Tesla recently announced on its official 'Tesla Charging' Twitter account that the company has reached a new milestone by activating its 45,000th Supercharger. This rapid expansion, with 5,000 new Superchargers added in just five months, demonstrates Tesla's commitment to developing a comprehensive charging network for electric vehicles.
Giga New York Produces Half of Tesla's Superchargers
Tesla credits its Giga New York facility for producing half of the Superchargers in its network and manufacturing Megachargers for the Tesla Semi electric truck. Tesla also operates a charger factory in Shanghai, capable of producing 10,000 V3 Superchargers per year. However, the focus is shifting towards increasing the availability of V4 Superchargers and Megachargers in anticipation of broader Tesla Semi deliveries.
It looks like Tesla needs to update its site now after reaching this milestone. It still states, "With 40,000+ Superchargers, Tesla owns and operates the largest global, fast charging network in the world."
Non-Tesla EVs Gain Access to Superchargers
Tesla has also opened up its first V4 Supercharger in the Netherlands to all EVs. The move is thought to boost the charging options available to non-Tesla owners and foster confidence in using EVs for long-distance travel. The company has been testing the integration of non-Tesla vehicles at Superchargers in over a dozen European countries and has recently expanded this initiative to the US.
Non-Tesla owners in the US will need to use a built-in CCS adapter to connect to Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors. The move to open Superchargers to all EVs has garnered mixed reactions from Tesla and non-Tesla owners.
As Tesla continues to expand its charging network, the question remains whether the company will make future V4 Superchargers available to all EVs. However, with the growing demand for EV charging infrastructure, Tesla's commitment to opening its charging network to all EVs in Europe and the US may help alleviate some pressure on public charging stations and support the overall transition to electric mobility.
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For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.
Price Increase
The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.
The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series.
The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.
Free Lifetime Supercharging
For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.
There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.
We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.
Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.
Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.
Optimus is Blind
Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer.
Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.
Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips.
What’s Next?
Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.
Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.
There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.
We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.
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