Tesla May Be Ready To Sell More 4680 Model Ys Soon

Tesla may be ready to sell more 4680 Model Ys

MotorTrend

According to a report from Teslarati, Tesla could offer a new entry-level configuration of the Model Y for the 2023 model year. Tesla is reportedly preparing to offer a Standard Range All-Wheel Drive Model Y with 4680 batteries produced at Gigafactory Texas. The new version of the 2023 Model Y received approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA added three Certificates of Conformity for the 2023 Model Y to their database. The new versions approved by the EPA were:

• Model Y Long Range All-Wheel-Drive
• Model Y Performance All-Wheel-Drive
• Model Y All-Wheel-Drive

The EPA documents show that Tesla applied for approval of these Model Y configurations on September 30 and received Certificates of Conformity on October 19. The agency has yet to release range ratings for the three new versions.

In April, Tesla built Standard Range All-Wheel-Drive Model Ys at Gigafactory Texas, exclusively available to employees because the production of this configuration was battery-constrained. The vehicle had 279 miles (449km) but was sold for around $60,000, a steep price for the range offered.

Tesla built this exclusive Model Y with the highly-anticipated 4680 cells. Employees including Tesla’s Senior VP of Powertrain, Drew Baglino drives a 4680 Model Y.

Shortly after being released the 4680 Model Y was tested by The Kilowatts and they were able to test the charging rate of the vehicle. The results were impressive with the vehicle charging 270 miles in 52 minutes.

Tesla is building 4680-equipped Model Ys at Gigafactory Texas but mainly delivers 2170-equipped Model Ys to customers as the 4680 battery program has yet to fully ramp up.

Large-scale production of Tesla’s 4680 cells could begin by the end of the year. President and CEO of Panasonic, Kazuo Tadanobu, said that Tesla’s 4680 cells will enter mass production in Japan in May 2023. In preparation for mass production in 2023, Tesla has worked closely with suppliers like Panasonic to develop prototypes. This also aligns with Cybertruck production timelines, which is expected to begin production in mid-2023 and enter mass production at the end of 2023.

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Tesla Update 2025.20 Tear Down Reveals Grok Personalities and Icons

@greentheonly on X

While most automakers are adding basic and un-integrated AI assistants to their vehicles, Tesla appears to be working hand-in-hand with xAI to build out an entire cast of characters for in-vehicle Grok. In the latest dive into Tesla’s firmware, Tesla hacker @greentheonly uncovered a few new details about the upcoming Grok feature.

This discovery, part of a larger batch of changes found in Tesla update 2025.20, also offers a hint at the hardware required for the Grok.

A Dozen Groks

While we knew from previous firmware teardowns that Tesla was adding various Grok personalities to the vehicle UI, this update introduces a new one called Language Tutor, which may allow users to learn and practice a new language. 

These are the different personas that will be included in Grok:

• Argumentative

• Assistant

• Conspiracy

• Doctor

• Kids’ Stories

• Kids’ Trivia Games

• Meditation

• Motivation

• Romantic

• Sexy

• Storyteller

• Therapist

• Language Tutor

• and the Grok Classic - Unhinged Mode

Release Date

Icons for these personalities have been added to the firmware for the first time, leading us to think Tesla is getting close to releasing the feature. However, even after the feature is developed and included in vehicle software, Tesla may only enable it selectively — such as for select employees for testing.

Grok is expected to be one of the largest vehicle features added via a software update, so it’ll be a big deal when it’s finally released. While we know more or less what to expect from Grok, what we don’t know is about vehicle requirements or whether it’ll require a subscription beyond Premium Connectivity.

Grok Requirements

While subscriptions required are anyone’s guess, vehicle requirements may be a little clearer now, thanks to Green’s discovery that Grok is only being added to AMD-based vehicle software builds.

Unfortunately, this likely means that older, Intel-based vehicles will not receive Grok support, at least for the time being. When Tesla introduced a voice assistant in China, they also started off with AMD-only support but later added Intel support, so it’s possible that the same could happen with Grok.

Energy Saving

Green also found a new undocumented navigation feature in 2025.20.3. This one focuses on leveraging Tesla’s vast amounts of data in an interesting way and offers drivers proactive advice to save energy on a well-traveled route. 

In the Energy App, your vehicle will display, “This route is typically driven at X mph. Slow down by Y mph to save Z% for the rest of this trip.’ 

As you can see in the photo below, Tesla recognizes that vehicles typically drive at 66 mph on the route being driven and offers the driver the option to go five mph slower to save 1% of range. While this example doesn’t provide much incentive to slow down, it could be useful for someone with a low state of charge or if the savings are more significant.

The new line in the Energy App

Not a Tesla App

In the future, Tesla could even use this, alongside the road surface data they’re gathering, to help plan routes for Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD.

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NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years. 

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.

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