Episode 567: Tesla Adds Yet Another New Paint Color

On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla and EV podcast, Tesla introduces

its fourth new currently available blue paint option.

The Model 3 crushes a popular consumer website's range test, Lucid introduces a major new software

update, Mitsubishi announces a new EV for the North American market, and more.

What's happening friends, alongside my four-legged friends, Daisy the Boxer and Lily the Silly

Labrador puppy, my name's Ryan McCaffrey, welcome to another week of Ride the Lightning,

the Tesla and EV podcast coming at you every Sunday at 9am Eastern 6am Pacific.

This is episode 567 publishing on June 14th, 2026 as usual on Friday evening.

Well, quick PSA before I get going, there is a new monthly mailbag slash ask me anything

post over on both my Patreon page, which is patreon.com slash Tesla podcast, and the community

run RTL pod subreddit, so if you want to make a comment on either of those posts asking

me any kind of question you like, I would absolutely love to hear from you because these

are really fun to round up and then I answer them all at once on a lightning round mini

episode on Patreon, so I will do that later this month, but get your questions in via

either the Patreon page or the RTL pod subreddit.

Getting started this week, a welcome to Belgium and Denmark.

They have just joined the full self-driving supervised party, so two more European countries

join the party as it were, because it is a party.

You can't quite have a party in your car yet, at least not while you're in the driver's

seat.

I mean I guess technically you could, as long as you're supervising the car, as long as

your eyes are forward and your eyes aren't detected looking away from the road, I guess

you could, but in any case, yes, Belgium and Denmark now have FSD supervised, that is fantastic.

Also fantastic, there is another, yet another massive new supercharger project coming to

California, this one happening in Willows, California.

As you might have guessed if you've been listening for a while, pretty much every time

I bring up a new supercharger, it is discovered by the same person, the eagle-eyed supercharger

superfan Marco RP over on X who posted pictures of the permits and the plans and wrote, permits

have been filed for the addition of a 96 stall V4 station behind the Starbucks located directly

off Interstate 5 on North Humboldt Avenue.

The installation will consist of 56 stalls in Phase 1, along with two solar canopies,

a mega-pack and a prefab amenity building that will be expanded as part of Phase 2.

So hopefully the amenity building means some nice clean restrooms, maybe a nice spot to

grab a quick bite to eat, that remains to be seen.

Solar canopies are also awesome because they A will provide you shade, but B will help

generate some nice renewable clean energy as well.

Now I get it, if you might be tired of hearing about these huge California supercharger projects,

but I can't help that that's where Tesla keeps building them.

And if you're curious, as I in fact was, where Willows is, unlike the rest of these huge

supercharging stations in California, this Willows one is not located on the corridor

between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It is on Interstate 5, which is where pretty much all the big ones are between LA and

San Francisco.

This one, Willows California, it's much farther north, north of San Francisco, north of Sacramento,

and looking at it on the map, it's almost halfway between Sacramento and the Oregon

state border, so it's very, very, very northern California.

So if you find yourself heading up to Redding or maybe Mount Shasta, you might end up stopping

at this huge supercharging site.

The next story I have for you this week is in fact the main one, I just happened to drop

it towards the beginning because it's not the biggest deal in the world, I acknowledge,

but it's the most interesting thing to me that happened in the world of Tesla and EVs

this week.

You guys know I'm biased towards paint colors and other little design tweaks and changes,

so here we go.

You could say this week that Tesla's got the blues so bad, no they're not depressed,

that's the good news, at least I hope not, but they are releasing yet another new blue

paint color.

This makes four currently available all pretty recent, in fact they're all quite recent

blues in different regions around the world.

It's called Coastal Blue and if you're in Europe and you buy a standard version Model

Y, the very base level entry level Model Y, you can pay 1,000 Euros or 1,300 Pounds if

you're in the UK to get Coastal Blue, which is the same price as all the other premium

colors.

Which based on the press photo that Tesla released alongside this, as well as I went

and compared it side by side in the UK design studio and the US design studio comparing

to our blues, so it appears to be a shade or two darker than frost blue.

I wouldn't say it looks exactly like frost blue, but a shade or two darker the way that

I've previously described Stealth Gray, in my opinion, seeming like exactly like midnight

silver metallic, just a shade or two darker.

Coastal Blue does have a little bit more of its own personality, but I would say it's

closer in its shade to frost blue than any of the other blues, particularly marine blue,

which is the new current blue on premium Teslas pretty much around the world.

In fact, I had to go and figure this out, because there are now, you can get a different

blue depending on which trim you get and depending on which region of the world you live in,

but before I get to that, that little rundown, I did find it quite strange this week.

I was surprised, A, that they would announce and release another new blue at all, given

all of the other blue colors that we have, but also that they would make an exclusive

shade of blue that's only for the entry level Model Y, where you have more cost conscious

buyers, this color does cost a premium as I mentioned a moment ago, so that did surprise

me but they have done it.

So, I suppose if you really want your Standard Model Y to stand out, because remember, the

only other colors available for the base Model Y are Stealth Gray, Pearl White Multicote,

and Diamond Black with the latter two costing an additional amount of money just as the

new Coastal Blue does.

And, or if you hate gray scale colors and you're buying a Standard Model Y, now you've

got one and only one option that isn't gray scale.

So to recap, because there's now kind of a lot to break down here in terms of again,

which blue you have access to depending on which trim Model Y you buy in which region,

so we have Coastal Blue on the Standard Model Y in Europe, Marine Blue on Premium Model

Ys in Europe and North America, as well as on the Performance Model Y in Europe and the

Asia Pacific Territories, they also have Marine Blue for those, then you have Glacier Blue

on Premium Model Ys in the Asia Pacific region, and then of course here in the US, North America,

you have Frost Blue exclusive to the Performance Model Y.

Now, blue, if you're a long time listener, maybe you're a Patreon backer, you may remember

the Tesla Paint Color Leaderboard lightning round that I did over on Patreon a while back,

I'm going to need to update that again, because blue has now vaulted to the top of that leaderboard.

In addition to the four, as I mentioned, four currently available active blue variants around

the world, we've also had the now retired blue metallic and the longer retired deep blue

metallic, or maybe I've got those switched up.

I can never remember if the original blue was blue metallic or deep blue.

In any case, there were the two previous blues, which means Tesla has now had six total shades

of blue in the company's history, with obviously, as I was saying, most of those being quite

recent.

I in fact wanted to have a little fun with this because again, you guys know I love talking

about paint colors.

This week's Patreon poll question asked, which of the four current blue colors is your favorite?

I included, I made apples to apples, I put apples to apples images in here by using the

design studio renders, because if I were to go find real life pictures of each color,

the lighting is different in different pictures, so this at least is consistent even if it's

a render and not an actual photograph of the car.

But it was simple, which of Tesla's four current blue paint colors is your favorite?

Marine blue, frost blue, the new coastal blue, or glacier blue, and taking this fairly convincingly,

although the votes were reasonably distributed as you'd expect with a subjective paint color

choice like this.

But the new marine blue here in the US taking it 35% of the vote, behind that at 24% of the

vote, was glacier blue, which you know what, I would probably also rank them marine blue

number one, glacier blue number two, and then in third place was the brand brand new coastal

blue that I was just introducing, that got 19% of the vote, and interestingly frost blue,

which of course had been exclusive to Model S and X, and then when those cars were retired,

Tesla made it available on the Performance Model 3 and Performance Model Y, frost blue

finishing in last at 16%, and then 3% of you said, I don't like any of these, which is fair,

you might not necessarily like any of the options on the table, but thank you to the

upwards of 300 of you that kindly stopped by my Patreon page to vote, a reminder that

the Patreon poll is totally free, it's open to everybody every week, I just want you to stop by,

cast your vote, participate in the poll, and you can do that by visiting patreon.com

Tesla podcast, the new poll typically goes up on Tuesday evenings, but yeah, as I was just

looking at them again there as I read you the poll results, I would say that for me,

none of them stand out head and shoulders above the rest, where it's just like, oh that's the one

for me, as I've said before, I'd really like to see Glacier Blue in person, that I could see if

I love it in person maybe, that would be the one I'd ultimately pick out of the four, but

if you make me pick one right here right now, I think I would as I said take Marine Blue,

because I do like darker blue colors in general. Next up this week, next up this meek, I hope this

isn't a meek story or a meek episode, but next up this week, I must admit where I was wrong,

I had previously said that I thought that Tesla would keep the black headliner and the updated

16 inch QHD screen exclusive to the premium trim model wise and continue using the existing

light gray headliner and existing 15 inch HD screen on the standard Model Y as a way to further

differentiate the standard trim from the premium trim, however this is the part where I'm wrong

because that is no longer the case. Tesla has rolled the updated center touchscreen and the

black headliner out across all of its Model Y trims here in North America, yes even the entry

level one, and I guess I probably should have seen this coming because it does make sense from a

supply chain perspective, not that I'm some supply chain expert, but I think even it's fair to see

the basic economics of this, if you only have one headliner and one screen type to worry about

rather than two in your supply chain for this car that sells a million to a million

1.2 million units per year, that is just going to simplify your costs, your supply chain,

your logistics, everything, so that does make sense, and in fact I couldn't help but almost

feel a little bad for some folks in the Tesla community because I've been seeing a growing

number of folks posting in various online forums and places in the Tesla community

who just want to buy a new Model 3 performance specifically with the black headliner and that

slightly larger, slightly improved 16 inch QHD center screen, and those folks are going to

continue waiting, but the good news is, even though I just said I was wrong about one thing and I

don't ever pretend to be right about everything, I'm just a human being who's kind of predicting

Tesla as best I can as somebody that keeps a close eye on them, but as we've all learned over the

years, they are a very, very difficult company to accurately predict all of the time, but I would

confidently say that I think there is a high, high, high like borderline unmistakable chance,

just a can't miss chance that the Model 3s will get the black headliner and that slightly larger,

slightly improved center touchscreen, and I would suspect that the last of the supply of the

old headliner and the old center touchscreens is probably being utilized on the Model 3 production

lines now. Remember, the Model 3 has only made it two factories, the Model Y has made it all four

of Tesla's vehicle manufacturing facilities, so I would expect that the last of that supply

of the gray headliner and the 15 inch screens is being used on the Model 3s now, and in fact,

it wouldn't surprise me if, as the supply really starts to run down on those two things,

that the performance Model 3 does get the black headliner and the 16 inch screen

first relative to the other Model 3 trims for just a short little while,

while again the rest of that old stock of those parts runs out, which is exactly what happened

with the Model Y. But if you've been eyeing a new Model Y, you're going to get the slightly larger,

slightly improved screen if you order now, and you're going to get that black headliner. I know

not everybody likes the black headliner, I can go either way with it, I think I said this

the first time that the black headliner came up when it was very first introduced over I believe

in Shanghai first. In the DeLorean's, you only had a choice of black interior or gray interior,

and whichever one you chose, pretty much everything was either black or gray. In the gray interior

car, the headliner was light gray, the dashboard was gray, the instrument cluster, the center console,

the seats, everything gray, and if you had a black interior DeLorean, everything was black,

and then the headliner above you was a super dark gray. So in the DeLorean, I had a gray interior

car, and if I ever had the extreme privilege, as I hope one day to do, we'll see, but if I ever get

lucky enough to get another DeLorean, I'm definitely getting a gray interior car again, because for

me in that car, the black feels a little claustrophobic, because it is a very cockpit-like

interior in that car, and I thought, I just find that the gray makes it feel a little more open.

In the Teslas, I don't quite feel as strongly about it. Now, I say that having not been in

a black headliner Model Y, because I don't really spend any time in Model Ys except for the occasional

robotaxi ride here in San Francisco, and in fact, I guess the last time my wife and I did take

a robotaxi, it did have the black headliner. But in any case, the Teslas have such large

greenhouses that I don't feel as closed in with the black headliner. Again, based on my

limited experience so far, and in fact, in a Model S and X, I like the black Alcantara headliner. I

think it just looks and feels more premium. Now, it's not Alcantara in the three in the Y, it's

the same fabric material it's always been, it's just a different color, but I guess this is a long

winded way of saying that I could go either way on a three or on a Y, but I guess you may feel

differently, right? Like, you may decide, oh, if I order now, I'm getting a black one, a black

headliner, and oh, that feels, I don't prefer that, I would rather have the gray. And in that case, well,

I unfortunately have bad news there because they're all going to be black headliner from here on out.

But probably the same number of people will be very happy about that change.

Anyhow, next this week, Tesla has apparently revised the policy it had previously listed for

FSD transfers on the new $60,000 Cybertruck that is now just starting to deliver, by the way,

this week were the first deliveries. So this is a not good news story, I don't like doing these,

but it's all part of being honest and fair and balanced. I saw this on Tesla Roddy who wrote,

after initially stating that customers who bought the pickup truck would be able to

transfer FSD purchases, Tesla recently changed the language in those terms and conditions

to reflect this would no longer be the case. Tesla said orders for the new Cybertruck all-wheel drive

must be placed by March 31st, 2026 to qualify for the FSD transfer. The language in the document

from earlier this year explicitly states that they may qualify for the transfer program,

but the date of March 31st is explicitly mentioned. Additionally, Tesla delivery advisors reached out

to some orders of the new $60,000 Cybertruck who were told there was, quote, an update to the

eligibility of the full self-driving supervised transfer, end quote. And apparently Tesla stated

that they could A, proceed without the transfer, B, upgrade to a premium or cyber beast trim and

request an FSD transfer, or C, cancel the order and be refunded the $250 otherwise non-refundable

order fee. So again, as I mentioned at the top there, this comes just as the first deliveries

on the 10-day darling, known as the $60,000 Cybertruck, have begun. And I'm disappointed

in Tesla over this. Again, I'm not here to sugarcoat, always pretend everything is okay.

It is definitely, this is a company run by people that makes mistakes and does things that not

everybody's going to agree with, and I do not agree with this one. Now, if you want to argue that

Tesla is a business and they have to run a profitable enterprise, well okay, I wouldn't fight you on that.

But what I would say to that is that it's not a great way to treat your customers,

because Tesla already put customers in a tough spot by limiting this $60,000 Cybertruck

to a 10-day window where you could order it, and that window happened to coincide with the

end of the FSD transfer program. But when those orders for these trucks were placed in that window,

it appeared from all the language on the Tesla website at the time that people

would be able to transfer their FSD to their new truck whenever that truck was finally delivered.

Tesla is moving the goalposts here and changing the rules, and I think that's kind of lame.

It's not, well not kind of, it is lame, it's not great. I don't like that that's how they've decided

to handle this. To me, it's just unnecessary. I know that's easy for me to say because it's

not costing me any money, but here's the thing, just honor it for those people. Just honor it.

Those people have already jumped through enough hoops. Just honor it and turn them into fans,

happy fans when they get their truck, instead of would-be customers who ended up canceling

because of this, or skeptical customers who went ahead and took delivery, but are just now, you

know, not super gung-ho and enthusiastic, not saying they don't like their truck, but these

people might have otherwise been full-throated enthusiasts for the brand. And now, just because

of this policy, you're risking that. So my question is why get their ownership experience

off on a sour note like that? Because those customers, remember, I think the bottom line

here is, those customers did nothing wrong. It is Tesla who is upending the apple cart here.

So that's why I say I'm disappointed in how they've decided to handle this.

Before I continue with this week's Tesla and other EV news, and there is plenty more to talk

about, I hope all of you who are kindly supporting me on Patreon at that most popular tier, that's

the $10 per month tier, enjoyed this week's Lightning Round mini episode coming up on the

200th one. We're not quite there yet. I think this was 196, but this week's Lightning Round was about

what it's like to drive the original Tesla Roadster. I was thinking about what I want to talk about

on the Lightning Round this week, and I realized, oh, I never did talk about that. I never did a

Lightning Round about it, because boy, is it different than any of the other Teslas,

Pastor Presence. So if you'd like to listen to that and you'd like to support me, you can do so

over on my Patreon page, found at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast. If you sign up at that $10

per month tier, you'll not only get access to all 196 of those Lightning Round mini episodes,

which are pretty much all evergreen topics, meaning you could listen to any of them now,

and they're just as relevant now as they were when I put them out. So you can check that out

on the Patreon page, and the other thing you get at that $10 per month tier is an ad-free

early access episode. So it's an ad-free episode that you get early access to before

the show drops for everybody else on Sunday. And don't forget, if you just subscribe to the Patreon

at the base tier, five bucks a month, just five bucks a month, you will get, as a thank you,

the ad-free early access. So if you're willing to give back to the podcast, the Patreon is the

way to do it. Again, find it at all the information over at patreon.com slash Tesla podcast.

Don't forget, there is an annual pledge option if you don't want to do a month-to-month thing.

And if you do that annual option, I say thank you for that by giving you a 10% discount on the

annual pledge. And quick reminder, there is a seven-day free trial on the Patreon as well,

if you'd like to check that out. And speaking of support, you know who could really use your

support is Chesed Chicago. The 12th annual Chesed Chicago raffle is here, and I am so thrilled to

help raise some money for such a great cause, for I think this is the third year in a row

that I've partnered with them, and you guys have been really, really generous these last couple

years supporting this effort. So let's come together as a community here and help them out

in 2026. This raffle gives you a chance to win any EV of your choice or $50,000 cash. So whether

that's the brand new Rivian R2, which just started deliveries this week, I'll be talking about that

more in a little while here. Maybe you want to snag a nice new Model Y performance? What about a

Model 3 performance? Maybe a Lucid Air? Cadillac Lyric? Whatever strikes your fancy, if you win the

raffle, that's what you get. You win any EV of your choice through the 12th annual Chesed Chicago

raffle. Go to cceraffle.com or just click the link in the episode description and use promo

code RTL for $25 off of two tickets or $500 off of 15 tickets. Plus as an option, you don't have to do

this, but you can supercharge your tickets for $10 per ticket, which means if one of those supercharged

tickets wins the raffle, you will not only win the EV of your choice, but you will add, you will

electrician installations. So you'll get the whole kit and caboodle there. And remember,

with the $7,500 tax credit now history, this raffle is an even more awesome way to get your hands

on the EV of your dreams for the cheapest amount of money possible. If you just hit the price of

a raffle ticket and even if you don't win, it goes to such a great cause because Chesed Chicago

offers over 80 programs and services, which 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

less than one month away. It's on July 13th, so get your tickets now before they're all gone

because they can and do and have in the past sold out. And if that happens, the raffle will end

early. So go to cceraffle.com now or click the link in the episode description and don't forget

to use that promo code RTL for $25 off of 2 tickets or $500 off of 15 tickets.

And one more important thing before I get back to the news, my friends at Accelerate Auto,

one thing that I have always appreciated about EV owners is this. They're thinkers. I wouldn't

put myself in that group, I hope so. In general, all of you guys are EV owners are thinkers.

And before buying an EV, these people research charging, battery technology, software,

range, road trips, ownership costs, they plan ahead. And that is exactly why so many Tesla

and Rivian owners take a look at X care before they ever need it, not because something is wrong,

but because preparation is part of smart ownership. Whether you're driving a Model 3,

Model Y, Cybertruck, R1T, R1S, Model S, Model X or something else entirely, X care was built

specifically for EV owners who plan to enjoy their vehicles for years to come. The best ownership

decisions are usually made before they're necessary. I am a two time policy holder now

on our 2018 Model 3. I am very happy to have this peace of mind just in case. In case anything

happens, I am covered. To learn more, you can talk to a human being by calling 866-584-1363.

And if you talk to that human being at X care and you decide to proceed with a policy purchase,

make sure to mention the promo code lightning for $100 off or if you're doing it online by visiting

xcare.com, make sure to use promo code lightning. So again, 866-584-1363 or go to xcare.com and

don't forget promo code lightning. Continuing along with the final Tesla news story of the week

before I move on to other EV news, this is a good one. The 2026 Tesla Model 3 rear wheel drive

is the efficiency champion in Edmunds real world range test. This right up comes from the Edmunds

blog. They wrote the 2026 Tesla Model 3 rear wheel drive did more than beat its EPA range

estimate in the Edmunds EV range test. It also became the most efficient EV we've tested that

is currently in production. Side note, wow, that is impressive. Tesla's rear wheel drive Model 3

has an EPA range estimate of 363 miles, but our test car traveled 393 miles on a full charge.

That is 30 miles farther than its official figure or an 8.3% improvement. It's not the biggest

percentage gain we've seen from an EV, but the final number is hard to ignore. Nearly 400 miles of

real world driving range puts the Model 3 rear wheel drive close to the top of our range chart.

The more impressive figure is how little energy it used to get there. The EPA rates the Model 3

rear wheel drive at 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles or 4 miles per kilowatt hour.

In our testing, it returned 21.7 kilowatt hours per 100 miles or 4.61 miles per kilowatt hour,

making it 13.2% more efficient than its EPA estimate. Lower consumption is obviously better

as it means the car uses less electricity to travel the same distance.

Now, if you're curious how they test, Edmund says,

The Edmund's EV range test is designed to give you the most accurate representation of a car's

real world range. Rather than getting on the freeway, setting the cruise control at 70 miles

an hour and driving until the battery is depleted, we follow a strict route made up of 60% city and

40% highway driving with an average speed of 40 miles per hour. This better represents the

actual driving buyers do day to day. We also stay within 5 miles per hour, pardon me, of all posted

speed limits, drive each car in its most efficient drive setting, and keep the climate control on

auto at 72 degrees. Our broader impressions of the Model 3 line still apply here. The latest car

feels quick, quiet, and easy to drive with responsive steering and useful cargo space.

Our reviewers have also found the cabin to be better finished than before,

though Tesla's heavy reliance on the central touchscreen can still make simple tasks less

intuitive than they should be. Taken as a whole, the Model 3 rear wheel drive is an unusually

efficient electric vehicle that is also nice to drive and easy to live with on a daily basis.

Wow, over 4 miles per kilowatt hour, 4.6 miles per kilowatt hour in the real world.

That is incredibly impressive. For a mid-sized car, we're not talking about a little compact

thing here that's lighter. I'm not going to call the Model 3 a luxury car, but it's a very comfortable,

very nicely appointed mid-size sedan. So this is just incredibly impressive. And remember too,

if you think that's impressive, and I certainly do. The Cyber Cab, which I saw another one of

running around in Daily City, California today, the Cyber Cab is the most efficient car that

Tesla's made yet. So it's even better than 4.6 kilowatt hours per mile. We don't have that

miles per kilowatt hour figure for the Cyber Cab yet, but the fact that it's the most efficient

Tesla ever comes straight from Tesla's chief engineer, Lars Moravy, who had said it I think

on stage at the SNX, he said it at something. Maybe it was an earnings call. Anyway, he definitely

said it. Maybe it was even here, I'm not sure. But the difference is the Cyber Cab has the advantage

of pushing all of its sliders all the way as far as they can go towards maximum efficiency.

The Cyber Cab is not even attempting to be a good handling car or a good performance car

because it's not built for either of those. It is a self-driving cab. So its sliders are all

pushed to comfort and to especially efficiency. I mean honestly, as I was making my notes for

this week's podcast, I feel like you can kind of consider the Cyber Cab to be like Tesla's

version of the Prius. It even kind of looks a little like a Prius. It's built for maximum

efficiency without any of the fun. And again, that is not me sliding the Prius. That's what

it's designed for. It pushes all of its sliders to efficiency. It's not a sports car you're going

to be throwing around corners. But it will sip on fuel very delicately compared to other gas-powered

cars. And the Cyber Cab is the EV equivalent of that for Tesla, where it is not a fun car.

It is an ultra-efficient car. And so that's why I bring it up is because the Model 3,

getting nearly 400 miles of real-world range in the

rear-wheel-drive Model 3, and that car is still fun to drive. Like, is it the performance Model 3?

Of course not. But it's still a reasonably quick, as Edmunds themselves noted,

still pretty fun to drive. Still handles pretty well. And you are getting all of that nearly 400

miles. Still fun, still efficient, still handles decently in a $42,500 car. That is

awesome. That is just incredible value out of that particular trim of the Model 3. Now,

I know that the Model Y is obviously not just Tesla's best-selling car, but it's either the best

or second best-selling car in the world for what, three years running now? But just all I'm saying

is, this story should be a nice reminder, don't sleep on the Model 3. It is so good of a car,

and I'm extremely blessed to have two of them in our household. Of course, mine, by design,

by my own choice, mine both have the sliders pushed all the way in the opposite direction,

away from efficiency and over to performance, with the bigger motor, different drive

unit in the new one, the 20-inch tires. It is not tires and wheels and the sport suspension. So,

it is still an efficient car, especially the new one, the Highland Performance, my 2024.

It's still pretty efficient when it wants to be, like if you're not driving it hard.

I mean, considering what the Performance 3s are capable of, they are still pretty darn efficient.

So, yeah, that's all I'm saying is, if you're considering a new EV and maybe you're just

automatically kind of looking at a Model Y, I get it. If you just want or need that extra

cargo space or you think you might in the future, it makes perfect sense. But the Model 3 is an

extremely awesome car that I feel like kind of gets overshadowed a bit these days because the Model

Y is so successful. So, go Model 3. I am on hashtag Team Model 3 right here.

On to other EV news, I start with just a quick little shout out. I want to say a hearty congratulations

to the first lucky owners of the Rivian R2. Deliveries began this week and I don't know how

they're doing. We'll find out numbers later, but congratulations. If anybody listening happened to

be one of those first deliveries, that's got to feel awesome. I still remember, like I hope

our two owners get to experience what I experienced as a relatively early Model 3 owner because I

got my Model 3 right as production had really started to ramp up. So, they were really getting

out there in big numbers when I got mine. But for the first month or two when I got my 2018 Model

3 performance, the threes were still relatively rare. And I distinctly, I have this great positive

memory on a couple of different occasions of running into, thankfully not literally, but coming

across another Model 3 owner, like on the opposite side of an intersection, and we'd wave at each

other. And just big smiles on our faces because those people, you knew, they also waited a long,

long time on the reservation list for the Model 3. And so, you know that they were very excited to

get their car just as I was. And yeah, I just vividly remember on two or three different occasions

in that first month or two trading enthusiastic waves with other Model 3 owners. And then,

they became so ubiquitous that that stopped. But I hope that our two owners get to experience that

as well because they have had the same experience. They have probably been on the R2 reservation

list for a while. And if you're getting early delivery and you're in your R2 and you see another

R2 on the road, I hope you get to do an enthusiastic wave at each other because

it just feels good, right? You're having a little brief momentary connection with another human being

who shares the enthusiasm for the same thing you do, right? It's just a simple little nice human

moment that I really hope that the R2 owners are going to get to experience for hopefully at least

the next few months, right? That's the goal. But kind of on that note, I want to say here's to

tens of thousands more R2 deliveries this year and hopefully hundreds of thousands more next year

and millions more cumulatively in the years to come. But big week, big moment for Rivian. And I

wanted to recognize it and congratulate, I mean, hey, I congratulate everybody at Rivian if you're

on the production line and sales, whatever your role, big moment for the company this week.

And I'm super happy for all of you. Speaking of Rivian, Amazon, who has a stake in Rivian and

for whom Rivian produces the RDV, the Rivian delivery van for Amazon. Well, Amazon has reached

the halfway point to their 2030 goal of having a 100000 electric delivery vans. I saw

this on Drive Tesla Canada this week. They wrote, the achievement puts the e-commerce giant halfway

towards its target of deploying 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by the year 2030. According

to Amazon, its electric vans delivered more than 2.4 billion with a B packages in 2025 with zero

emissions. A significant portion of Amazon's recent expansion has taken place in Europe,

where the company and its delivery partners had more than 10,000 electric delivery vans on the

road by the end of last year. One of the largest contributors to that growth was Amazon's deployment

of nearly 5,000 electric vans from Mercedes-Benz across Austria, France, Germany, Italy,

and the UK. The rollout builds on a 1 billion euro investment announced in 2022

to help electrify and decarbonize Amazon's European transportation network. While Amazon

now utilizes a wide range of electric vehicles tailored to different markets and delivery needs,

Rivian's custom-built delivery vans remain one of the most recognizable components of the company's

fleet. The electric vans were developed through a close partnership between Amazon and Rivian,

with both companies working together to design and deploy the vehicles in less than three years.

Amazon says it has now tested and deployed 15 different electric vehicle models globally,

including cargo bikes, electric three-wheelers, delivery vans, and heavy-duty trucks.

Well, I have to say, I always get a little bit jealous when I see Amazon's Rivian delivery

van rolling around in other cities around the San Francisco Bay Area. We weirdly do not have

the RDVs in San Francisco proper, although I wish we did. It'd be cool. It'd be nice to have

some more zero-emissions vehicles running around every day. But as you heard there,

Amazon did not put all of its EV eggs in one Rivian basket. Mercedes, as you heard there,

was a major contributor to their European efforts, which is great. That is awesome to see.

Kudos to Amazon for embracing electrification for its delivery fleet. We need more companies out

there, FedEx and UPS, to follow suit and actually before you email me. Yes, I do know that FedEx

definitely has an electric van. I've seen a few of them around. I think they've had them for a while.

I'm not sure what the specs are, but yes, FedEx does get partial credit here because I have seen

an electric delivery van here and there for them, but not for UPS. But anyway,

hopefully the likes of those kinds of companies will follow suit soon, because if they do,

it would really go a long way towards improving air pollution and noise pollution in major cities

around the world. So let's go, FedEx and UPS, and hey, DHL, I'm throwing you guys into this mix

as well. Get in on this EV thing. Let's do it. Next in other EV news this week, Lucid has started

rolling out one of its most significant software updates yet for the new Gravity SUV, adding

hands-free driving capabilities alongside a range of new navigation, charging and convenience features.

Saw this one on Drive Tesla Canada, who wrote,

The over-the-air update known as Lucid UX 3.6 is now being deployed to

gravity owners across North America. Most notably, the update introduces hands-free drive assist

for DreamDrive 2 Pro equipped vehicles. According to Lucid, hands-free drive assist can manage

steering, acceleration and braking on approved highways while monitoring driver attention.

Drivers can also initiate a lane change by using the turn signal, allowing the system to

take in surrounding traffic and move into the adjacent lane when available. The company is

also introducing automatic lane change, which can independently perform passing maneuvers around

slower moving traffic. Taking a page out of Tesla's playbook, owners can choose between

different driving styles, including a more conservative approach that minimizes lane changes

or a more assertive mode designed to overtake slower vehicles more frequently.

Alongside the new driver assistance features, Lucid has enhanced the visualizations displayed

on the gravity's instrument cluster and center display. The system can now show traffic across

five lanes and provides more detailed representations of surrounding vehicles,

including SUVs, pickup trucks and buses. Beyond the headline features, UX 3.6 introduces several

quality of life improvements, including faster system startup, improved auto lock and unlock

behavior, customizable mirror tilt settings while reversing, and improvements to Lucid's

Halo secure drive recorder, basically their sentry mode. So if you're a Tesla owner listening to that

and all of those features sound familiar, well that is because you're correct. We are already

not just Tesla. And so even if you don't share that sentiment, I would think that we'd probably

all want to see more advanced driver assistance systems in every car, even if those systems aren't

necessarily as sophisticated or advanced as full self-driving supervised or Waymo,

because, simply, the more cars that are using these systems, the safer the roads are for everybody.

So hopefully Rivian will be able to follow suit soon with its autonomy plus roll out.

We know that's coming fairly soon as well. So good stuff from, I would combine Lucid and Rivian

as well with their deliveries of R2 this week, but this is great news for Lucid owners while

Lucid gravity owners specifically. And hopefully this release makes a big dent in the software

issues that seem to unfortunately have continued to trouble these cars. Even several years now

into Lucid making cars, the Lucid Air has been around since like 2022, I think. So if you've

watched the Engineering Explained YouTube channel, I check in on it occasionally. When a video there

strikes my fancy, I'll click on it and check it out. But if you have viewed that channel recently,

you might be familiar with the host of that channel, an engineer named Jason, and his almost

unbelievable run of bad experiences with mostly the software in the Lucid Air that he had leased.

He's made, I believe, three videos about all of his trouble with the car over several months,

and in my humble opinion, they're all worth watching. Not as a point and laugh like Nelson

from The Simpsons, haha, not like that, but just as an educational thing, just to see what this guy

went through and see what Lucid needs to work on. Again, I'm not trying to tear Lucid down here.

The reason that I brought that I read this story at all is because I want to recognize

that Lucid is making an effort here with this major new software release to smooth out some

of the problems that their fleet has had on the software side while also adding some welcome new

features as well. Closing out the news this week, if you're as tired as I am about hearing me talk

about some legacy automakers EV getting pulled from North America or just outright canceled,

if you're sick of those stories, well guess what, I am too. Here is a little karmic balance

to make us all feel a little better. Here's a story about a legacy automaker introducing

a new EV to the North American market coming this year. One more tip of the cap goes to

Drive Tesla Canada who wrote, Mitsubishi is officially adding another EV to its North American lineup,

confirming the all new Eclipse Sportback EV will arrive in both Canada and the US in the

while the new EV may borrow its name from Mitsubishi's sports coupe, the new Eclipse Sportback

takes a very different approach. The compact electric SUV is built through Mitsubishi's

growing partnership with Nissan and is based on the next gen Nissan Leaf. Mitsubishi announced the

vehicle this week describing the Eclipse Sportback as a battery electric SUV that combines sporty

styling with everyday practicality. The company says that the model is designed to handle a wide

variety of driving needs from daily commuting to weekend adventures. Although the vehicle shares

its underlying architecture with the new Leaf, Mitsubishi has worked to give the Eclipse Sportback

a distinct identity. The automaker has redesigned several exterior components including the front

and rear bumpers, grille, headlights, tail lights, lift gate wheels and D pillars. The result is a

more aggressive appearance that aligns with Mitsubishi's current design language while still

retaining the overall proportions of its Nissan sibling. This allows Mitsubishi to bring an EV

to market more quickly and at a lower development cost while still offering a product that feels

distinct from its Nissan counterpart. One question that remains is pricing. Historically,

comparable Mitsubishi and Nissan models have been priced relatively close together,

meaning the Eclipse Sportback could compete directly with Nissan's own electric crossover

while offering a different design and dealer experience. More details including specs,

equipment levels, driving range and pricing are expected to be revealed in the coming months

ahead of the vehicle's launch later this year. Well, you know, I have to say I learned something

new today, which I always appreciate. I did not even know that Mitsubishi and Nissan had a partnership

like this, which sounds like a very similar partnership to what Toyota and Subaru do for the

BZ4X EV and the Soltera EV from the Subaru side. So I say, cool, that is great. Whatever helps get

more EVs into the marketplace is AOK in my book. I mean, it does make sense, right? EVs

are particularly for legacy automakers still unfortunately considered a risk.

And so if that is a risky venture for your legacy automaker business,

why not team up with another legacy automaker, share resources and minimize that risk by splitting

the investment, right? Oh, and by the way, there's another one that fits into this category

from earlier this year. Sadly, it got canceled, which I reported here not too long ago,

but Honda's Prologue EV, that was a team up with GM. So there you go. This is not something entirely new

to the legacy automaker or EV space. And again, I think it's great to see, but I know you can't see

what the Mitsubishi Eclipse EV looks like because you're listening to a podcast, but you can of

course pause the podcast and just Google image search it. But I'll say for my part, I think it

looks nice. I mean, I don't love it, but I think it looks nice. It's a nice clean look. I guess what

I ultimately mean to say is I don't think the looks are going to scare anybody away. The key though

will be that unreleased information, namely price and range, because those two things both

proved fatal, particularly in combination, proved fatal to the otherwise very cool and

alone EV minivan, the Volkswagen ID buzz has 230 miles of range for 70 grand. Those are

those are both individually not great together. They are very bad. So the Nissan Leaf,

what gives me optimism for this Mitsubishi, the new leaf is very competitively priced

with a really nice range. So hopefully the Mitsubishi will match the Leaf's overall value

proposition. But once the new price or well, once the whatever the price is and range are

announced, I will certainly pass it along here. Alright, that is everything I've got for you in

another busy week of news from around the EV world from Tesla and everybody else.

But I am far from done with this episode of Ride the Lightning. Stick with me,

I will be right back with your Ride the Lightning hotline phone calls coming up next.

You've heard quite a lot from me on this week's podcast, now I would like to hear from you.

So let's do the Ride the Lightning hotline. This is the part of the podcast where you send in your

calls and I respond to them. So if you've got a question, comment or discussion topic for the

podcast, I would love to hear from you. I welcome and invite you to call in. And if you're wondering,

well, how do I call in? There are two easy ways to do it. Either use your smartphone's built-in

voice recording software, record your question. I kindly ask that you keep it to 90 seconds or

less so I can get to as many calls each week as possible. Send that file to me at Tesla Podcast

at gmail.com. Or the second way to call in is to simply call in and leave a message on the Ride

the Lightning hotline. Also same 90 second request applies there. The toll free number that you can

dial anytime is 1-888-989-8752. That number again, 1-888-989-TSLA. And if you know someone special

out there with an upcoming birthday anniversary, graduation or some other special occasion,

you can give them a unique gift of recorded voices from friends and family telling them

why they're special. The recordings can be podcasted or put onto a keepsake. Visit lifeonrecord.com

to learn more. First up this week is Kyler from St. Louis with an idea that I really like.

Hey Ryan. Kyler from St. Louis here. I had an idea that might improve some of the way that our

Teslas work for anybody like yourself or myself. I'm very lucky or I know a good portion of your

audience from your poll a couple weeks ago that I've known multiple Teslas. So in the navigation

app right now in our Teslas it'd be really great if we could have the other Teslas in our account

show up on there and maybe even be a waypoint that we can navigate to for my wife and I when

we're trying to both end up at a soccer game coming from work or things like that together.

We want to park next to each other with the kids and if I could just navigate to her car or see

where her car is I think that would really help us coordinate some of that and it you know seems

like a nice thing that Tesla could add. And even if Tesla wanted to take it to the next level you

can imagine you know say you're on a road trip I know my mom I just preferred her and she has a

Tesla now. It'd be great if I could caravan with her some sort of caravan mode where I could see

you know her car even though I don't have it in my Tesla account on there you know she could share

access and you know with full self-driving if you're imagining you know that world and you

want to do a road trip with full self-driving if our cars could share their state of charge and

all end up at the same supercharger together for a really great caravan experience. I think all

of those things would really take the Tesla multi Tesla experience kind of to the next level so

thanks Ryan. Kyler I think this is such a good idea seriously this is awesome and as you noted

more and more households are becoming multi Tesla households that there could be a real use for this

by like a not insignificant portion of the fleet. I loved both your day to day in town example scenario

that you gave as well as your caravan mode idea for road trips although certainly you might make

use of caravan mode locally too like if you need to take two cars to go somewhere or have

one car follow the other for whatever reason or if you're if you're in you're having a swingers

moment with your friends you know and everybody's taking their own car to go to a party somewhere

but anyway seriously though this is honestly I'm really lucky I get a lot of great ideas sent in

by my very wonderful and very intelligent listeners such as yourself this might be my favorite one

that I've heard in a while I just think this is super cool and I'd love to see it so Kyler let's

get this out into the world from your lips to the Tesla team's ears and hope that they can make some

more software update magic happen for all of us with this thank you so much appreciate your call

next Michael from Sweden responding to a caller from a recent episode that I think he's got some

some help on the way go ahead Michael hello Ryan this is Michael from Sweden calling I've been

calling in a few times previously I'm responding to your fellow Ryan's question about how to activate

the right hand side air vents automatically when you're alone in the car I'm quite sure and other

EVs such as Kia does this also I'm quite sure that it's a energy conserving mechanism that enables

the airflow only for the driver so it's actually something that Tesla finds better as in more

efficient but to answer his question I'm pretty sure that if he when he drives alone if he keeps

the right seatbelt fastened the air vent would start on the on the right side too and I took

his call as a pro tip as I have to I usually press a lot of weight with my with my hand down on the

on the chair to get the air vent air vent to activate on the right side but his his method was

way easier so that was good thanks for the great podcast cheers bye Michael thank you very much

this is a great follow-up to Ryan from Nevada's call from a few episodes back and now that you've

explained it it makes perfect sense that it would be an intentional choice on Tesla's part for

efficiency reasons but yeah I mean you should still be able to turn that turn it on if you're the

only one in the car if you want to so I like the workaround idea of fastening the passenger side

seat belt even with nobody in the seat in order to be able to turn on the passenger side air vents

when you're alone in the car thank you so much for this one Michael and I hope Ryan from Nevada

is able to put this one into practice as summer is getting into full swing over in Nevada next

here's Stuart from Australia talking Model YL G'day Ryan Stuart calling here from Down Under in

Battle Road Australia I love listening to the podcast when I'm at the gym so excuse the noise

in the background but I was just listening to your excitement about the YL and at the impending

release in North America my partner just took delivery a couple of weeks ago of a cosmic silver

YL with black interior and I mean I currently drive a Y I've had an X S I've had a 3

got my name down for a Roadster so like you I think I know this brand pretty well but man this car

this YL it just it's something really really special it absolutely amazes me that such a

relatively small update can completely transform this car into a different beast

that new suspension geometry is just phenomenal particularly on Aussie roads and that's been a

big criticism of the Y previously and let me tell you man you need to book another power

pant ranking because this cosmic silver it's going straight to number one it's just an incredible

evolution for those of us that remember the pretty poor paint quality back in the 2016

era and it changes with different light during the day it changes in the evening

changes when it's wet like seriously I find myself stopping and staring at this car it is just

an incredible incredible colour we get 680 kilometres of range here which is great for a

wise not that old and I was kind of hoping to replace it with a Cybertruck if they ever make it here

but I think I'm gonna do it I think we're gonna become one of those families

that have matchy matchy Teslas in the driveway you might know something about it anyway the YL

something to look forward to put the call out to your listeners you need to be driving one of these

as soon as they arrive it is it's gonna just blow your mind hi Stuart I really appreciate

you taking the time to call in the fact that you've had all four cars in the sexy lineup and you are

this high on the model YL that honestly gets me fired up honestly and really you do already have

me rethinking my recent Tesla paint color power rankings that I did over on the lightning round

on patreon with how you you were raving about your cosmic silver man I really hope as I said

on the last podcast that I talked about the model YL on the Tesla does bring the cosmic silver paint

over here when the car does arrive on our shores so that the YL here also gets its special unique

paint color thank you so much for your call Stuart cheers to you next is Patrick from Atlanta

with a feature request for Tesla hello Ryan this is Patrick from Atlanta I'm loving the podcast

I'm calling with a variant request for Tesla I'm hoping airing it will manifest it into existence

what I think would make sense is an an alternate version of the cyber cab that emits the hatch

and replaces it with a pickup truck style tailgate and perhaps a cyber truck esk tonneau cover this

would allow robo taxi customers to haul bigger items like a big screen tv kitchen appliance

bags of mulch or whatever bulky item they need to haul tesla would name this variant the cyber

ute tesla needs to act fast though as certainly there is a french beverage company that will try

to trademark this name and hold it hostage from tesla for most of my adult life I have owned a

pickup that has been kind of a second car right now we have a juniper model y in a 2018 model 3

I am planning on buying a slate but keeping the model 3 I think the cyber ute would be a

better choice than the slate because it is twice as efficient and I could see doing a long road

trip in it with a bicycle or dirt bike in the bed that I can't see doing in the slate due to the

lack of fsd thanks for all you do and give all the canines a pet for me well I guess that wasn't

so much a feature request as a vehicle request but nevertheless Patrick great phone call here thank

you first of all it might be too late on the name the french beverage company lawyers they've

already heard you they're filing the paperwork as we speak of course I'm making a silly joke there

but seriously I do actually love your idea and you know who approves of the name my Australian

listeners who are nodding along with a smile right now and applauding at your use of the term ute

here because that is like the regular term for trucks over there pickup trucks honestly I do

think this is a great suggestion as you noted and as I was talking about earlier in the podcast

the cyber cab is the most efficient tesla ever made so making a variant of it that can be used

for in-town deliveries of larger bulkier items that is an excellent use case so again let's put

this out there into the world see if it can find the right pair of ears at tesla take care pat thank

you so much all right I've got time for one more call this week it comes from v in south Florida

responding to something that I said two episodes ago go ahead v

hey ryan what's going on this is v from south Florida I'm an avid listener of your podcast I

certainly appreciate all that you do I just wrapped up today's podcast which is may 31st

one of the topics that really caught my attention as an attorney is the potential spacex and tesla

merger especially when you spent some time considering the non-zero possibility of the roadster

being delivered under the spacex brand and not the tesla brand although I am not privy to any

details here of the roadster reservations and certainly not the referral program that I believe

you have two vehicles under I didn't want to bring something to light in jest but also with some

sincerity as far as I can tell tesla offered you all tesla roasters not spacex roasters

um I am virtually certain that spacex would likely honor tesla roaster reservations but

the picture becomes a little bit less clear for those of you with quote unquote free roadsters

under the referral program um I do hate to be the bearer of bad news here or potential bad news

but maybe just maybe the tesla roaster would be the better vehicle for you and hopefully not the

spacex roaster uh have a good one Ryan take care now bye bye the thank you for bringing your legal

expertise to the table to analyze what I talked about two shows ago what you're saying is that

personally and selfishly I should want the roadster to carry the tesla name message received

loud and clear sir thank you if they can get out of it by calling it the spacex roadster

then that's obviously not in my personal best interest but uh the good news is that the two

cars that I have the unbelievable good fortune to have won they are in my account they're in there

so if I log in to which the same as anybody with a paid reservation so hopefully that means that

if a tesla spacex merger happened which by the way Gwynne Shotwell today as I'm recording the IPO

went uh the trading started today for spacex on the stock market Gwynne Shotwell gave an interview

and literally said yeah I think a merger might make Elon's life a little easier so not exactly

doing anything to dispel the chatter about a potential tesla spacex merger but if that merger

happened and if the next generation roadster ended up carrying the spacex name instead of teslas

hopefully that means I'd still be okay it's all hypothetical for now of course

and in the short term I just want to see what this darn car looks like and what it can do

so I sure hope that the re-reveal event and the quote unquote most epic demo ever

happened soon finally thank you again V I appreciate your call thank you to everybody

that kindly took the time to call in if you'd like to call in and potentially be featured

on an upcoming episode again I welcome and invite you to do so I gave you the two easy

call in methods at the top of this segment all right on to what's going on with me and my car

well I mentioned a little while ago that I saw another cyber cab rolling around in the

san francisco suburb of daily city well when I was in LA for my work conference last weekend

I randomly saw a cyber cab just rolling through the streets of downtown LA except the weird one

here was that cyber cab had Florida plates on it which I just made no sense to me because of course

tesla has the cybercabs I've been seeing have either california plates with the manufacturer

like manufacturer plates from california or manufacturer plates from texas which is where

these cars obviously you all know they're being built there so the florida plates kind of threw

me off but it was just kind of cruising through downtown LA but go figure there you go um speaking

of fsd which is what the cyber cab lives on where and I'm asking sincerely here I'm not trying to

make a joke out of this where do we draw the line on what fsd will slam on the brakes for

so I'm all for slowing down to safely allow a critter to pass across across my path but

what happened to me earlier this week was and this was in the new car so it was on ai4 with version

14.3.3 it slammed on the brakes when a squirrel ran in the road in front of me now thankfully there

was nobody behind me and also nobody else no pets nothing else just just me in the car and for all

I know maybe it would not have slammed on the brakes if a car was behind me but the slamming

was nevertheless jarring and uncomfortable I did not enjoy it so and I have nothing against squirrels

I think they are actually adorable but my point is that a human probably would not have reacted that

way so I just wonder where you draw the line with fsd there like how do you handle that to maintain

safety and comfort of the human people in the car while also not just out being out here terrorizing

critters in the road and running them down so I don't know where that line is drawn but that was a

bit of an uncomfortable thing that happened to me on fsd this week here's an entertainment

recommendation for you before I wind down the podcast it is called it's a tv show it's called

spider noir it's on prime video it stars nicolas cage this is a spider-man universe project

it's a live action follow-up sort of I don't think it's necessarily directly connected maybe it is

but it's because nicolas cage played spider noir in the very awesome animated film from several

years ago called spider man into the spider verse he voiced the character and so now they've actually

turned it into a live action show and brought nicolas cage in to play play the part so I'm I

admit I'm not finished with it yet I'm only a few episodes in but I'm really liking it it's also a

nice touch that since it's noir they can you can have the option to watch it in color or in black

and white so that's I think that's a pretty pretty sweet touch there so check that out if you are

into superhero shows I guess over on prime video time now for your Tesla pro tip of the week

it comes from Randall in Raleigh hi Ryan this is Randall and Raleigh I called a few months ago

about adding profiles to the equalizer well this time I'm not calling about an enhancement request

but I wanted to share a quick service tip for the EVs I have a 22 model y and the car completely

died while I was at home it wasn't a huge ordeal since I wasn't stranded but I still had to get it

towed across town to Tesla because they wouldn't do a remote service it turned out it was the 12

volt battery that needed to be replaced I finally spoke to somebody at Tesla who gave me some helpful

advice because I didn't get any warnings and they sat around the three year mark if you had your car

in for service at that time for anything say cracked windshield or something like I had had a few

months back it's a good idea to request prevent preemptive 12 volt battery replacement so even

if you're not stranded it's still a hassle that can be avoided just wanted to pass that along thanks

I really appreciate this Randall the good news is that the newer threes and y's and the newer s's

and x's may they rest in peace use a lithium ion accessory battery that should last a lot longer

and minimize this problem but as the owner of a 2018 model 3 I'm gonna listen to your advice

because I think it's probably been around three years since it was last replaced I'm gonna actually

have to go look at this after I'm done recording the podcast check my records but certainly it is

a good thing to be proactive about if you've got an older three or y particularly before you might

head out on any road trips this summer so Randall thank you again for your constructive

pro tip and if anybody else out there has a good pro tip of the week for teslas or any other EVs

I'd love to hear it send it my way the same way that you send in a regular ride the lightning

hotline call and I play one pro tip at the end near the end of each week's podcast to hopefully

help us all level up our knowledge base just a little bit like each week means by

the end of the year since I do 52 shows a year that's a lot more knowledge that we all collectively

add by the end of the year before I wrap up this episode I want to mention a few friends of ride

the lightning that can hopefully be of use to you maybe today maybe tomorrow maybe soon starting

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they've been at this they're not a fly by night thing they've been around a long long time longer

in fact than even this podcast which is saying something because I've been at this for a while so

kudos to rpm tesla for continuing to stand by their customers and offer a lot of great stuff

for self installation they offer over 600 step by step real-time diy videos if you happen to live

in southern california you could stop by their showroom for professional installation check out

and see what they've got rpm tesla.com today to upgrade your tesla meanwhile the infinity shield

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abstract ocean i want to give abstract ocean a very special shout out because uh the owner

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here with the podcast for 10 years abstract ocean was the first one and they're still with me

i'm so grateful for that support and it's because you guys have supported them too because they have

so many great products for not just now all the teslas but the rivians as well in fact as i click

onto their website now abstract ocean dot com you know you can still click on whichever car you have

at the top and then it'll show you all the accessories available for your car but they've

now got a nice little handy section right on the homepage that just says what do you need and then

it shows there some different popular categories like expel armor precut pieces like that's been

really handy they tell me for their cyber truck customers to put on the non stainless parts like

the the wheel arches the bumpers the the rails of the of the truck bed the vault bed

so they've got the precut expel armor strips screen protectors that are custom fit for all the cars

ppf and vinyl protection for like the edges you know if you're not going to ppf your whole car

like i do but it might be worth getting the little ppf door edge guard kit from abstract ocean just

so that if your if your door ever opens just and if you just maybe even tap like your garage wall

or something it's not going to chip the paint at the edge of your door instead that ppf will save

the edge and you can just peel it off if you want and put on a new one so they've got that's a

category then they've got a whole lighting category for tesla and rivian emblems they sell

emblems in different colors like the the black emblems different and then interior accessories

and just so so so much more check them out at abstract ocean dot com click on again when you

get there click on whatever car you own and as you browse through all the accessories available

for your car just put anything you like into your online shopping cart when you get to check out

use the coupon code RTL podcast to get 15 percent off your first order that coupon code again

RTL podcast no spaces it's all one word to get 15 off thank you so much abstract ocean dot com

the snap plate and plus available at every amp dot com slash RTL or just click the

link in the episode description they have a discount as well the coupon code is simply RTL

now what is the snap plate it is the front license plate bracket that i recommend if you

either want to have a front plate on your vehicle or are legally required to and i recommend that

you don't use the one that tesla gives you with your car and the reason i say that is because

teslas adheres to the front of your car with automotive tape with adhesive so that if you

ever want to take it off you're going to have a really tough time doing that without scratching

the paint damaging the car so just don't put theirs on instead get a snap plate or the stronger

snap plate plus and it's a nice clean minimal design it goes on safely and securely it doesn't

get in the way of any of the cooling intakes the parking sensors cameras any of that stuff

they've taken it into account now the front the front bumper camera that's on all the teslas

they've taken that into account on the the newest versions of the snap plate

so i super recommend this for folks that need or want a front license plate again get yours at

every amp dot com slash RTL and use the coupon code RTL for a discount immaculate reflections

my detailer here in the greater san francisco bay area

i guarantee if you take your car there whether it's your tesla or something else that you love in

your garage make an appointment ahead of time you're gonna drop your car off and when it's done

and you pick that car up i guarantee you you will be thrilled because immaculate reflections

does incredible work just artisan stuff whether you're looking for paint protection film on

maybe the front end of the car or all the key areas rocker panels rear bumper front end mirror caps

or even the entire car whatever you want to do ppf maybe you want to do ceramic coating

which should last you five to seven years so that you don't have to wax the car for the next five

to seven years you'll be your finish will be protected maybe you want to do paint correction

have immaculate reflections get down in there and get all those little swirl scratches scuffs

clear coat issues get all that resolved and your paint finish will look better than new

when immaculate reflections is done with it ask me how i know i've had two cars get done

uh the full the whole nine yards and i couldn't be happier with both cars there is also a listener

discount over at immaculate reflections for any professional detailing service that you have

done there so when you reach out because you got it again you got to set up an appointment ahead

of time go to irdetailing.com you'll see a contact button in either the center of the home page and

also the upper left corner whichever one you click and when you're writing your note to Jeff the

owner there letting him know what you're interested in doing you know he can work with you on your

budget and and what services you're looking to do just make sure to mention that you're a ride the

lightning listener so that he knows to extend that ride the lightning listener discount to you

and my patreon again if you'd like to give back to the podcast i give you this podcast

for free every single week i have over 10 years almost coming up on 11 years of receipts to prove

it i love doing this don't get me wrong it's not like i'm dragging myself in here going oh i guess

i gotta do nobody's forcing me to do this i do love doing it i love hearing from all of you

your phone calls your emails your social media messages this is such a wonderful community

but i do put a lot into this every week a lot of time research love and

enthusiasm so if you're able to give back patreon is the way to do that and you can give back starting

at just five bucks a month and as i mentioned earlier in the podcast if you do the five dollar per

month tier you will get as a thank you gift a uh ad-free episode every week and early access

to that ad-free episode if you step up to that $10 per month tier which is the most popular one

you'll get the ad-free and early access and you'll also get access to the entire catalog

past present and future for as long as you're pledging on patreon to that lightning round

archive again there are almost 200 of them in there now goodness knows how many hours of content

that is so it's uh hopefully good value for you if you decide you know if you're not just looking

to support me out of the goodness of your heart if you are bless you thank you but uh i do also

say thank you with that extra content those lightning round mini episodes at that $10 per

month tier which is the most popular tier of the patreon so visit my patreon page to sign up

or to learn more it's patreon.com slash tesla podcast you can message me or follow me or both

on uh on two social media platforms that would be x and that would be instagram i have the same

username on both and that username is dmc underscore ryan you can also email me anytime

about tesla or ev related stuff and my email address is tesla podcast at gmail.com

i want to say hello and thank you to the top tier patreon backers before i go these extremely

generous folks donate uh at the highest levels of the patreon and as such one of their many perks

and rewards is to get a shout out at the end of each week's podcast so here we go starting with the

maximum plaid backers as i'm recording here on friday our monthly group hangout for the patreon

the top tier of the patreon that is happening tomorrow i'm looking forward to that chat with

everybody should be fun the maximum plaid roadster in space and plaid grandfathered in plaid tiers

they get invited to that every single month but anybody that makes a new pledge at any level or

upgrades any existing pledge gets a one-time thank you invite to whatever the next monthly

hangout is so i hope to see a lot of familiar faces tomorrow and hopefully also some new ones as well

but i will start with a big thank you to the maximum plaid backers 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 owner's club of

sandwalking valley wil steadman jeremy harris chris beach tom mills choreo donnell aron

joel sap paul casarino chris osborne kb adam lavoix jason chelukas travis krenzel bruce otterstein

tom behan josh pennington john from cream ridge new jersey dustin hart derek finley

charles clement daemon kline jeff brown jerry slinger kenneth corbett brian bertoglio kim bae

troy sievers chip hooper matt chinander robert moran rov christopher man michael williams

eric harbert scott shepherd and tom tharp next up the roadster in space tier backers these folks

on top of all the other perks and bonuses and thank yous that they get for their insanely generous

support they get a one-on-one hangout with me each month if they elect to utilize it

and some of them do and we always have a fantastic chat so thank you truly to pete white

lile austin steve radspinner fernando cordero laughton from chicago sean nidig

neil weaver jackson wallace rolf and jennifer evers howard anthony smith victoria aya coveto

tesla hitchhiker 42 carol weston robert from near philly american home contractors

dug carry michael gallo and tony figaroa and last but most certainly not least the generous folks

grandfathered in at the officially no more plaid level tier but these wonderful folks continue

supporting at that level so they continue getting all the perks and bonuses that they should get

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

and that will wrap it up for episode 567 i guess that's it's not a palindrome it's a sequential

drone i that's not a real thing 567 episode 567 my goodness um hey i'm actually it's still light

outside when i'm done with the podcast that does not happen often uh i love the long summer days i

know different people feel differently about it but uh i'm being originally from new jersey

i just have these really pleasant memories of the warm long summer nights like long daylight

summer nights from when i was a kid and then we moved to arizona and the summers couldn't end

quickly enough because there's there's so hot i know my parents love it you know they're still

there they still love it lots of people love it obviously this phoenix is like the fifth or

sixth largest city in the in the whole country but yeah i just i romanticize the long summer nights

from my my childhood days in new jersey but you know even these days in san francisco i just

i do love it i like walking the dogs when it's light out i don't like walking the dogs when

it's dark it's not as fun for me but anyway uh yeah we're i mean we're coming up on the solstice

the summer stalls solstice which will actually that the solstice will be on the day next week's

episode releases right because it's on the 21st i think so anyway yeah we're getting towards the

peak which also means my solar panels are rocking right now too let me pull up let's see they've

been really doing awesome work lately because it hasn't been cloudy it's been nice and sunny and clear

and with the long days and clear skies um i you know i i know everybody's system's different so

i have an eight kilowatt system and the highest i've really ever seen it in is in the low 40s

like in one day it'll do like 42 maybe 43 kilowatt hours of solar power generated on its best day

so today and it's you know the sun it's not going to generate anymore today 40 even today

exactly 40.0 kilowatt hours that is awesome that is a lot of power for for my little tiny roof on

my small san francisco home yesterday it was 39 kilowatt hours let's see what was the day before

here anyway point is we're heading we're getting towards the official longest day of the year which

should mean plenty of of good solar power generated here at the macafery household um and then last

thing spacex ipo i i honestly i missed the ipo because i was getting back from my la work

training you don't care about like but i did today you know it went the ipo happened today

it went on the market today as i'm recording i did buy some today i just i had some cash available

to invest in my 401k so i just took a i grabbed a small amount it's it's nothing and it's just

going to be for retirement for me i'm not i'm not looking to day trade it or flip you know i might

i might look to get more at some point but just i was happy to just get a get a little chunk of it

just get a few shares for today for my retirement accounts and i imagine a number of you did the

same hopefully plenty of you were able to get in on the ipo because it did have a nice a nice

little gain on its very first day trading we'll see how next week goes it's first full week but

anyway that will wrap it up for ride the lightning episode 567 i wish you all nothing but the best

happy electric motoring and i'll see you back here next week

Episode 567: Tesla Adds Yet Another New Paint Color

About this episode

$7,500 tax credit

Rivian delivery van

lift gate wheels

Subaru Soltera EV

pro tip

Car Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback EV

Term FSD supervised

Place Willows, California

Term supercharger

Term V4 station

Term stall