Tesla Space #40: ⚡ Arctic Expedition with Cybertrucks 🧊

X OF THE WEEK!

a glimpse of the future on the Elon timeline

Can you truly imagine such a future? Even if the 10 years is actually 20.

Here’s the progress update on the second Neuralink participant, Alex. After the research sessions, Alex tested the Link on playing Counter-Strike. Shoutout to any n00bs like me who ever played the game. Here’s the actual video of his gameplay. “I’m already super impressed with how this works,” he said.

TESLA, GLOBALLY

Tesla restarts the referral program

After ending the previous referral program on April 30th, Tesla has now restarted it with new benefits. Currently seems it has rolled out in the US, but likely other region launches are imminent.

Referrers can refer up to 10 people and receive $500 per each referral, going towards Supercharging, software upgrades, merchandise, service payments, or a new vehicle. You'll also have a chance to win an invitation to an upcoming Tesla event. This means you can earn up to $5,000, which you can also put towards buying a new Tesla.

The receiving end (referee?) gets $1,000 off their purchase.

Loyalty program: You’ll get $1,000 off any S3XY model if you buy one for yourself.

Find the referral program in your Tesla app.

If you’re looking for a referral code, or want to share yours with the world, here’s a post on X with 3k+ replies with the sole purpose of sharing those codes.

Here’s an updated list from our friend Sawyer on all the promotions Tesla is running in the US right now:

• [NEW from yesterday] Model X AWD: The highest priced option configured will be complimentary when FSD is added to your order (helps qualify for $7,500 Fed EV credit).

• [NEW from last week] $3,000 off the “Drive Anywhere Package” of three years of free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity, if purchasing FSD on a new Model S / X.

• Free FSD transfer (take delivery by Sept 30th).

• 1.99% Model Y and Model 3 financing rate (order by Aug 31st, take delivery by Sept 30th, excludes Model 3 RWD).

• Free paint options for Model 3 Performance if you add FSD to your order (helps qualify for $7,500 Fed EV credit).

• $1,000 discount for members of the military and their spouses. Available for all Tesla models, including Cybertruck. No limit on the number of vehicles that can be purchased.

• $1,000 off the purchase price of a new Tesla if you use someone’s referral link.

Tesla is often running its incentives based on the market’s needs to support local demand. For example, Tesla just extended its 5-year 0% interest loan incentive for new Model 3 & Y purchases in China to the end of September.

Tesla Recruiting shares a minute-long “Behind the machine that builds the machine” video to ask people to join the START Manufacturing program.

Tesla START is an intensive training program that provides individuals across the U.S. with the skills necessary for a successful career at Tesla and beyond. It consists of 14-16 weeks of training, 8hr per weekdays, with 15:1 small class sizes.

However, to my surprise, Tesla goes even further up the stream — they’ve created a Pathway to START Program, to be able to join Tesla even with no prior automotive experience, just determination.

Quick takes:

• Here’s Elon’s video from inside the Cortex, the giant new AI training supercluster being built at Tesla HQ in Austin to solve real-world AI.

• The US appeals court has ruled that Tesla can challenge the Louisiana direct sales ban (Tesla has so far sued the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association, members of the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission and a group of dealers).
  Seems like Tesla’s new “hardcore” litigation team has been busy, and it shows. Just last week we reported Tesla getting the license to sell directly also in Kentucky.

• Tesla Vice President of Finance and Business Operations, Sreela Venkataratnam, is leaving the company after 11 years. She joined as Director of Finance Operations when Tesla was at <$1B in revenue and <$4B market cap. Here’s her (very positive) goodbye note.

• Canada is about to follow US and impose a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs. This would also affect the Tesla Model 3 which currently comes from Shanghai currently — Tesla likely switching back to a build from Fremont?

• Baltimore City plans to spend up to $5 million to buy Model 3 and Ys for use by government employees.

• You might’ve seen the headlines of BMW ‘overtaking’ Tesla in EV sales in Europe in July. The truth is that was limited data and it wasn’t true for all of Europe. For the rest of the year, Tesla also still leads by a wide margin.

• 🇨🇦 Tesla has launched its very own Amazon storefront in Canada for Wall Connector and Universal Wall Connectors.

THE VEHICLES

First-ever Tesla Semis were spotted in Europe

Here’s a quick video of the two being transported, on their way to Giga Berlin. These are probably the ones to be displayed on Hannover’s IAA Transportation 2024 show on September 17th, where Dan Priestley is a keynote speaker. The two Semis were also seen on the Giga Berlin flyover video (timestamped here).

Speaking of the Semi, the NFI, the largest third-party logistics company in North America, has piloted Tesla Semi trucks in daily operations over 6,000 miles in recent weeks, on routes between 250-450 miles.

They claim the efficiency has been 1.64kWh/mile with 60% of those miles covered at a speed of 50mphs or greater. This confirms our previous estimates on the efficiency and one of my e-truck comparison charts from when Semi deliveries started — Tesla Semi is the most efficient electric semi-truck in production in the world.

Meanwhile, here’s a job listing from Tesla: Test Engineer, Abuse Engineering, Semi. “You would frequently coordinate and execute destructive tests and be responsible for continuously ongoing hazardous lifetime tests."

Two Cybertrucks driving to the end of the road in Tuktoyaktuk, touching the Arctic Ocean.

Teslatino (with Teslatina), BeardedTesla, and BlueSkyKites are taking on an Arctic expedition. We’ll be reporting on their progress (They’re somewhere in the middle of the Rocky Mountains as I write this), but meanwhile you can follow along with them on X on the accounts linked above.

They’ll be driving two Cybertrucks, with the harder trek part - of the trip being about 740 kilometers - or 460 miles - on road with no pavement, built on permafrost.

They start from Dawson City in Yukon and plan to reach the Arctic hamlet of Inuvik in Northwest Terriotories, northern edge of the boreal forest, in three days. Then, they’ll traverse over the permafrost of the arctic tundra to reach the Arctic Ocean in Tuktoyakyuk.

It is the only year-round public highway that crosses the Arctic Circle ​and brings travelers to the end of the continent.

On Monday, they were just about to have their last Supercharging spot of the trip, after which they’ll need to rely on whatever else is out there. They’ll need to rely on the CCS chargers in the wild, and are already reporting these might fail on half of the tries.

If someone tells you the range of EVs is poor, perhaps we should all just point to the full extent of Justin’s road trip to even get to the start point of the trek, as he started from Florida.

PS, if you want to support their trek, you can get the Arctic CyberTrek stickers through here, 100% of the funds go towards their trip. You can also find the donating link on their social handles found above.

Tesla has now publicly posted its Cybertruck rescue sheet. Wes says they have also considered “stuck detection” for Cybertruck with a pop-up suggesting ideas on how to get unstuck (like air down tires, trail assist, raising ride height etc).

FSD & SOFTWARE

Ashok Elluswamy (AI at Tesla), on when FSD 12.5 is coming to the Cybertruck: “Cybertruck will start with parking assistance features, given that it ain't exactly the easiest vehicle to park. Initial release is slated for end of this week. FSD for Cybertruck expected in Sep.”

Wes Morrill (lead engineer of Cybertruck): “I haven't had any issues, let me know if you want some lessons”, posting this image:

Cybertruck gets the Tesla Vision Park Assist like other models now. It shows “a high fidelity 3D representation of the world around your vehicle, including the proximity and shape of nearby objects, barriers, vehicles, and painted road markings.”

Here’s a great video of the visual in action, showing exactly where the truck will swing out due to 4-wheel-steering (you’ll see it as soon as you turn the wheels).

FSD V12.5.1.5 is rolling out to HardWare 3 (AI3) owners. Ashok says “We were able to achieve similar performance as the AI4 12.5 release with a relatively smaller model for AI3” and then goes into a lot more detail that I won’t copy here but which you can read here.

Tesla’s upcoming update 2024.32:

• Display construction on your route with an icon: Tesla already considers construction when navigating to a location, but it’ll now display the location of the construction on the screen, giving you a better idea of the area to avoid.

• Predictive Text for Navigation Searches: Navigation Searches will now have predictive text to try and suggest search terms as you type. Premium Connectivity won’t be required.

• Search This Area: You’ll now be able to “Search this Area” when you’re searching for something specific if you drag the map to a different location.

• Mobile App Notifications – Tire Service: The vehicle can now inform you when it's in need of a tire change or tire rotation.

The update is still being tested with wave 1 employees, so it’ll be expected to be on its way to first drivers soon. Note, that those with FSD enabled likely to get it some weeks later (the FSD branch is always at least several weeks behind).

Tesla will add SiriusXM Internet Streaming to the vehicles. The news comes as Sirius posted (most likely accidentally) on its Canadian website the steps needed to get the free trial running on a Tesla. You can see the ‘leaked’ images and info here. 

SUPERCHARGING & ENERGY

A mobile Megacharging unit?

A Tesla driver spotted a mobile Tesla Semi truck charging station in Tooele, Utah, which was also soon removed. The charger has “MCU1” written on it, which I assume would mean Mega(watt) Charging Unit 1 perhaps?

Here’s a video of why the EVeject we previously talked about is needed, to possibly drive away from a Supercharging station with the Supercharger cable attached (and ejected). The video shows an attempted kidnapping of a woman by four guys at the Vaughan Supercharger, Canada, this Saturday. Luckily, she escaped.

• Here’s a definitive answer on why you can’t use Cybertruck’s power outlets while the Cybertruck is charging, from Wes Morrill.

• Tesla Charging account shares the Gigafactory New York team, which has ramped the NACS adapter production to 8,000 units per week, and other OEMs are also ramping suppliers.

• 🇦🇺 Tesla’s Charge on Solar feature in the app — where you can charge only when surplus energy is generated by your solar system without using the grid or Powerwall — is now available to all Australian owners of a Powerwall and compatible Tesla vehicle.

• Tesla’s former head of Charging Infrastructure, Rebecca Tinucci, who was ‘famously’ fired during the Supercharging team dissolvement, has now been hired by Uber to oversee the shift to EVs. Great to see this person stay within EV industry.

THE MUSKONOMY

Double Dragons are ready for Polaris Dawn and Crew-9 human spaceflight missions:

SpaceX

Falcon 9 launch of Polaris Dawn early today was postponed on pre-launch checkouts, the next opportunity might be tomorrow, August 28th, at 3:38 am ET. Here’s the description of the Polaris Dawn mission we briefly covered last week.

It will be the first crew to perform a spacewalk from Dragon, fly higher in Earth’s orbit than anyone since the Apollo program, test laser-based Starlink communications, and conduct research to help provide insight on human health during long-duration spaceflight missions.

Sidenote — I frunking love those astronaut suits.

The astronauts stranded on ISS for nearly three months now because of the Boeing Starliner capsule fault? It is now confirmed SpaceX will come in and bring back Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station on their Dragon capsule, as additional “passengers” on the Crew-9 mission.

Meanwhile Mattel, in partnership with SpaceX, is releasing a $1 Matchbox toy of SpaceX's Tesla Model X astronaut transport vehicle in October.

(SpaceX’s) Starlink

The FCC has granted SpaceX permission to start upgrading its first-generation Starlink constellation with second-gen satellites. FCC: "We disagree with Dish that SpaceX’s use of smaller beams will result in SpaceX violating Commission & ITU EPFD."

All you needed to know: Jeff Bezos is spending billions in an attempt to launch his own satellite internet service called Kuiper, while his own $500 million megayacht Koru is equipped with Starlink antennas.

🇰🇪 Starlink has introduced a $15 kit rental plan for people in Kenya. Customers will pay a one-time activation fee of $21. They can choose between a 50GB plan for $10 USD or an unlimited package for $50.50. Both plans offer speeds of up to 200 Mbps.

More than 10% of all households in Alaska are now using Starlink. “It’s not even the talk of the town anymore,” said Chevak resident Earl Atchak, who was one of the first to switch to Starlink from the state’s largest internet provider, GCI, in November 2022. “There’s just a few people that don’t have them.”

Atchak said that Starlink, which charges users $90 a month after initial equipment fees, more than halved his internet bill for a service that’s far quicker and more reliable.

Starlink also gets a license to operate in Sri Lanka, and now has 250,000 active customers in Brazil.