Three Brand New, Original Tesla Roadsters Have Been Found in a Storage Container

By Kevin Armstrong
Three original Tesla Roadsters were found with 0 miles in a storage container
Three original Tesla Roadsters were found with 0 miles in a storage container
GruberMotors (Edited by NATA)

In a remarkable discovery, three untouched Tesla Roadsters from 2010 have emerged from their long slumber in a Chinese port, offering a glimpse into the pivotal role they played in sparking the electric vehicle (EV) revolution and Tesla's astounding success. More than just pristine collectibles, these Roadsters stand as enduring symbols of a watershed moment in the automotive industry and Tesla's ambitious journey.

These three US-spec left-hand drive Roadsters, two Very Orange models and one Radiant Red, Sport model, have been sitting unspoiled and hidden away in sea containers since their purchase in 2010. Now, they're ready to be revived and enjoyed by eager Tesla fans and collectors.

Elon Musk Tweets About the Remarkable Find

The discovery caught the eye of Elon Musk. He acknowledged this fantastic discovery, tweeting, "These are increasingly rare." His endorsement of the find highlights the significance of these vehicles, both as a part of Tesla's history and as rare collectibles for enthusiasts.

Some Tesla fans have been asking Musk to purchase and display the cars at Tesla factories. But if you're a Tesla aficionado looking to own a piece of EV history, this is your chance! The current owner is accepting bids for this unique set of Roadsters, with a preference to sell them together. However, they're open to splitting them up for the right price.

Roadster Specs

These Roadsters look brand new, inside and out, however the batteries still need to be tested
These Roadsters look brand new, inside and out, however the batteries still need to be tested
GruberMotors (Edited by NATA)

The Tesla Roadster had a 53 kWh battery, which offered a range of about 245 miles (395 km). Its electric motor only produced 248 horsepower, but due to its extremely light chasis, it reached 60 mph in about 3.7 seconds.

The Role of the Roadster in the EV Revolution and Tesla's Meteoric Rise

The Tesla Roadster played a crucial role in the company's history, funding the creation of the Model S and sparking the EV revolution. Launched in 2008, the Roadster was Tesla's first production vehicle and the world's first high-performance electric sports car. Its success proved that electric vehicles could be cool, sexy, and fast, breaking the mold of gas-guzzling automobiles and paving the way for Tesla's future models.

With the Roadsters' impressive performance and the legacy they represent, they're sure to be a prized addition to any collection. So don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of Tesla history that genuinely transformed the automotive industry. The Gruber Motor Company has already received five bids, with the highest being $200,000 for all three. Email your bid to ev@gruber.com and get ready to cruise in a vintage Tesla Roadster integral to the EV revolution.

Tesla Smoking While Supercharging? A Look at What's Actually Happening

By Karan Singh
Hot_Engineering3140 on Reddit

Winter is here, and temperatures are dropping, so one of the most common Tesla questions is about to resurface.

If you’ve landed here after frantically searching about “smoke” coming from your Tesla while Supercharging, take a deep breath—it’s completely normal.

Tesla Smoking While Charging

If you’re Supercharging in freezing weather—even with preconditioning—you might notice steam rising from your Tesla. But rest assured, your car isn’t smoking.

Your Tesla’s heat pump is hard at work warming both the cabin and battery to keep you comfortable and ensure optimal charging temperatures. Over time, condensation and ice build-up in the heat exchanger coils.

Why Does It Happen?

When you reach a Supercharger with your vehicle, the heat pump is still running hot, but without the cold air from driving to keep the heat exchanger coils cool, the ice and condensation quickly start to evaporate—creating what looks like smoke.

Since this typically happens near the front of the vehicle, where a car would traditionally have an engine, new vehicle owners can be startled by the discovery. However, rest assured that it’s just water vapor and it’s completely normal in cold weather.

In fact, this behavior can be experienced in any EV with a heat pump in cold climates. So, if you saw steam coming out of your vehicle and panicked, don’t worry—you’re not alone.

Now that you know what’s happening, go ahead and Supercharge with confidence.

Tesla Improves YouTube App With Smoother Playback

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Tesla made a lot of improvements in the 2024 Holiday Update, including more than 15 undocumented improvements that were included in the release. One of these was a stealthy performance improvement to the YouTube app.

Several people have mentioned they’ve seen improved performance on YouTube since this year’s Holiday Update - and there’s an interesting reason why.

YouTube Improvements

The improved YouTube performance in Tesla vehicles comes from an unexpected source—Tesla actually rolled back support for YouTube’s newer AV1 video encoding. Instead, vehicles now default to the older VP9 encoding standard.

While AV1 is highly efficient in terms of bandwidth, it requires considerably more processing power to decode and display videos. VP9, on the other hand, is less computationally demanding but uses more bandwidth to achieve the same video quality. This trade-off means smoother playback and better overall performance, even if it comes at the cost of slightly higher data usage.

Intel Inside

The VP9 video codec that the YouTube app is now using is much easier to decode, making it less taxing on the vehicle’s processor. This change is particularly beneficial for Tesla vehicles with Intel processors, which previously struggled to stream video at just 720p. When using AV1, these vehicles often experienced stuttering, sometimes forcing the YouTube app to automatically downgrade playback to 480p.

With this update, Intel-based Teslas should now be able to stream at 1080p smoothly. Streaming at 1440p is also possible, although occasional stutters still occur as the system keeps up with the decoding process.

Intel-based vehicles are the big winners with this change, but this appears to affect AMD Ryzen-based infotainment units as well, providing even smoother playback.

Chromium Web App

Tesla’s Theater apps aren’t native applications; instead, they run as chromeless web apps, leveraging the open-source browser built into Teslas known as Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome). Although this works quite well, there is a severe limitation - Chromium hardware acceleration isn’t supported on Linux, the operating system Tesla uses for their OS.

As a result, Tesla vehicles rely on software decoding instead of hardware decoding, which would otherwise handle video playback far more efficiently. A potential solution could be for Tesla to transition away from Chromium-based web apps in favor of a Mozilla Firefox-based browser, as Firefox does support hardware acceleration on Linux. This switch could also open the door to better streaming performance and the possibility of expanding Tesla’s in-car entertainment options.

However, Tesla’s choice of Chromium likely stems from Digital Rights Management (DRM) requirements for streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix, which rely on DRM-enabled playback. Firefox on Linux has had inconsistent support for DRM due to codec availability and variations in operating system versions.

We’re hopeful that Tesla will either adopt Firefox or develop a fully native application to improve video streaming, rather than continuing with the current web-based Tesla Theater. This shift could also pave the way for additional in-car applications built on Tesla’s native Linux environment—perhaps even reviving the long-rumored Tesla App Store.

Regardless, this update is a welcome improvement, particularly for YouTube, which remains one of the most widely used Theater Mode apps due to its accessibility, free content, and mix of short and long-form videos. It remains to be seen whether similar improvements are made for Netflix, Disney+, or other streaming platforms.

If you’ve noticed improved performance in Theater Mode, now you know why.

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