Tesla Officially Announces the Refreshed Model 3 'Highland' With Ambient Lighting, Rear Screen and Ventilated Seats [Photos/Video]

September 1, 2023

By Kevin Armstrong

Tesla officially announced the refreshed Model 3

Tesla

Tesla's very public secret, codenamed Highland, is now in showrooms in China. The company finally publicly revealed the product, as predicted for the beginning of September, and thanks to months of leaks, there weren't a lot of surprises. We’ve been reporting on leaks since the end of 2022, and it turns out our sources were accurate.

Tesla has again made a publicity splash without spending a dime on traditional advertising. Instead, the company gave some automotive YouTubers an early peak at the Model 3. As soon as the embargo was lifted, YouTube channels were filled with views — money in the content creators’ pocket and publicity for Tesla.

Ambient Lighting

Multicolor ambient LED interior lighting extends from the dash to the rear seats. If that’s not cool enough, this color appears to be adjustable to any shade you like, similar to how you can change the color of your Tesla on the screen and in the app. More than half of the refreshed Model 3 is made with new parts. It is also coming in two new colors in China, Ultra Red and Stealth Gray.

Range

The range has increased by 11 to 12 percent, which equates to the rear-wheel drive getting 346 miles (554 kilometers), and the dual motor long-range 423 miles (678 kilometres). This is thanks to several things, including the lighter Model 3, now the most aerodynamic Tesla in the lineup at a stunning 0.219 drag coefficient down from 0.225.

Suspension & Road Noise

Tesla officially announced the refreshed Model 3

Tesla

The upgraded suspension provides a more premium ride with new springs & dampers, new geometry on the front suspension, new bushings, and a new way they mount the subframe to the chassis. Moreover, the tires now have more cushioning for an improved ride.

Tesla has made a 30% decrease in wind and ambient noise, a 25% improvement in impact noise, and a 20% improvement in road noise. This has been achieved by using acoustic glass on the rear windows and back window (it was only on the front windows before), resulting in "360º acoustic glass". Additionally, more sound insulation has been added for a quieter ride.

Even Better Interior

However, you won’t be able to hear the quiet thanks to the new 17-speaker sound system, up from 14 speakers — complete with two subwoofers and two amplifiers.

We knew the interior was getting an overhaul, but we didn’t know about the upgraded ventilation system, allowing the passage side to be turned off and gain separate fan speeds. There are also two microphones for clearers calls and improved Wi-Fi connectivity. There is also an updated center console with real metal handles and a 65W USB-C charger that provides enough power to charge almost any USB-C device, includingarge a laptop. The center touchscreen has smaller bezels, higher contrast, and better responsiveness. Speaking of screens, there is an 8-inch touchscreen for rear passengers, just like the Model S and Model X.

Tesla officially announced the refreshed Model 3

Tesla

Front Bumper Camera

Tesla officially announced the refreshed Model 3

Tesla

The rumored front camera did not appear in any of the YouTube videos. As previously reported, the new Model 3 is still believed to have a front camera, just like the Cybertruck, and did appear with it in several photos. The front camera will eliminate that very real blind spot just in front of the bumper that the cameras in the windshield can’t see.

Details We Already Knew

Tesla officially announced the refreshed Model 3

Tesla

Now for a refresher about the Model 3 refresh. We’ve been talking about this vehicle since December of 2022, as the partially covered cars started popping up around California. Along the way we learned a lot, but we know that not all of you read about Tesla every day (shame, shame!). So here is a list with links to previous articles that discuss the features.

Model 3 Refresh Up Close and Personal

Pricing

Tesla has been slashing the prices of the current Model 3, but the Highland is getting a price bump. With the cars already on the showroom floors in China, the RWD is 259,900 yuan, $35,800 USD, while the long-range is 295,900 yuan, $40,800 USD. Those prices are about a 10 percent increase — still, no word when the new Model 3 will be available in North America.

The Tesla Model 3 Highland is more than just a refresh; it's a complete overhaul that addresses several aspects of the vehicle, from aesthetics to performance and comfort. Introducing new colors, a more aerodynamic design, an enhanced sound system, and improved noise insulation are just a few of the many upgrades that make this Model 3 iteration stand out. Although there was a slight bump in the price, the host of improvements and added features justify the increase, offering more value to the customers. Time for an upgrade?

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Tesla Semi Entering High-Volume Production; New Vehicles in the Pipeline

June 17, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting, Elon Musk confirmed some additional details about Tesla’s upcoming vehicles, as well as some interesting information about Tesla’s Semi.

Tesla Semi Entering Volume Production

Elon Musk confirmed that the Semi has been in low-volume production for a while now, but he also mentioned that the Semi will now be entering high-volume production for the first time.

Musk mentioned that this is a big step as transport companies have expressed interest in the Tesla Semi due to the economic value and sense of EV trucking. He followed on to say that he expects this to move the needle financially for Tesla – this indicates that some current fleet testers, including Pepsi Co, Walmart, and Costco could be ordering larger numbers of the Semi for their fleets.

Drivers from these testing fleets have had nothing but positive words to say for Semi, praising its reliability, power, ease of use, and cabin. Semi could become a large positive for Tesla, as short-range truck haulage accounts for nearly 80% of trucking in North America and China, and 90% in Europe.

Three shrouded vehicles on the Shareholder Meeting slide, of which one is probably Robotaxi.

Not a Tesla App

New Vehicles

While no new vehicles were explicitly confirmed at the Shareholder Meeting, Elon Musk did confirm that Tesla has new vehicles in the pipeline. He expressed that they would be just as amazing and interesting as the Cybertruck.

When asked if Tesla would produce a 12-passenger van, he noted that he would “add it to the list”. One of the shrouded vehicles in the slide has long been rumored to be a van, so there is a good chance that a Cybervan or equivalent could come with a variant that has additional seating, now that it has been talked about.

While no dates have been provided for any expected releases, we do know that the Robotaxi announcement is around the corner on 8/8.

Tesla Officially Announces FSD Hardware 5.0 and How It Compares to Hardware 4.0 [VIDEO]

June 17, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

At this year’s Tesla shareholder meeting, Elon Musk announced a slate of changes for Tesla’s FSD hardware. For the first time, Musk talked openly about details of Tesla’s upcoming FSD Hardware 5, or “AI 5” and the differences between hardware 3 and hardware 4.

Hardware 4.0 Divergence

Currently, hardware 4.0 runs Hardware 3 in emulation mode, but with the completion of Tesla’s new AI-focused Supercomputer cluster, hardware 4 will eventually diverge from Hardware 3. Emulation mode simulates hardware 3, which means that today, hardware 4 is very similar to hardware 3. Elon Musk confirmed that the new cluster will be entirely focused on hardware 4 training, rather than hardware 3.

Hardware 4’s cameras are approximately 4-5x better in terms of resolution and fidelity than hardware 3, and hardware 4.0 is about 3-5x faster and powerful in inference capabilities. These are some pretty significant numbers, and Musk said he expects hardware 4.0 to eventually be about 5x better than hardware 3.0.

Hardware 3 - End of Life

While hardware 3 is no longer being produced, Tesla has not indicated that it will be considered end-of-life or legacy. Elon Musk confirmed on stage that hardware 3 would continue to receive training and would still have new FSD versions developed for it.

However, we can well expect that hardware 3 will eventually hit the end of its service life in the future as newer cameras and processing hardware come to vehicles. When that day is, is currently unknown.

Sadly, Tesla has previously confirmed that they do not intend to have a hardware 3 to hardware 4 retrofit, as the size of the MCU and electrical harnesses differ between vehicle hardware iterations.

Hardware 5.0 - “AI 5”

Elon Musk also officially announced Tesla’s FSD hardware 5.0, which he says Tesla is now calling “AI 5”. AI 5 is expected to hit the production lines for customer vehicles in approximately 18 months - around December 2025, with a massive slate of improvements. It is expected to be approximately 10x better than hardware 4.0, and up to 50x better in terms of inference power alone.

Of course, these massive improvements don’t come without a cost – AI 5 will consume about 800 watts of power. In comparison, hardware 3 and hardware 4 use about 200 watts today, so don’t expect any upgrades from hardware 4. Musk said that AI 5 would be able to adjust its efficiency depending on the complexity of the scene and the power needed.

We can expect that AI 5 will likely run in emulation mode when it arrives, and improvements between hardware 4 and AI 5 will take some time, similar to how hardware 4 is still in emulation mode today.

Musk Talking About AI 5

Musk talks about Tesla’s FSD hardware below during Tesla’s 2024 shareholder’s meeting, where he officially talked about Tesla’s upcoming hardware 5.0 for the first time.