Tesla Space #46: ⚡ Fish in your Frunk

X POST OF THE WEEK

Vulgar? Maybe. Funny? I think so. 

The FAA is the one wrote about last week being unable to keep pace with the spaceflight industry, and thus impeding the actual progress of humanity with its overregulation.

Meanwhile, Elon confirmed today that “SpaceX will deliver ~90% of all of Earth’s mass to orbit this year. Once Starship is flying regularly, SpaceX will deliver >99% of mass to orbit, unless some other company creates a large, fully reusable rocket.”

This week: Starship Flight 5 might launch as soon as this Sunday, pending regulatory approval. He also confirms that if all systems are working, they’ll attempt a Mechazilla catch for the Super Heavy booster!

TESLA, GLOBALLY

So, Thursday is the big day we’ll learn more about the Tesla robotaxi. The assumptions on what we’ll see go wall to wall, with some just expecting a little showcase of people being picked up on the Warner Bros lots, with others expecting up to three new vehicles like the Model 2 and Cybervan unveiled with the robotaxi.

I’m curious about your thoughts — drop them through this poll below and next week I’ll highlight whoever got it right! Remember to leave your name/nickname in the text too.

By the way, there was this funny coincidence (or not) with McDonald’s teaser of something happening on 10.10. Elon just replies with “😂”. It also happened that Elon followed the Senior Marketing Director on X a day later. Probably a nothingburger… right?

Personally, I’m excited to see what it’ll be, and I’m still wondering if TK will play any role in the robotaxi plans. A delivery partnership via robotaxi makes sense. I’m also hoping for a showcase of wireless charging, in addition to, say about 7 robotaxis on the LA streets near the Warner Bros lot deployed at random.

One thing is certain — I’ll tell you all about it in next week’s newsletter.

Tesla Q3 delivery numbers are in

• Model 3/Y produced 443,668, delivered 439,975

• Other Models produced 26,128, delivered 22,915

• Total produced 469,796, delivered 462,890

That means Tesla deliveries are up 6% compared to Q3 2023 and up 4% compared to Q2 2024.

The earnings call is set for October 23rd.

Tesla Energy deployed 6.9 GWh in Q3, and with reaching 20.3 GWh in these three quarters has now exceeded the whole of 2023 already (14.7 GWh). Perhaps an even better scale, this Q3 deployment was larger than the full year of 2022 (6.5 GWh).

Quick bites:

• Tesla Chief Information Officer, Nagesh Saldi, is reportedly leaving the company days before the Robotaxi event.

• Bloomberg reports that Tesla is about to raise $783M in funding by selling debt backed by automotive leases. This deal lets Tesla access liquid finances without taking on other debts that could otherwise cost the company more.

• 96.4% of cars registered in Norway were fully electric in September… and Tesla made up every third of ‘em.

• GEICO says that no, the coverage for the Cybertruck is not dropped by the insurer.

• Reading tip: Tesla reportedly plans 4 new batteries in 2026, including one for a robotaxi. An actually interesting inside look yet again from The Information, with details on dry cathode yield, 4680’s. Additional related insights from the cathode plant by Joe Tegtmeyer.

• FSD v12.5.6 is starting to roll out, along with End-to-End on the highway for non-Cybertruck vehicles.

THE VEHICLES

Tesla starts selling the cheaper, non-Foundation-Series Cybertruck

Currently available only through the invitations for pre-order holders, you can now get a Cybertruck AWD with Core Wheels and Covers, Tactical Grey Decor, no FSD, and no accessories, for $79,990 (before taxes and fees, of course). This version goes 325 miles (compared to 340 miles on the Foundation Series).

The FSD price of reservation holders is respected at $7k from the time they ordered (it has been lowered to $8k, but was $12k at one point).

Adding up all the options that the Foundation Series buyers got with their higher-priced truck, it seems they paid about a $3k premium on top of all these features to get the truck early (and of course, the badges, and a bit more range).

The non-FS version truly is stripped of almost all accessories, including no bed rings (?!), some less color accents in the interior, no cyber wheels, no rubber floor mats, etc.

From the first pictures of this trim that surfaced online, I'm also surprised that Tesla has still kept the rivet under the pedal.

The $99,990 tri-motor Cyberbeast is also now available to order.

So far, there’s no info on the US federal tax credit ($7,500), which the Cybertruck would now be eligible for considering its <$80k starting price. I would assume Tesla is in the process of certifying that.

Meanwhile, from the latest “recall” software update that fixed a potential delay in Cybertruck’s rearview camera system after shifting into reverse, we learned Tesla has produced at least 27,185 Foundation Series Cybertrucks so far.

Since the last recall back on June 6th was for 11,688 Cybertrucks, we can assume 15,497 deliveries between that and Sept 18th

• Consumer Reports released their early review video of Cybertruck.

• Edmunds’ recent test of the Model 3 Performance traveled 307 miles in a real-world test, 4 miles more than its 303 EPA rating. And this is big coming from Edmunds, considering it has been fueling enough of the Tesla FUD in the past.

• 🇺🇸 Some Cybertruck owners in Florida were using Wade Mode during Hurricane Helene.

• 🇺🇸 Tesla discontinued LFP Model 3 RWD in the US — and it makes sense because the US raised tariffs on Chinese battery components from 7.5% to 25%, this model used LFP batteries from China.

• 🇨🇦 In Canada, Tesla launched Model Y Long Range RWD, and stopped selling Model Y RWD.

• 🇬🇧 Tesla M3 is now available in Quicksilver color in the UK, and the Model Y Long Range RWD version is also now available.

• 🇰🇷 Tesla Korea has entered the certification process to sell the Cybertruck in South Korea, according to the Korea Transportation Safety Agency.

• Per Wes Morrill, Tesla will sell Cybertruck battery armor and rock slider retrofits by the end of 2024 for even more off-road protection.

• Watch tip: fish in frunk

WHAT OUR READERS DRIVE

My favorite section right here. Our 3rd and 4th submission of what y’all drive!

#3 Pat’s 2022 Model Y, named Magneto:

#4: René’s camping setup:

We’ve got somewhat of a waiting list to go through, but if you haven’t yet, do send a pic of your EV, its name, and any stories as a reply to this newsletter or at [email protected] and we’ll feature you in this spot soon!

SUPERCHARGING

The V4 Superchargers are now installed at the Tesla Diner in Hollywood. The building looks… futuristic.

Tesla Charging shares the Q3 numbers:

• opened 2.8K Supercharger stalls, +23% year-over-year network growth

• delivered 1.4 TWh, +27% year-over-year growth

• saved 150+ million gallons of gasoline, offsetting 3+ billion lbs of CO2

This can also be read as: the Tesla Supercharging team still kicking ass with a significantly smaller team. Remember how many said how dumb Elon was for letting the whole North American Supercharging team go? Having read the latest Musk biography from Walter Isaacson, this didn’t surprise at all. They also rehired some of that team back.

Now, I put these Q3 numbers into the historical context, and arrived we should be today at 62,369+ Supercharging stalls at 6,800 locations worldwide. All this in almost exactly 12 years.

I also found the official Supercharger network announcement by Elon Musk on the Sept 24th, 2012 video.

Tesla Giga Berlin built a 5,000m² solar canopy with 2,639 solar panels on (~1MW) top of the part of its parking lot that houses chargers — free for all to use btw, see it on this video.

Tesla Megapack team is leveraging Cybertruck’s Powershare capabilities for Megapack product testing in remote locations:

Quick Charge:

• Kia EVs in the United States will gain access to the Tesla Supercharger network on January 15, 2025. GM just got access (and asks $225 for an adapter, unlike Kia).

• Tesla has now begun to charge for Supercharging by the partial kWh, rather than by rounding down to the nearest kWh.

• The first V4 Superchargers have been deployed in Canada.

• Construction of Tesla's upcoming Shanghai Megapack factory is now 60% complete just 4 months after construction started, a new record. It’ll be able to produce 10,000 units — or 40 GWh worth — of Megapacks per year.

• Tesla has now reached 750,000 Powerwall installations worldwide.

THE MUSKONOMY

No, I will not consider Elon’s latest political ventures as a topic in our Muskonomy section. Sorry, not sorry. 🙂 

Meanwhile, some speculation — will Tesla venture into drones & aviation? That’d seems like a logical next step in Muskonomy.

SpaceX

Last time we had some comments saying they love learning all about SpaceX. I had a little a-ha! moment there — we’ve got so many new folks with us who might not now that our very own Tesla Space team has a sister brand called The Space Race.

It has a Youtube channel with 330k subscribers here and a dedicated newsletter you can subscribe with one single click through here:

(SpaceX’s) Starlink

The Tesla, Starlink and SpaceX teams have gone to great lengths to give emergency access for communities in need on the aftermath of the Hurrican Helene.

Firs off, after a call from Shawn Hendrix on making Starlink free in the disaster zone (since he was delivering these in from his own funds), Elon responded the same day and promised to make all Starlinks in the affected areas to work without payment.

The software update was done by the team in a day, and the Starlink terminals now work automatically without need for payment in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene, free for 30 days courtesy of Starlink.

SpaceX and T-Mobile also temporarily deployed the Starlink Direct-to-Cellular (aka Starlink Cellular) to help Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in affected areas — the service was supposed to roll out early next year as 192 of the 300 needed satellites have been launched so far.

This also seems to be an early test of what Elon said might be offered as a free emergency service worldwide, where country governments approve it.

The wild thing is that the five most impacted states by loss of comms after Hurricane Helene would’ve had 92,833 Starlink kits in their areas had the FCC not revoked their awarded support to SpaceX.

Deploying Starlink? Just two steps needed: “Plug it in. Point at sky. Directions work in either order.”