rather pledge support me once
for an entire year.
If you choose that option, there is a 10% discount.
And don't forget there is a seven day free trial specifically on that most popular tier
which is the $10 per month tier.
So you can give that a go on a free seven day trial as well.
So check it out patreon.com slash Tesla podcast.
Getting right into the headline story for this week as Elon Musk prepares to lead a
second trillion dollar company into the public market, a move that will likely put him in
charge of two of the ten most valuable US enterprises, Chatter is building that Musk's
ultimate goal is to combine the entities into one.
I saw this story on CNBC this week who wrote in part, SpaceX is expected to start trading
on the NASDAQ in just over two weeks after obtaining a private market valuation of $1.25
trillion earlier this year when it merged with XAI Musk's artificial intelligence company.
Tesla's market cap currently sits at around $1.6 trillion.
The two companies already have a laundry list of shared resources and Musk has discussed
with colleagues the possibility of folding the companies together according to people
familiar with the talks who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic.
A current Tesla employee told CNBC that many workers at the electric vehicle company have
long expected such a transaction to eventually take place and that the topic is openly discussed
internally.
Another person close to the company said that shared challenges tied to power and compute
constraints have led to regular collaborations.
While a company launching rockets based on contracts with the government may not seem
to have a lot in common with an EV manufacturer, both of the businesses are increasingly focused
on AI and the talent and computing resources necessary to build AI infrastructure and services.
More than three quarters of SpaceX's $10.1 billion in capital expenditures in the first
quarter were tied to AI.
And Tesla said in its latest earnings report that CapEx will roughly triple this year,
topping $25 billion.
Quote, Tesla has to run powerful AI systems inside a moving vehicle with tight limits
on power, cooling, latency, reliability and cost, said Tomas Tungas, a former engineer
who is now a venture capitalist at Theory Ventures.
He continues, quote, SpaceX has to think about compute in orbit, where radiation, thermal
cycling, launch mass, power generation and heat rejection all become existential design
constraints.
Tungas said a potential merger has captured the attention of tech enthusiasts in Silicon
Valley, but he concedes that a deal of that size would be, quote, complex.
Legal experts said that a SpaceX Tesla merger likely wouldn't spark antitrust issues,
but it would potentially raise concerns among shareholders in each of the two companies.
Questions around which company would be the parent, how a stock swap would take place
and who determines the appropriate price are among the thorny challenges.
Thank you to CNBC for that.
So certainly those of you who are Tesla shareholders will be watching this especially closely
and probably asking yourself the very questions cited by legal experts at the end of that
bit of the story that I read to you, and that is, how would this affect your stock?
And that is a very fair and very valid question.
Now for me, as a car guy, first and foremost, my biggest question is, how would this affect
Tesla specifically?
And I'll share a couple of thoughts on that.
One that's more real and one that's quite a bit sillier and a lot less important.
But I'll start on the genuine side of things.
So genuinely speaking here, in a real, like if we're really thinking about this, I wonder
if SpaceX could materially help Tesla specifically in terms of the vehicles.
Now, could any of SpaceX's aerospace tech go into the wider Tesla fleet?
Yes, it's true that the new Tesla Roadster that still has yet to be unveiled is supposedly
packing COPV, Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel, if I have that correctly, cold air
thrusters, the SpaceX Rocket Tech on the car.
But that is obviously not something that's going to trickle down to the Model 3 and the Model Y.
So for me, the one thing that really comes to mind as far as the Tesla vehicle fleet is
Starlink.
Not that there's necessarily anything stopping that from happening now, but a SpaceX Tesla
merger could accelerate efforts to further miniaturize the Starlink antenna even more
than it already has been with Starlink Mini and get it literally embedded into the Tesla
fleet so that Tesla can maybe start to wean off of AT&T, which is its cellular data provider
here in the US and their other cellular data partners in other territories.
Although even in that case, even if they did that, if they dropped, if they just started
putting a Starlink dish, Starlink connectivity into every car starting tomorrow, they would
still have to support the existing fleet of about 8 million cars with that cellular data
service because you're not going to go retrofit every single car in the fleet with Starlink
connectivity.
That is just simply not going to happen.
It's not financially feasible or sustainable in the slightest.
So even if they dropped cellular tomorrow to go to Starlink, they're still going to have
to support that 8 million plus strong fleet for a very, very long time with cellular connectivity.
But certainly, if you're looking forward, Starlink has a lot of advantages.
One of them, chief among them being that SpaceX Tesla as one merged company would own the
whole thing and you don't have to pay anybody to get it.
And Starlink, number two, works just about anywhere in the entire world, so it would
presumably help Tesla control costs on paying for cellular data as the fleet continues to
grow and grow.
So that's how I look at it from the Tesla vehicle perspective, from a serious, like
how would this materially impact the car's perspective.
So my second sillier, far less important thought on this does in fact, yes, you guessed it,
circle back to the Roadster.
Now, I warned you that it was trivial, but here it is, I'll give it to you.
Might the new Roadster actually be released as the SpaceX Roadster rather than the Tesla
Roadster if these two companies merge in the next couple of years before this car gets
released?
In other words, might the new Roadster not have any Tesla logos on it, but instead, on
the hood for instance, have the SpaceX logo and maybe on the back it has the wordmark
SpaceX logo on the back of the car.
I mean, again, because we already know that this car is a collaboration on the engineering
side and probably designed side too, to an extent, to accommodate the cold gas thrusters,
but certainly on the engineering side, we know this car is a collaboration between Tesla
and SpaceX.
You heard Tesla's chief engineer Lars Marevy talk about that specifically in his first
appearance with me here last year.
So, that's where I wonder if maybe they end up branding the car as a SpaceX car instead
of a Tesla car since Tesla is all about autonomy and all about simplifying inputs and cyber
cab 3Y, whereas the Roadster is by design a driver's car, it has manual input, it is
intended to be driven manually, so maybe it ends up having the SpaceX name on it rather
than Tesla.
So, again, I recognize it's meaningless, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme
of things, but I think it is a legitimate realistic question to pose as chatter about
this merger starts to make its way through Silicon Valley and beyond.
Next up this week, Tesla has secured a new US patent for an automated camera lens cleaning
system that looks and functions surprisingly similarly to a human eye.
I saw this story on DriveTeslaCanada who wrote,
The patent, officially granted on May 26th, 2026, describes a lens cleaning system featuring
a spherical camera lens, integrated fluid dispensing, and a miniature wiper mechanism
capable of automatically removing debris from the lens surface.
According to the filing, Tesla's system continuously monitors image quality from the camera feed
itself.
If the software detects dirt, water, dust, or other obstructions affecting visibility,
the system can automatically activate a cleaning sequence.
That process involves spraying liquid onto the lens and sweeping debris away with a tiny
wiper blade.
The concept closely mirrors the way the human eye works, using quote unquote tears and an
eyelid like motion to maintain clear vision.
The patent illustrations even show a rounded lens assembly recessed inside a protective
housing that strongly resembles an eyeball.
Tesla's filing explains that current automotive camera cleaning systems often struggle with
complex lens shapes, particularly spherical lenses that provide wider fields of view.
The company says its design is intended to improve cleaning efficiency while minimizing
fluid usage and mechanical complexity.
One particularly interesting detail is that the system does not rely on a fixed cleaning
schedule.
Instead, the controller evaluates image quality in real time and only activates the cleaning
process when visibility degradation is detected.
That could help reduce unnecessary wear while ensuring cameras remain operational during
rain, snow, mud, or dusty environments.
Well, thank you to DriveTesla Canada for that.
I found that fascinating and I know it might sound silly to say, but I just love this.
I love it.
Tesla committed themselves completely.
They wholly embraced a vision-only autonomous driving system years ago now.
Like, they cast aside the idea of LIDAR, they cast aside the radar that shipped in a lot
of our cars for many years.
My 2018 Model 3 has a radar unit in the front of the car that was deactivated and is no
longer used, so Tesla went all in on vision a while ago now and that means that they need
to come up with clever solutions to any issues that arise with a vision-only system.
And keeping the cameras clear is obviously a very crucial one.
And to me, this just sounds like an awesome answer to the problem and also one that is
a classic Tesla First Principles problem-solving kind of deal.
Because I can absolutely see a bunch of Tesla engineers sitting around thinking about how
to maintain visual integrity of the system at all times.
And so they started thinking about, well, how does the human eye work?
And then they designed a system based on that.
Now I know fully well that I'm just a layman, I am no engineer, I never will be, so maybe
I'm just easily impressed here.
But again, I just think this is super cool and provided that Tesla is able to manufacture
it easily enough and at scale, I can imagine that this is one that we'll be seeing in Tesla
vehicles within the next few years.
Next up this week, Tesla ditches India after years of talks that did not come to fruition.
I saw this one on Tesla Roddy who wrote, Tesla's long running effort to establish a manufacturing
presence in India is officially over.
India's Minister of Heavy Industries, H.D.
Kumaraswamy confirmed on this past week, May 19th, that Tesla has informed authorities
it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021 when it began hiring local
staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs.
The ask was straightforward.
Reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing
capital to a local factory.
India's position was equally firm with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first,
then receive tariff relief.
Neither side moved and the talks quietly collapsed.
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties down to 15% on EVs priced above
$35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment
within three years.
Tesla declined to participate.
The tariff standoff was only part of the problem.
Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India's local supply chain, inadequate industrial
infrastructure and a mismatch between Tesla's premium pricing and the purchasing power of
India's automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April of 2024 when Musk abruptly
cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce
Tesla's market entry.
By July of 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government
officials entirely.
The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla's existing factories are currently operating
at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a
new market difficult to defend to investors.
Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in
Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, I think I hope I got that right.
I probably didn't, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
So thank you to Tesla Roddy for that one.
The thing that actually jumped out at me at that story, sure it's a bummer that Tesla couldn't
expand manufacturing capacity fast enough 5, 6, 7 years ago, but times do change.
Giga Berlin and Giga Texas were built in parallel, obviously Giga Shanghai was put up
in record time and remains Tesla's highest output factory.
But things do change and here we are now, India is no longer on the table.
And again, the thing that jumped out at me from this story on top of the bummer of this
not happening, but I wonder where that 60% manufacturing capacity figure came from.
If that's accurate, I imagine that Cybertrucks probably responsible for a sizeable portion of
that since that production line is presumably capable of up to 5,000 trucks per week, which is
no, it is unfortunately only selling around 10% of that, although we'll see if that limited
10 day run of $60,000 Cybertrucks is able to meaningfully add to that figure.
I would imagine that the Model Y lines are all humming along at each of the four factories,
at close to full capacity, if not full capacity.
So as I was talking about earlier with the Y demand,
seeming to be stronger than Model 3 demand, maybe the Model 3 lines at Fremont and Shanghai
aren't going at full bore. S and X are obviously retired now, so they're out of the picture
entirely. Still, again, hopefully Tesla and India are able to reconnect eventually
once this current lull in EV enthusiasm around the world rebounds and demand on a global level
rebounds. At least things never progressed in India past the discussion phase,
unlike with GigaMexico. I mean, you might already be going, oh man, I forgot all about GigaMexico,
and it's true, there hasn't been a word spoken of that for a while because that project's not
happening. And remember, Tesla made it so far as to start actually grading the land
for the ground breaking and construction on that, and then it stopped pretty quickly
after that land grading started. So for what little it might be worth coming from me,
just a guy who's out here observing and talking about this stuff every week,
I think there is a reasonable chance that both India and GigaMexico
are revived as manufacturing projects within the next decade, especially
if the car I'm referring to as the Model Z ends up being real and going into production
in the next few years. Before I continue with the rest of the EV news for this week,
a friendly reminder about the awesome EV raffle going on once again, the 12th annual
Chesed Chicago raffle has returned, and I am thrilled to help raise some money for a great
cause for them once again. As I've mentioned, you have all really generously supported this
effort for the past couple of years, so here we go again, let's use the positive power of this
community to help out a great cause one more time here in 2026. As a reminder, this raffle
gives you a chance to win any EV of your choice, such as the new Rivian R2, or if you prefer
50 grand in cash, and regardless of whether you win or not, you are helping out families in need
at the same time with your entry. Go to cceraffle.com or better yet click the link in the episode
description and use the promo code RTL for $25 off of two tickets or $500 off of 15 tickets,
plus as an optional thing, you can supercharge your entry for $10 per ticket to add a Tesla
wall connector, including installation by a professional electrician, to your prize if you
win. Now think about it, with the $7500 EV tax credit gone, this raffle is an even more awesome
way to get your hands on the EV of your dreams, and if you're curious to hear a little bit more
about Chesed Chicago, they offer over 80 programs and services that provide vital assistance to
more than 6,000 individuals per year with a focus on battling hunger, preventing eviction and
homelessness, and providing needy families with basics such as clothing and furniture.
The final drawing is on July 13th, so get your tickets now before they're all gone,
because yes, they are limited, they're only going to sell so many tickets, and they have
ended the raffle early in previous years because they sold out, so go to cceraffle.com
or click the link in the episode description and don't forget that promo code RTL for $25
off of two tickets or $500 off of 15 tickets. Accelerate Auto, my friends over there continue
to offer their X-Care extended warranty option. I was just talking to a friend of mine about this,
his warranty is coming up soon and he's figuring out, all right, am I going to keep the car okay,
all right, I'm going to look at X-Care. A lot of people, now that could be you as well, where
your warranty is coming up on your car, but also there's probably plenty of you out there that
are stepping into EV ownership right now, perhaps by buying a used Tesla or other EV,
because prices have come down a ton in the used market, inventory's opened up and for a lot of
buyers, the math to buy an EV finally makes sense and that is a great thing for EV adoption.
But there's one part of the conversation that doesn't always get the same level of attention
and that's ownership after the purchase because as we all know EVs aren't just different to drive,
they're different to maintain, to diagnose and repair over time and depending on where that
vehicle is in its life cycle, coverage can look pretty different and that is where X-Care comes
in. X-Care was built specifically for EVs by former Tesla employees who are also Tesla owners
and it covers the components that matter most including the battery and drive systems
and it gives you the flexibility to use approved EV repair facilities,
not necessarily just the manufacturer. It also includes 24-7 roadside support if you need it,
trip interruption coverage if you need it, and rental coverage if you need it, it's all there for
you. So whether you're buying your first EV or picking up another one, you're not just thinking
about the deal because going electric is one decision, it's a big one, but what matters next
is how it's handled when it needs service. So you can learn more about X-Care at xcare.com
x-c-a-r-e.com or speak to a human being who will gladly answer any questions you have by calling
844-755-4186 and if you do purchase a policy for your EV, make sure to use the promo code
Lightning for $100 off any policy purchase whether you're doing it on the website or if you're talking
to a human by calling in on the phone number, make sure to mention the promo code Lightning
for that $100 discount. Moving on to other EV news for this week, arguably the single biggest
story in the entire car world this week, forget about the EV space, forget about Tesla news
versus other EV news, probably the single biggest car story of the week, was that Ferrari fully
unveiled the Luce EV, we'd previously seen the interior, now we've seen the whole car,
and yeah, it didn't go well for Ferrari. You have to see this car before I continue and say
what I'm going to say, so if you haven't already seen it and seen what this car looks like,
please just pause the podcast and either google image search it, there are also plenty of videos
to watch as well from creators and media who were invited to cover it under embargo,
I watched Marques Brownlee's video, there are also pictures of it, it's the subject of this week's
Patreon poll which I'll get to the results of in a few minutes, so if you want to go see it,
you can go to patreon.com slash Tesla podcast, you can see some photos of it there, but just
before I continue, please pause this and go take a look at it so that it can enter your retinas
and then you can start forming your own opinion before you hear what I'm going to talk about
with regard to my reaction to it and everyone else's mostly collective reaction to it.
I will say, after watching Marques Brownlee's video as a long time journalist myself,
I got the sense that Marques was trying very hard not to say anything bad about it in the video,
which was filmed at Ferrari's event and not because he's afraid of Ferrari or that he's
cow-towing, nothing like that, but just because he's not reviewing the car yet. I suspect he will
save his opinion about what the car looks like for when he actually gets to do a review, which
perhaps he's posted that by the time this podcast goes up, but in any case,
all right, let's talk about the luce. So I did a lightning round episode not long ago about the
top five, well I did two, I did the top five EVs that I'm most excited about in 2026 and the luce
was on the list and I did a top five lightning round episode about what the five EVs I thought
were the most important in 2026 and I also had the luce on that list. So all of that preamble aside,
you guys, hopefully if you've been listening a while, you know me pretty well,
you know that I try my best to welcome all EVs and I try to stay positive because and I really
believe like a big part of the reason that I try to be enthusiastic and focus on the fun stuff,
you know, I'm not above criticizing where necessary, I mean I criticized the whole bunch
of stuff that Tesla was doing earlier this year, but I try to stay positive and enthusiastic
because there's enough negativity in the world, so I try to focus on the things that bring me joy
and that I think are fun, but this car, the Ferrari luce, let me start by saying that I genuinely like
the look of the interior, it's there's no plastic in it, it's all metal, it's all glass, I like the
analog switch, touchscreen hybrid thing, like retro modern thing that that Johnny Ive,
the former Apple designer who designed this car inside and out, I like what's going on in the
interior, but the outside of this thing, holy cow, it is appallingly bad, like wow, like I saw it,
the first time I actually saw it, let me see if I can give, find this in my Instagram DMs,
it was actually, it was a listener that sent it to me, oh I can't find it now,
but anyway, the first person to show me the car, it was an Instagram DM from a listener who said,
oh here's a link to it, and I looked at it and I was like wait, is this real or is this like a fake
AI generated like a troll situation here, it, it's, and by the way, this is far from just me saying,
like being revolted by this car, the reaction has been pretty universally terrible, like I'll
be honest, if again, if I try to be honest all the time, I think honesty is the best policy,
and so if I'm being honest, I can say I have not seen a reaction to a new car be this negative
since the Cybertruck, now of course with the Cybertruck, what happened was plenty of us,
and I was in this group, eventually came around on it, like hated it at first, and then came around
on it, so came around to love it, will the same thing happen with the luce? I will say I hope so,
I really truly genuinely hope so, but for now I'm not there, and for now I am in the holy cow is this
thing hideous state of mind, it looks absolutely nothing like a Ferrari, now that clearly was their
goal, I think that was a huge mistake, I think it should have looked like a Ferrari, and just been
a sweet looking Ferrari looking car that happens to be electric, like that's what, that's how Tesla
broke through, right? Because before Tesla, EVs were weird mobiles, and this car, the luce,
is a weird mobile, and Tesla proved with the Model S, and later the 3, and the Y,
people will, if the car, like just make a beautiful car that happens to be electric,
and that will invite people in, and let them open their minds to it, if you make a weird mobile,
you're basically saying to people, yeah don't buy this car, like it's an EV, it's weird, don't
buy this, don't buy me, that's what the car is saying to you, but this thing, again it looks
nothing like a Ferrari, nothing like any Ferrari ever, and plenty of people have wisely pointed out
that if Johnny Ive had stayed at Apple, and if Apple had actually followed through on Project
Titan, which was its electric car project, it may very well have looked like this. Of course,
the difference is, not that Apple stuff is known to be cheap, but an Apple EV probably would not
have cost $640,000 without options, which is how much the Ferrari luce very much costs.
Now if you think I'm being overly dramatic about the luce, don't take my word for it,
here's what the former head of Ferrari said about this car, when someone asked his opinion of it,
he said, his name is Luca Cordero de Montesamolo, apologies for my lack of Italian proper pronunciation
and accent there, but Luca said, and again this is a direct quote, he said, if I said what I really
think, I'd harm Ferrari, we're risking the destruction of a myth, I'm very sorry about that,
I hope they at least remove the prancing horse from that car, meaning he wants them to take the
Ferrari badge off of it, and he's straight up saying like yeah if I tell you what I really think,
it'll harm the company because it's coming from the former head of the company, wow,
like that's the most damning thing, forget about what me, just some guy on the internet is saying,
that is straight up fire being breathed by the former head of Ferrari, I will say to kind of
lighten the mood here a little bit, Tesla itself got in on the fun, now I thought this was funny,
I didn't take this as Tesla making fun of Ferrari, I actually thought that they were
kind of commiserating with them a little bit, so Tesla on the official Cybertruck account on X
posted the meme of James Franco from actually, I don't even know what movie it's from, but it's
says to the person next to him that's clearly also about to be hanged, he goes, first time,
and that's what Tesla posted from the Cybertruck account, and I think it actually did directly
address Ferrari, let me just find it, the caption on it was, hey luce, and then it was that meme,
so I thought that was funny because obviously Tesla has been through this with everybody,
or well with a lot of people hating on the Cybertruck when it was first unveiled, so
that did give me a chuckle, and now here's what all of you thought about it in this week's Patreon
poll, again I said I put up some pictures, I actually put up several pictures from different
angles and different colors so that you could get a decent look at it, and the poll question this
week, again the Patreon poll is open to everybody, you don't have to be supporting me on Patreon,
you just stop by patreon.com slash Tesla podcast once a week and vote in each week's poll,
I typically post the new poll on Tuesday nights and then of course I record here on Friday evenings,
so thank you to the nearly 300 of you that voted this week, the poll question was simply,
how do you rate the exterior design of the Ferrari luce, and I used the United States
school grading system, A, B, C, D, or F, and I will say you guys were a little kinder to it than
definitely than I was, because the, I mean it's pretty even, 29% of you voted to give it a D,
28% of you gave it an F, I would have been in the F group, and 25% of you gave it a C, so
we're talking more than three quarters, more than 80%, about in fact yeah, basically about 85%
almost there said it was a C, D, or F, just 12% of you gave it a B, and just 4% of you graded it an A,
so man, and if you want again, forget about just me babbling on with my opinion,
here's more tangible evidence of how bad the reaction to this was, Ferrari's stock dropped
6% the day after the announcement, in fact let me see what it did today, it was down again today,
in fact let me click on, so if I click on this week, yeah I guess five days, all I can do here,
this week started, what, May, because of the holiday, so 26th, yeah okay, so yeah, it's down
3% for the week, but yeah, it's not great, it's not a great situation, so yes, the point here is
it's bad y'all, so it's so bad in terms of the reaction that I think like Ferrari has to be
doing this on purpose, just like, I mean Cybertruck was very on purpose right, Tesla knew it was going
to be polarizing, Ferrari had to know, they the thing is the Cybertruck got upwards
of 2000000 reservations on the strength of two things, one it was only a $100 refundable
reservation, two they advertised a $40,000 truck and then a $70,000 truck with 500 miles of range,
neither one of those came to fruition and the take rate on the Cybertruck has been
a small fraction of that, and so Ferrari who already produces vehicles in low volumes,
the thing I'm genuinely wondering is when, not if, but when this thing does not sell,
they can go, we'll see, nobody wants a Ferrari EV, we're going back to making gas cars,
this thing is so appalling that that is the only plausible explanation that I can come up with,
that this thing was intentionally designed this way, Ferrari knows it's that it would be clowned on
and they are sending this thing, they're throwing it to the wolves in order to
be done with EVs forever basically, I hope to goodness that I am wrong, but I just don't see how
how they could genuinely think that this was going to go well, and the thing is if my little
tin foil hat theory is correct, they can pin the whole thing on Johnny Ive who doesn't and won't
work on any of their other cars, he was brought in specifically for this project to do their EV
and if their EV flops then they can just be done with Johnny Ive and go back to, I mean
of course there are a lot of Ferrari people and car enthusiasts that want to see Ferrari go back
to pin in Farina, that's a different story entirely as far as design houses, but that's the thing,
Johnny Ive can be the sacrificial lamb here, not saying that Ferrari would
purposely throw them under the bus, but they can just go oh yeah well that was a collaboration
with Johnny Ive and we're going back to our usual design team, so to sum up on it, to finish up,
I will honestly say, I honestly want to say I just think it's really a shame because
as I said I was really excited about this car because if it was awesome it might have helped
inspire more performance EVs to get created and thus more traditional gear head car enthusiasts
to open their minds and their hearts to electric vehicles, but this, the luce, this ain't it,
the luce which is due out next year is going to be a disaster, it is going to quickly get swept
aside and in fact like I said I think Ferrari might be planning for that and I'll bet you that
Ferrari is already planning to unveil some other new internal combustion engine hypercar
that'll get revealed shortly, like very shortly after the luce ships in order to quickly refocus
everyone's attention away from the luce, I just, I can't see the logic in any of this
without turning to conspiracy theories basically, so I don't know man. Side note,
final point on this, what does any EV that isn't a giant truck, but especially one that's
the size of a sedan, because the luce is a full size sedan, like in terms of its proportions,
its measurements, what is it doing on 23 and 24 inch wheels front and rear? Even
gas powered Ferraris don't run wheels that large, so that's just like another thing about this car
that I don't know, also by the way the wheels are hideous too, it's just all, it's part of the
problem, so alright, I'm done, I was just taken aback as so many other people were at how hideous
this car looks, because it's a company known for making absolutely gorgeous cars and compounding
that problem is $640,000, because if this were, I saw a couple comments on the, in fact maybe I'll
just real quick read you a couple comments from the Patreon poll, Glenn Blinkman said it would be,
it would actually be okay for a $30,000 Nissan, but for a $640,000 Ferrari, and Glenn you're
absolutely right, and so yeah, Rob Swaringin, it has a Prius look about it, probably not what
you want to hear when you're talking about a $640,000 Ferrari, toxic mega kitten, honestly thought
this was the Nissan Leaf, again, Carl Knudsen totally agree with Glenn Blinkman, it just, it goes on,
Brad Whiteside, if this was the new Toyota or Nissan EV then sure, but not Ferrari, so part of it very
much is who this car is coming from, as much as just the design itself in a vacuum, but man,
dang Ferrari, so we'll see what happens, I'll, I'm still gonna, I want to watch Marquez Brownlee's
video on driving it, which he said is coming soon, and like I said, maybe by the time this podcast
is up, maybe Marquez has posted that video, it just depends on when the embargo is, but
what a, what a disappointment that Ferrari, it didn't have to be this way, and much happier
other EV news, Fisker owners, owners of the Fisker Ocean SUV, electric SUV, they have built an open
source collaboration after Fisker's bankruptcy, I saw this over on threads, the meta social media
platform threads, and this was a 10 post thread by a user called Platinum Pathway, who compiled
engineered proprietary software, they sourced parts, and published open source tools to keep
their cars running, when Fisker Incorporated filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in June of 2024,
it left roughly 11,000 ocean SUV owners stranded, their vehicles, which cost between 40 and 70,000
dollars, were rapidly losing the cloud dependent software that controlled everything from breaking
to door locks, rather than watch their cars become inoperable, thousands of those owners
organized what amounts to a volunteer run automaker, reverse engineering proprietary systems,
and publishing open source tools to keep their vehicles on the road, the Fisker Owners Association,
a non-profit that has grown to roughly 4,000 members, emerged in the months following the
bankruptcy filing, members hired independent tech experts to reverse engineer Fisker's proprietary
firmware, mapped the ocean's multiple CAN bus networks, and published their findings on GitHub,
they negotiated bulk parts purchases, drove down the cost of replacement key fobs from
around a thousand dollars to a fraction of that, and convinced insurers to maintain coverage for
a vehicle whose maker no longer existed, in Europe, the Fisker Owners Association launched a
flying doctors program, a mobile repair network of technically skilled owners who travel to help
others, in the United States, the group secured court representation to ensure safety recalls were
included in the bankruptcy proceedings, and established parts supply channels through third
party companies, a deal with American lease, which purchased Fisker's remaining inventory
and spent two and a half million dollars to acquire the company's cloud software,
initially promised to extend connected services to private owners, but the arrangement collapsed
over a billing dispute, American lease asked the FOA to cover 58% of operational costs
without providing itemized invoices, and when the association refused, remote connectivity was revoked.
The Fisker saga has become a rallying point for consumer advocates pushing for structural
protections against manufacturer failures, as Electrek reported, advocates are calling for mandatory
software escrow funds that would keep vehicle software operational even after a company disappears,
along with open source mandates in bankruptcy proceedings. Oregon's right to repair law already
bans parts pairing practices that complicate independent repair, and more than 33 right to
repair bills were introduced across 13 states in early 2026. As Wired Magazine reported in February,
the FOA represents something larger than a car club. It is, quote,
a reclaiming of control over an economy dominated by profit driven tech companies
that inflate prices until they leave customers stranded, end quote.
With analysts expecting more EV startups to follow Fisker into bankruptcy as the industry
consolidates, the question is whether regulators will act before the next wave of owners is forced
to become their own automaker. Well, as someone who in my past I willingly bought a car
from a dead car company many years ago, I love this story. I think it's awesome. I mean,
it's especially cool because of the tech tie-in, right? Like, the DeLorean being dead, that of
course is the dead car that I bought into back in the day, but the DeLorean being dead, well,
that's one thing. But keeping that car alive, which is, by the way, the DeLorean is very much
alive and well in terms of parts and service, and a big part of the reason for that is because
the DeLorean's components are almost all strictly mechanical. This is a car from 1981.
But Fisker being dead is a whole other story because obviously it's an EV with formerly
proprietary software and other systems that can't really be replicated or replaced
with off-the-shelf components. So I really want to applaud the Fisker owners who have organized
and come together and made this happen. What an incredible effort to join forces and really
commit to supporting each other and keeping those Fisker oceans alive and on the road.
So bravo to all of them involved in this effort. And finally this week,
to end on an even happier note, Rivian has announced the date of first customer deliveries
for the R2 SUV. Now the company announced it on its social media channels and they posted more
detail on their blog, and I will read you a selection from that blog. They say invitations
will go out on a rolling basis starting on June 9th, and June 9th is the day that customer
deliveries begin. We'll be sending them in batches as deliveries ramp up. Your reservation
timestamp and delivery location are the primary factors that determine when you receive your
invite. Areas surrounding Rivian service and demo centers will generally receive invitations
sooner as this allows us to deliver vehicles more quickly in the early ramp. A few additional
factors we take into account. Number one, R1 owners. Current Rivian owners will receive
accelerated delivery timing balanced alongside deliveries to non-owners to keep the line moving
for everyone. Tesla did that as well in the early Model 3 days. Expiring leases. If your lease is
ending soon you can enter your expiring lease information in your Rivian account and we'll
factor that in where we can. For Rivian leases no need to take any action we've already got you
covered. The next point here is about invite batches and Rivian says we want to give everyone the
most accurate picture of when they can order their R2. To do that we're bringing a randomly
selected group of reservation holders into early batches which will help us refine our
timing estimates so that everyone can benefit from a clear and transparent purchase process.
And finally Rivian notes something we already knew. The first vehicle available to order
is R2 performance with launch package which comes with autonomy plus included. R2 premium trim will
arrive in late 2026 with standard trim following in 2027. If you prefer to wait for a future R2
version you will be notified as they become available to order. Once your order is confirmed
you can plan to take delivery within two to six weeks. Well here we go June 9th coming right up
on the calendar. What a fun and exciting time for Rivian and for Rivian customers including no
doubt some of you out there listening right now. I hope they have a super smooth roll out
and I hope they're able to ramp production as painlessly as possible because make no mistake
there will inevitably be some level of pain as watching Tesla go through this back in 2018 has
taught us. And that pain is probably going to happen over the course of the second half of this
year and maybe even a little bit into next year. But the big picture here is that Rivian is about
to start its next chapter and they have got a lot to be optimistic about and to be excited about.
The R2 appears to be a phenomenal vehicle. This is their Model 3 moment right like I've long said
since the Model 3 came out that I feel that the Model 3 and this applies to Y compared to X as
well as S and X are gone now obviously but for me the Model 3 is 75 to 80 percent as good of a car
as the Model S for about 50 percent of the price and that appears to be what Rivian has on their
hands with the R2. About 75 to 80 percent as good of a vehicle as the R1S but for about about 50
percent of the price and that is a good thing for the company that's a good thing for customers
and that's a good thing for EV adoption and Rivian's long term success. So if any of you
out there are going to be taking delivery in the very early days like getting one of the first R2s
please reach out let me know I just I'd love to hear from you and hear about your experience when
you do take delivery and hear what you think of the car maybe you'll even be motivated to call in
to the ride the lightning hotline which I'm going to get to in just a minute but really really exciting
time I mean it whether you're a Rivian fan Rivian customer even or not if you're if you're still
just Tesla all the way just if you were around for the early Model 3 days if you were one of those
people who like me was on the reservation list before the car came out and we're just eagerly
awaiting your chance to finally order your Model 3 in 2018 just for a second think back to how you
felt back then and how excited you were that's what Rivian customers are feeling like right now
and I couldn't be happier or more excited for him and it's just awesome I wish Rivian
nothing but the best so bring on those R2 deliveries all right that will wrap it up for
a busy week in Tesla and other EV news stick with me though I've got some of your excellent
ride the lightning hotline phone calls all teed up and ready to go right after this
hi this is Franz von Holthausen and you're listening to ride the lightning with Ryan
McCaffrey the Tesla unofficial podcast it's time to hear from all of you in the ride the
lightning hotline this is the call-in portion of the podcast if you've got a question comment
or discussion topic I would love to hear from you so how do you call in there are two easy ways to
do it number one you can use your smartphones built-in voice recording software record your
question please try to keep it to 90 seconds or less so I can get to as many callers each week
as possible then email that file to me at Tesla podcast at gmail.com or you can take that same
90 second or less call and actually call in and leave a message on the ride the lightning hotline
the toll-free number you can dial anytime is 1-888-989-8752 that number again 1-888-989-TSLA
and 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 lifeon
record.com to learn more first up this week here's Andy from the UK
vehicles and they are as I say they're loving their vehicle I however have just purchased my
first EV and it's a Kia EV3 so I don't think you guys in the United States have those yet
which is a fantastic small compact SUV and it's perfect for all my needs and requirements
however my question is I've purchased this vehicle through the UK's mobility as my wife
unfortunately has ill health due to two major strokes why does Tesla not offer these vehicles
on mobility you would think with all the safety features available on a Tesla it would be absolutely
perfect for those with vision impairments and many other challenges to their lives
look forward to hearing from you keep up the fantastic work your podcasts are my
it's my daily routine on a Monday when I drive to work to make sure the first thing I listen to
is your podcast it's fantastic and I appreciate that you now branched out to many other vehicles
and manufacturers as I like many of us love the whole EV world continue the good work mate all the
best thank you. Hi Andy it is wonderful to hear from you and thank you for your very kind words
about the podcast first you are correct we have not got the Kia EV3 here yet but it's on its way
over to the US later this year and I welcome it because a more options for customers is always
good as I've often said and b it's due to start in the mid $30,000 range making it even more welcome
because there just are not a lot of EV options here in the US period in that price range I'm
very glad to hear that yours is treating you very well hopefully it'll get good reviews and it'll
do well over here too. As for modability which you were talking about there I confess that I had
not heard of them prior to your call so I looked them up after listening to your call for the
benefit of both myself and my fellow Americans who might also not be aware of them here's a great
summary of them from their Wikipedia page modability is a scheme which scheme apparently has a
different connotation it's has a negative connotation in the US and I I don't think it's meant that way
here modability is a scheme in the United Kingdom intended to enable disabled people their families
and their caretakers to lease a new car scooter or powered wheelchair
it is open to recipients of certain disability benefit who exchange their weekly payments
for a leased vehicle through the scheme insurance vehicle excise duty and breakdown cover are all
included and customers of the scheme are eligible for a new car every three years
modability was founded in 1977 by Lord Sterling of Playstow and I'm probably mispronouncing that
and the late Lord Goodman it is a partnership between the charitable sector the UK government
leading banks and the motor and insurance industries managed by a private company called
modability operations limited and overseen by the modability foundation charity king
Charles the third became chief patron in 2024 it is the largest fleet operator in Europe in 2024
the scheme accounted for around one in five new cars purchased in the UK with 815,000 people on
the scheme up 15% on the previous year more than 20 manufacturers currently offer cars through the
scheme so yes Andy this sounds like a wonderful program and I would love to see the US offer
something similar because if I'm understanding this correctly it sounds like a public private
partnership and if it's been going for nearly 50 years now it clearly must be doing something right
so I guess I would say to really kind of come back to your question perhaps Tesla's push to full
autonomy will in a different way give us and all of you too in the UK eventually our version of it
right by turning by offering transportation as a service at a low cost per mile which is what Tesla
is promising through the full autonomy capability so that's what that's maybe where I think Tesla
will look to to achieve something similar to this thank you so much for your call Andy next up
here's Santi from Spain hello Ryan this is Andy from Spain
I find myself many many times managing my sensory videos I have so many videos already
in the system to export them quite it's kind of a pain I would be it would be great if Tesla
improved the way the videos are managed like maybe being able to cut the videos a little bit
trim the videos or to see some nails of all our videos so you can find easily the ones you want
maybe flag some videos so you can mark the important ones just a thought that's it thank you very much
for the podcast sorry for my English as always bye bye Santi thank you so much by the way you
sound fantastic and a million times for the record a million times better than I would sound if I
called into a Spanish language Tesla podcast so as to your suggestion to Tesla for better tools to
manage your sensory videos I could not agree with you more everything that you mentioned would be
fantastic now to be clear I am incredibly grateful for Sentry mode I don't want to look a gift horse
in the mouth here Sentry mode was not only added to our cars for free years ago but it's also been
improved a couple of times since then also for free but you're right that if Tesla is able to
dedicate some more time to Sentry mode hopefully sooner rather than later there are some clear
ways that they could make it even better and you suggested some great ideas and I hope Tesla
will listen to you and act on those ideas thank you so much Santi I appreciate your call I've
just got time for one more call this week and it comes from Steven in New York hey Ryan great
podcast this is Steven from New York really appreciate all you do for the community I am calling
because I noticed today in using grok which I often have conversations with grok on the way to work
that I actually ran out of storage and that never happened before and I'm not really sure what's
going on I I did a quick search actually on Chesapeakea and they said apparently Tesla has
installed some limits on how much you can use grok which is a little bit frustrating because
I'm already paying for the connectivity you'd think that I should be able to
use grok and especially I feel like you've taken something away from us so I just wanted to put
that out there the community and see what everyone else's thoughts are on it so that's about it give
the dogs a big grab pet and keep up the great work thanks bye hi Steven thank you for the call
and the kind words and by the way go Nyx I will be rooting for them in the NBA finals no matter
who comes out of the west because as I'm recording this still waiting for game seven
between the Thunder and the Spurs but I would love to see the Nyx get it they've got a great
team they've got a couple of former Suns including Mikhail Bridges who are Suns fans we still miss
that guy and it would just be cool to see Madison Square Garden go nuts for a title because it's
been over 50 years so I'm going Nyx all the way in the finals I hope they take it anyway
as to your actual phone call here this is the first I've heard of this but I can't imagine
that you're the only person that's run into it regardless I completely agree with you that if
you're paying for premium connectivity this shouldn't happen you should not be capped on how much you
can use grok if you're paying for the premium connectivity I'm not sure if anybody out there
has any workarounds for this or even from you Steven what's your situation like what I'd be
curious were you only locked out for that drive or are you getting that storage limit message
still and it's like it lasts till the end of the month which I guess by the time you hear this it'll
be the end of the month so this one's I will admit I'm a little confused by this one because as I
said it's the first I've heard of it but I wonder how temporary it is or not so if anybody has any
thoughts on how to help here I would love for you to email or call me so that I can share
those results and those suggestions with Steven and with anybody else who's been affected by this
so thank you Steven for your call thank you to everybody that kindly took the time to call in
if you have a question comment or discussion topic that you'd like to call in with please do
I gave you the two call in methods at the top of this segment so refer back to that if you'd
like to drop me a line and potentially be featured on an upcoming episode of ride the lightning
as for what's going on with me and my car I want to say a thank you to listener John from Southern
California and his lovely wife Kelly John reached out to me because he was going to be in San Francisco
said hey would you love to get lunch it worked out had lunch with them today and just two wonderful
lovely people I always love hearing everybody's Tesla story they now have three model threes in
their family and yeah it's it was just it was a treat to get sit down it's always a
pleasure to get to meet those of you who are kind enough to listen to this podcast in real life so
I always take those those opportunities when the schedule permits here's an entertainment
recommendation for you for this week it's another video game because we are drowning
in awesome new video games right now and this week's awesome game is 007 first light a new
James Bond origin story game it's available for pc xbox series xns as well as ps5 I'm only a
couple missions into it but I'm having a great time with it so far at IGN we gave it a 9 out of 10
called it amazing so and it's getting pretty darn good reviews across the board so if a James Bond
game sounds fun to you this is an excellent one probably I don't even think you could say arguably
the best Bond game since the classic golden eye for the n64 I think you can just drop arguably and say
it is the best James Bond game since golden eye for the n64 back to Tesla stuff here's your pro tip
of the week it comes from Sean in Atlanta this is Sean from Atlanta calling with the pro tip
I had some NEMA 1450 outlets installed recently at some relatives houses and the electrician
told me that if you go through the Tesla certified electrician portal you end up having to pay it
around a $200 inspection fee that is coming from Tesla directly I did not have to do this but my
recommendation would be to just kind of find an electrician on that website and then ask about a
240 volt outlet and not really mention Tesla anymore than you need to that is really helpful
to save a little bit of money when you're doing multiple installs and these outlets are something
that they do regularly you already have a couple of these in your house already so it can help when
you're having to do a lot of installs at family or you know friends houses keep in mind is just
make sure that you always check your federal state and local tax incentives for the actual
EV installer at your home that can help defer some of the costs and then at the same time while
you're doing that make sure you contact your local power company because you need to be switched
over to their EV charging program if they have one and that also applies to people you charge
with infrequently so if you have a relative you only charge with a couple times a year it's still
worth doing that same EV charger program and the last thing I'll say working in the EV
charger installation space in my day job there are a lot of tax incentives for commercial
applications as well so if you're looking to have something installed at an apartment complex or
where you work or something like that those installations can be significantly more expensive
than having one at your residence but the tax incentives that are available again federal
state and local can significantly offset that and make that a more palatable option for you know
people looking to have those just more accessible to the general public thanks hey Sean all good
tips here thank you so much and yes I actually have heard about an informal Tesla tax if you will
where some electricians have charged people more when they found out it was for a Tesla
as the installer I guess assumes that the customer has a lot of money and the reminder about checking
local incentives on home charger setups that is a good one too so thank you Sean for me I was
lucky enough it was there was a $500 credit or rebate available it was a rebate because I got
to check $500 with my utility provider this is back in 2018 and then a year or two later what's
interesting is it went up to $800 I mentioned it to a couple of neighbors that I hadn't met this is
again this is back in like 2019 but I saw that they had a new Tesla when I would walk by with
Daisy and I imagine they probably didn't believe me when I told them that hey here's how you can get
$800 but hopefully those neighbors believed me enough to check at the time but anyway yes
finally here Sean an EV rate plan I won't say it's a must but it is highly recommended that
anybody look into an EV rate plan if you are purchasing an EV so that you can fuel your car
with the cheapest possible electricity at your home which is going to be typically on an EV rate
plan during the overnight hours so thank you so much for these tips Sean they are greatly appreciated
and if anybody else out there has a good Tesla or EV pro tip of the week please send it my way so
that I can learn from it and I can share it with everybody and we can all learn from it
to submit a pro tip of the week it's easy just send in send it in like it's a regular
ride the lightning hotline call using one of the two calling methods that I gave you a little while
ago before I go if you'll permit me a few minutes to mention a few friends of ride the lightning my
hope is that these affiliates will be of use to you at some point they've all got something awesome
to offer that's why I'm happy to mention them here I'll start with RPM Tesla trusted by over
200,000 Tesla owners since 2013 yes they've been around a while they offer over 1400 in-house
designed and manufactured accessories compatible with every Tesla model and year a lot of cool
carbon fiber kits from them whether it's spoilers or like even yokes for your interior if you want
to change out your steering wheel they've got total Tesla compatible stuff you got to just go
take a look at rpm tesla.com buying their stuff is easy and risk-free they have a low return rate
which means free return shipping no restocking fees and to help with your self installation
they offer over 600 step-by-step diy videos on their youtube channel and if you live in southern
california you can even visit their showroom and have your accessory professionally installed so
visit rpm tesla.com to upgrade your tesla personalize your car today the infinity shield prevent any
garage door mishaps from ever happening with the infinity shield I say it's overkill and I mean
that in the nicest way possible instead of one sensor beam that's like an inch or two off the
ground the infinity shield creates an array of 25 beams going across diagonal up down like guarding
the hope diamond so it's easy to install it can be you know mounts on your existing garage door
rails and it's no special tools are required it is an awesome really well engineered product
it's a it's a fire and forget thing you buy it once you're good to go forever
so it doesn't need to be aligned ever too so it really is just get it installed with no special
tools needed and you don't have to think about it anymore it's compatible with all garage door
openers get yours at infinity-shield.com and use the promo code RTL at checkout for a $35 discount
meanwhile at abstractocean.com they've got a million great aftermarket tesla accessories
also rivian if you're the r1s in fact you know since I was talking rivian today with the r2
let me just click on their r1s accessories they've got silicone hook covers for the toe hooks up
front really nice yellow to add a little accentuate like just accentuate the color a little pop of
color up front they've got expel ppf door edge guard protections for 25 bucks they've got expel
armor door sill protection which you know in your r1s or r1t if you're doing off-roading you're
doing you know that's probably a wise thing to get 40 bucks and it just goes on the door sill
it'll keep your keep your paint in the door sill from getting all scratched up they've got let's see
what else do they have here door handle vinyl wraps available in five colors those are just 20
just so many great accessories for the rivians and all the teslas as well go to abstractocean.com
or just click the link in the episode description click on whatever car you own at the top of the
page that will then show you all the accessories available for that car pile everything you like
into your online shopping cart and when you get to check out use the coupon code RTL podcast
to get 15% off of your first order that coupon code again RTL podcast all one word no spaces
if you want or are legally required to have a front license plate on your car i very much
recommend the snap plate or the stronger snap plate plus you can get yours at everyamp.com
RTL again you can also just click the link in the episode description and there's a coupon code
for anything you might buy from them as well that coupon code is simply RTL and this is the
front license plate bracket that i recommend it's nice and easy to install but it goes on safely
and securely doesn't get in the way of anything else and if you ever want to take it off it will
leave nothing behind no tape residue because it doesn't use tape no nothing so everyamp.com
slash RTL with the coupon code RTL for a discount there if you're in or going to be in the greater
san francisco bay area with your tesla or other car that you love make an appointment ahead of time
before your trip at immaculate reflections that is my professional detailer that i have used now
gosh it's uh for gonna be about eight years coming up on eight years wow that's uh that's
been awesome jeff is the owner there he is just a phenomenal human being also an incredibly talented
detailer and there is a discount waiting for you if you arrive the letting listener which if you're
listening to me right now you're a listener so you get the discount if you mention it so when you
reach out through the website which by the way is irdetailing.com you'll see a contact button
in both the upper left corner of the homepage and in the center of the homepage if you click either
of those that'll take you to the forum to contact jeff let him know what you might want to do with
the car whether you just have a budget in mind and you want to work with him that way or specific
services that you have in mind such as ceramic coating paint protection film or paint correction
or some combination of the three mention in your message that you're a ride the lightning listener
and the work you have done will have the ride the lightning listener discount applied thank you so
much to jeff at immaculate reflections for very kindly and generously continuing to offer that
to my audience it is so gracious of him to do that finally or just about finally i'll mention my
patreon one more time that is the way the primary way to support the podcast it's a safe secure
platform patreon's been around for 10 plus years now and the way it works is you go to patreon.com
slash tesla podcast you'll see a number of different support tiers there starting at just
five bucks a month and if you want to support me at five bucks a month first thank you second
in exchange for that five bucks a month you'll not only get the what i hope will be satisfaction
and good feeling of supporting what i'm doing here but as a more tangible thank you i offer you an
ad-free episode every week and you get that ad-free episode early every week as well if you
step up to the most popular tier that's the ten dollar per month tier you get the ad-free early
access and you get all 190 something and counting of those weekly lightning round bonus mini episodes
that i do every week on patreon so all the information is on my patreon page which again
you can find at patreon.com slash tesla podcast finally if you are not already following this
podcast on your favorite podcast service i do recommend that it doesn't cost you anything and
the reason i recommend that is because if you follow this podcast on your favorite podcast
service what that means is every time there's a new episode which for me is every sunday at
nine a.m eastern six a.m pacific you will get a push notification on your device reminding you
that there's a new episode to ride the lightning just tap that and immediately you'll start listening
so the way to follow me on your favorite podcast service whether that's apple podcasts spotify
tune in or youtube podcasts is to simply search ride the lightning tesla you should see this
podcast pop right up click the follow button and that's it you're done finally the social media
side of things if you'd like to follow me on x and or on instagram you can do so i have the same
username on both of those and that username is dmc underscore ryan if you'd like to email me anytime
about any ev related stuff you can do so at tesla podcast at gmail.com before i go i'd like to say
hello and thank you to the top tier patreon backers these extra generous folks as one of their thank
yous get a shout out at the end of each week's show so i will start with the maximum plaid backers
now part of the perk of the maximum plaid these top tiers is that i do a monthly zoom hangout
for page for the top tier patreon backers that they're invited to every month and then i give a
one-time courtesy thank you invitation to that hangout to anybody that makes a new or pledge or
upgrades an existing pledge i try to do those on the first saturday of the month which as you're
listening to this will be this saturday except i'll be in la for a conference for an annual
gaming conference that's uh it's always this first weekend to june so the patreon zoom hangout
will be next saturday it'll be uh june 13th so i'll be sending out invitations for that
after i get back from los angeles for now though a thank you goes out to these top tier
patreon backers i'll start with the maximum plaid tier thank you so much to jonathan wales
cameron clark daniel grummer seth capello the galpin family ryan from new york city darin
nickle cos barns patrick wasneski todd badger joe edgel kevin yank the tesla owners club of
san wakene valley willsteadman jeremy harris chris beach tom mills choreo donnell erin
joel sap paul casarino chris osbourne kb adam lavoy jason chelukas travis krenzel
bruce otterstein tom behan josh pennington john from cream ridge new jersey dustin hart
derrick finley charles clement daemon kline jeff brown jerry slinger kenneth corbett
brian bertoglio kim bae troy severs chip hooper matt chinander robert moran rav christopher
man michael wiliams eric harbert scott shepherd and tom tharp next up the roadster in space
tearbackers big thanks goes to pete white lile austin steve radspinner fernando cordero
laughton from chicago shawn nidig neal weaver jackson wallace ralph and jennifer evers howard
anthony smith victoria aya coveto tesla hitchhiker 42 carol weston robert from near philly american
contractors dug carry michael gallo and tony figaroa and finally the grandfathered in plaad
to your supporters 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 jamie dalton mike and barber from
louisville matt nixon the tesla owners club of wisconsin ish not elon musk in quotes peter
and the bear boys of colorado that'll wrap it up for episode 565 the palindramatic episode 565
of ride the lightning your weekly tesla and ev podcast had fun on this one and hopefully
fun next week last week was certainly fun with larsen france again thank you all so much for
tuning into that um again i i just i can't help but laugh when that that i pre announced it and
sure enough it ended up getting delayed i'm just glad it it still happened because you never know
what those kind of things if if the schedule changes it can be like oh sorry we can't do this
anymore but thank goodness it happened it was fun last week was fun hopefully this week was fun
and hopefully next week will be fun so until then happy electric motoring my friends i'll see you
you
elon musk people don't like elon musk the guy found a paypal and tesla and people are like
yeah but he's a troll and a bad dad i'm like so is mine he did nothing to fight climate change
also have you been in a tesla have you been in a tesla my buddy let me drive his tesla i laughed
out loud at how fast it went been clinically depressed my entire life on dozens of medications
in a tesla for 13 seconds cured forever i mean i think a tesla is the most fun thing you could
possibly buy ever that's what it's meant to be our goal is to make it's it's not exactly a car
it's actually a thing to maximize enjoyment it's maximum fun
About this episode
Price changes and demand dynamics take center stage, with the host noting “price increases on the premium trims of the Model Y” while the base “is staying right at $40,000.” They then pivot to a speculative “Tesla-SpaceX merger” framed around AI compute constraints and how it could accelerate Starlink hardware—though “you're not going to go retrofit every single car in the fleet.” The show also covers Tesla’s vision-only autonomy, a lens-cleaning patent, and broader EV ownership issues like cloud dependence after Fisker’s bankruptcy.
Rumblings of a Tesla-SpaceX merger have begun, Tesla's new camera-cleaning patent resembles the human eye, Ferrari fully unveils the Luce EV and gets, uh...quite the public reaction, 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!
WIN AN EV WHILE GIVING TO A GREAT CAUSE: For your chance to win your dream EV in the 2026 ChesedChicago raffle, head to https://tinyurl.com/CCraffleRTL -- Hurry, tickets are limited and only 9,999 tickets will be sold, get your tickets today and use code RTL for $25 off 2 tickets or $500 off 15 tickets. Whether you win or not, you're helping a great organization help families in need.
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!). Enhance your car with cool carbon-fiber upgrades from RPMTesla.com. And make your garage door foolproof with the Infinity Shield – get yours at https://www.infinity-shield.com and use the promo code RTL at checkout for a $35 discount.
