Tesla Upgraded Model 3 Dazzles in Hong Kong Debut

By Kevin Armstrong
Tesla's new Model 3 had 50% of its parts redesigned
Tesla's new Model 3 had 50% of its parts redesigned
Tesla

Tesla has showcased its newest car and given it a different name in the region: the "Upgraded Model 3." This unveiling occurred in one of Asia's premier metropolises, with much fanfare, introduced to the world at a launch event that celebrated Tesla's innovations and marked the debut of Asia's first Gigafactory Museum.

New Configuration and Pricing Details

The announcement came through Tesla's Hong Kong website, inviting enthusiasts to Olympian City from October 12 to 25 to witness firsthand the majestic revamp of the iconic Model 3.

The details, freshly sourced from Tesla's Hong Kong website, indicate that the Model 3 Highland will be available in a single, power-packed configuration: a dual motor all-wheel drive. The local price for the vehicle is 461,345 HKD (equivalent to $58,992.14 USD). Tesla is positioning the vehicle as a premium offering in its segment.

A Nostalgic Journey Through Video

A great video (below) showcases the Model 3's journey from its inception in Hong Kong in 2019 to its current "Highland" iteration. The poignant piano tones, paired with nostalgic visuals that capture families reveling in the Model 3's embrace, transitions seamlessly into an upbeat montage that highlights the electric vehicle's aesthetic evolution.

Interestingly, the naming conventions surrounding this new Model 3 have varied, with terms like "refreshed Model 3", "New Model 3," and "2024 Model 3" making rounds.

The Gigafactory Museum Experience

However, the launch isn't just about the car. Tesla's Gigafactory Museum, making its first appearance in Asia, opens its doors to curious minds. For years, Tesla's manufacturing intricacies have remained shrouded in secrecy. This museum aims to pull back the curtains, giving visitors unparalleled insight into the company's commitment to safety, innovation, and efficiency during production. It resembles the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles display with a few more factory components.

Spectacular Enhancements and Features

Back to the car. We knew the wheels were changing, but now we see the name. The latest images adorning the website give enthusiasts a visual treat. The Model 3 now sports upgraded 19-inch sport wheels, aptly named "Nova wheels," which add to its already sleek and modern design.

To refresh your memory on some of the other enhancements, a lighter frame and improved aerodynamics drop the drag coefficient to a stunning 0.219, resulting in an 11-12% bump in the driving range. Acoustic enhancements reduce external noise disturbances, amplifying the luxury experience within the vehicle. The cabin gets a makeover, too, with ambient LED lighting, an advanced 17-speaker sound system, and even a sophisticated 8-inch touchscreen for the rear passengers, akin to the high-end Model S and Model X.

For those eager to get behind the wheel, there's good news. Tesla estimates deliveries to commence this quarter. This suggests that the wait won't be long for Hong Kong people who've set their sights on this electric beauty. However, there is still no news of when the Highland will be crossing the ocean and hitting the roads in North America.

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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