Tesla's Model S is available in the new Ultra Red color
Tesla
It's nearing the end of the first quarter and you know what that means - a Tesla push! The company is offering free Supercharger credits to buyers of their Model S and Model X electric vehicles in the United States and Canada. The offer is valid for those who purchase the vehicles before March 31st and includes 10,000 free Supercharging miles in the US and 10,000 free Supercharging kilometers in Canada.
These credits can be used at any Tesla Supercharger station and are valid for two years from the delivery date. Tesla has been known to use such promotions in the past to boost sales and encourage customers to make purchases earlier than planned.
However, despite the success of these promotions, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has expressed his desire to reduce the size of end-of-quarter pushes in favor of a more efficient and steady pace of deliveries.
Building on Strong Q4 Earnings
Tesla's end-of-quarter push comes after the company reported strong earnings for the previous quarter. The company beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, with earnings of $1.19 per share (adjusted) compared to the expected $1.13 per share (adjusted) and revenue of $24.32 billion compared to the expected $24.16 billion. The automotive revenue for the quarter was $21.3 billion, representing a 33% year-over-year growth.
Tesla has been making efforts to reduce prices on its cars worldwide, which has led to an increase in demand, as seen by the company's orders in January, which were almost twice the rate of production.
Tesla has also been expanding its production capacity, with factories in Austin, Texas and near Berlin, Germany, each having the capacity to make 250,000 Model Y vehicles annually. In addition, the company has installed the capacity to manufacture 100,000 Model S and X vehicles annually and 1.8 million Model Y and Model 3 vehicles across all of its factories. The company has also announced that its Cybertruck is on track to start production this year in Texas but will not reach volume production until next year.
Supercharging Benefits
For those new to Tesla, the Supercharging network is an innovative and valuable addition to the company's electric vehicle offerings, providing Tesla owners with a convenient and accessible way to quickly charge their vehicles while on long-distance trips. The Supercharging network currently has over 40,000 charging connectors worldwide, making it the largest fast-charging network in the world.
Tesla's Supercharging network is an innovative addition to the company's electric vehicle offerings, providing a convenient and accessible way to charge electric vehicles while on long-distance trips. These promotions, combined with the company's strong earnings and expansion of production capacity, show Tesla's continued commitment to innovation and growth in the electric vehicle industry.
In Tesla software update 2024.32 and onwards, Tesla has made a big—and unexpected—change to how its vehicles handle power sockets. This change impacts every vehicle except the Cybertruck, where you can already adjust how power sockets are handled on a case-by-case basis.
Power Socket Change
This change to the power sockets means that in 2024.32, Tesla vehicles will have their 12v sockets and USB ports turned off while in Sentry Mode. Previously, while the car was awake or Sentry Mode was active, the 12v sockets in the rear of the vehicle and any of the USB ports would all remain powered.
Now, owners will no longer be able to operate devices that rely on these ports once the vehicle falls asleep. This change renders some accessories almost useless, such as vehicle fridges. Owners previously relied on Sentry Mode coming on when their vehicle was parked, which kept the fridge in the vehicle’s sub-trunk powered. This change will also prevent owners from using Sentry Mode to keep USB ports powered to charge laptops and other devices.
Until further changes are made, owners will have to use Camp Mode to keep 12v sockets and USB ports powered. However, Camp Mode leaves the vehicle unlocked, making it insecure and unsuitable for things like sub-trunk fridges.
Cybertruck Power Interface
Tesla may be planning to integrate the Outlets & Accessories menu from the Cybertruck into the rest of its vehicles. The outlets menu in the Cybertruck allows you to keep the cabin (and bed) outlets in the vehicle active, even when the vehicle isn’t in use. These outlets remain powered for up to 12 hours after the Cybertruck is exited.
The Power Menu in the Cybertruck
Not a Tesla App
Sentry Mode Improvements
Drew Baglino, Tesla’s now former SVP of powertrains and energy, said back in February of this year that Tesla was looking at reducing the amount of power that Sentry Mode used. He stated that Sentry Mode power consumption needs to be improved and that the team was working on an update to reduce power by about 40%. According to Baglino, the improvements were expected to come in the second quarter of this year, but it’s not clear if this change in update 2024.32 is part of those changes that will lower Sentry Mode’s power consumption.
Even if these are planned changes, we hope Tesla makes them optional, and lets owners choose when to keep outlets powered and when to conserve energy.
Tesla has issued an OTA recall for the Cybertruck – unsurprisingly, one that has already been fixed for customer vehicles. We’ll expand on the recall a little later, but more importantly, the recall filing revealed that Tesla has now built and sold 27,185 Foundation-Series Cybertrucks for customers.
OTA Recall
The OTA recall – which was issued in update 2024.32.5.2 and above, covered an issue that could delay the rearview camera being displayed on the dashboard.
This would occur if the Cybertruck was powered on, and then quickly shifted to reverse. The rearview camera would not come up on screen within the prescribed 2-second timeframe.
According to the NHTSA filing, Tesla has already fixed this via the OTA update, and the rearview camera will now display within that 2-second timeframe as required going forward. This was another easy OTA fix for Tesla.
Not a Tesla App
27k Cybertrucks
The filing also revealed that Tesla has produced and delivered approximately 27 thousand Foundation-Series Cybertrucks through September 14th. Tesla has been producing the Cybertruck for approximately 11 months now, with the 12-month anniversary coming up on November 13th.
Elon Musk previously mentioned that Tesla intends to produce approximately 375,000 trucks per year to compete with the ICE pickup market. Today, Tesla produces 1.7 million Model 3 and Model Y vehicles per year, and about 80,000 Model S and Model X vehicles a year.
Overall, that 27 thousand over a year is only the start of production, and as Tesla expands and improves its production lines, we can expect that number to continue growing at a rapid pace. With the Foundation Series ending and Tesla opening up invites for reservation holders to configure their non-FS Cybertruck, that number is only expected to increase. The non-FS Cybertruck is priced at $79,990, $20k less than the Foundation Series. The Cybertruck will also become eligible for the Canadian iZEV Heavy EV Rebate.
This puts the Cybertruck in an excellent spot in the future—and it has already outsold its EV competitors in the same market. We’re looking forward to seeing how fast Tesla meets the upcoming demand for non-Foundation Series Cybertrucks.