The Story of a Tesla Model S That Has Traveled Over Two Million Kilometers

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In a stunning achievement, Hansjörg von Gemmingen’s Model S has reached a jaw-dropping 2 million kilometers (1.25 million miles) of distance traveled. He hit this milestone during a cross-country trip from northern Morocco to Mauritania.

This is a remarkable achievement, and we’ll take a deep dive into Hansjörg’s story and experience with having such a long-lived Tesla.

The 2 Millionth Kilometer

Hansjörg’s journey began in the northern Moroccan city of Tangier. Nestled on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, Tangier is a bustling metropolis known for its vibrant culture, scenic ocean views, and modern infrastructure, including an international airport and a thriving business district. As a seasoned traveler and EV enthusiast, Hansjörg has been all across Morocco, embracing its diverse landscapes and challenging terrains.

Rallye Rive Maroc

His adventures included participating in the Rallye Rive Maroc, a grueling 7-day electric vehicle rally. This event is designed to push both drivers and their vehicles to the limit, with participants covering approximately 300 kilometers a day on three of the seven days. The rally navigates through harsh deserts, rugged mountains, and remote locations, presenting a formidable challenge that tests the vehicles' endurance, skill, and durability. The routes are not only demanding but also showcase the breathtaking beauty of Morocco's natural landscapes.

Rallye Rive Maroc's participants in 2023.

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In his latest endeavor, Hansjörg set out from Tangier with the ambitious goal of reaching the 2-million-kilometer mark. His route took him across Morocco, heading towards the southern border with Mauritania. This milestone journey was more than just a personal achievement; it represented a significant moment for Tesla owners worldwide, demonstrating the potential and reliability of electric vehicles over extensive distances and diverse conditions.

Reaching the 2-million-kilometer milestone during this trip highlighted the endurance of his 2013 Tesla Model S, a testament to both Tesla’s amazing engineering and Hansjörg's dedication to pushing the boundaries of electric vehicle travel. His journey serves as an inspiring example for EV enthusiasts and a beacon of what is possible with determination, innovation, and the right infrastructure.

Battery Life

Of course, electric vehicle batteries do inevitably degrade, and Tesla is no exception. However, they’ve proven their longevity – with reports showing only 15% degradation at 350,000km (200,000 mi). Hansjörg drives a 2013 Tesla Model S 85+, with a single motor. He’s seen several battery replacements throughout the vehicle’s lifespan, but the vehicle is still going strong. Keep in mind Tesla had only begun producing the Model S in 2012. It was Tesla’s first vehicle that was designed and created in-house.

1.      Hansjörg replaced the first battery at 290,000 km (180k miles)

2.      The second battery lasted 670,000 km (416k miles), before being replaced due to cell in-balance – it had suffered only a 20% loss of range

3.      The third battery lasted for 550,000 km (341k miles)

4.      The vehicle is currently on its fourth battery, which has already clocked 250,000 km (155k miles), but remains going strong

There is a 150,000 km gap above, which was due to the vehicle using a temporary loaner battery offered by Tesla while the vehicle’s battery was repaired.

These are some amazing numbers to see – real-life battery degradation under high-stress conditions, over a decade. Tesla, vehicle owners, and future customers couldn’t ask for a better data set in this case.

The two million kilometer Model S, in all its glory.

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Charging in Morocco and Africa

Ali Lakrakbi, who brought this amazing feat to our attention, operates a network of EV charges in Morocco. He’s been working on opening an electric road – one lined with EV charging stations – from Morocco to the rest of Africa. This is an amazing initiative and one that is bound to help Africa replace its mobility access with EVs. Promoting EV adoption is difficult enough in North America, Europe, and Asia, but doing so in Africa is leagues harder, and a feat worthy of admiration.

Currently, Ali's network includes a significant number of slower AC (Level 1) chargers, which provide essential charging options for travelers. These chargers are crucial for establishing the foundational infrastructure needed to support the initial wave of EV users in regions where such facilities are scarce.

However, Ali does recognize the need for faster and more efficient charging solutions, and he is actively working to increase the availability of faster DC (Level 2 and Level 3) chargers. These high-speed chargers (such as Superchargers) can significantly reduce charging times, making long-distance travel more practical and appealing for EV owners.

The development of this electric road is more than just a technical achievement; it represents a vision for a connected and accessible Africa. By facilitating easier and quicker EV charging, Ali's project aims to encourage more people to switch to electric vehicles, thus reducing the continent's reliance on fossil fuels and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, this network of chargers can stimulate economic growth by creating new business opportunities and fostering a green technology sector.

Ali hopes to one day see Superchargers like these in Morocco.

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Some African Challenges

Ali has faced some challenges in establishing his network in Morocco and Africa, given the lack of EV adoption there. People have made fun of EV owners – who have not had much success before Ali in deploying chargers, even free of charge – to locations. However, Ali has incentivized the process by demonstrating the benefits – which in part helps bring in travelers who will spend money locally.

Even getting basic chargers installed in cities can be difficult – much less the high-power capabilities needed for something like an L3 Supercharger. An L2 charger in Morocco can cost as much as an L3 in Europe or North America, but the charging network is beginning to spread. One positive note is that the weather is milder – no deep winters – this means that vehicles have better range even without preconditioning.

Another challenge is the lack of subsidies in Africa. Europe and North America have plenty of subsidies. Ali identified that vehicles are considered luxury items in Africa – and providing subsidies for EVs is next to impossible considering other challenges faced. However, he mentions tax subsidies may be a good option in Morocco – and Africa in general.

Since adoption is slower In Morocco and Africa, Ali and others have one big advantage – they get to learn from North America’s and Europe’s mistakes. Adoption is smoother – their chargers and vehicles use a single standard, and they don’t have challenges with RFID cards or other government regulations.

The shortest point between Morocco and Spain is just 9 miles

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It is also possible to import Teslas from Europe since Morocco is so close to Spain. Many Moroccans also work in Europe and return, and vice versa. There are plenty of Moroccans who experience EVs in Europe as the growth for EVs grows in the country. Ali finances his charger deployments through the sale of Teslas to Moroccans.

However, Tesla doesn’t send parts to Morocco meaning it requires a chain of third-party companies to send over any parts necessary. It can be difficult since Tesla doesn’t officially support the vehicle in the country. Ali hopes that one day Tesla will support owners in Africa, not only with parts but also with training personnel and navigation data as well.

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Is Tesla Planning to Add Steam Support to All Vehicles?

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Yesterday, we reported that Tesla updated their Steam integration on Model S and Model X vehicles. The update was part of their 2024 Holiday Update, but it looks like there may be more to this than a simple update.

Steam, a video game library app, makes it easy for users to buy or launch games on their computers. However, a couple of years ago, Valve, who created Steam, launched their own standalone device, the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck runs a custom OS based on Linux.

Steam Launch

When Tesla launched the redesigned Model S and Model X, Tesla introduced a dedicated gaming GPU with 16GB of RAM and touted the ability to play top-tier PC games in Tesla vehicles.

In 2022, Tesla finally launched the Steam app for the Model S and Model X as part of its 2022 Holiday Update. The Steam app runs Steam OS, the same OS as the Steam Deck in a virtual environment.

However, earlier this year, Tesla stopped including the GPU and Steam (Beta) in their vehicles, and we haven’t seen any updates to the Steam in quite some time. In fact, we thought Tesla was axing their gaming-on-the-go dreams.

SteamOS Update

The Steam app, which is still in Beta, is getting an interesting update for the Model S and Model X vehicles with the discrete GPU.

Those vehicles received an update to SteamOS 3.6 - the same version of SteamOS that runs on the Steam Deck. While nothing has visually changed, there’s a long list of performance optimizations under the hood to get things running smoother.

Comparing Steam Deck to Tesla Vehicles

Let’s take a look at the Steam Deck - according to Valve, its onboard Zen4 CPU and GPU combined push a total of 2 TFlops of data, which is fairly respectable, but much lower than today’s home consoles. The Steam Deck is capable of 720p gaming fairly seamlessly on low-to-medium settings on the go and is also built on the AMD platform.

AMD-equipped Teslas, including the Model 3 and Model Y, are packing an older Zen+ (Zen 1.5) APU (processor with a combined CPU and GPU). AMD claims that the V1000 - the same embedded chip as on AMD Tesla vehicles (YE1807C3T4MFB), brings up to 3.6 TFLops of processing power with it, including 4K encoding and decoding with the integrated GPU on board.

While that’s not enough for 4K gaming or comparable to a full-blown console or desktop GPU, that’s enough raw horsepower for light gaming and is currently more powerful than the Steam Deck.

The Model S and Model X’s GPU brings that up to about 10TFlops of power - comparable to modern consoles like the Xbox Series X at 12 TFlops.

Steam Gaming for All Vehicles?

The fact that Tesla is updating SteamOS even though the feature is no longer available in any new vehicles could indicate that Tesla is not only bringing Steam back to Teslas but that it’s going to play a much bigger role.

While SteamOS is run in a virtual environment on top of Tesla’s own OS, we could see Tesla bring SteamOS to all of its current vehicles, including the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck. Steam in these vehicles would likely support any game that’s capable of running on the Steam Deck.

We think this Steam update, which includes performance improvements and a variety of fixes, has quietly passed under most people’s radars. This could be a very exciting update for those who enjoy gaming, especially for those who love to do it in their Tesla.

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Tesla Holiday Update Weather Features: All the Small Details

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As part of Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla included two awesome new features - Weather at Destination and the long-awaited Weather Radar Overlay. These two features are big upgrades built upon the weather feature that was added in update 2024.26. The original weather feature added an hourly forecast, as well as the chance of precipitation, UV index, Air Quality Index, and other data.

However, this update also added some smaller weather touches, such as the vehicle alerting you if the weather at the destination will be drastically different from the current weather.

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Weather At Destination

When you’re navigating to a destination and viewing the full navigation direction list, the text under the arrival time will show you the expected weather next to your destination. You can also tap this, and the full weather pop-up will show up, showing your destination's full set of weather information.

Note the weather under the arrival time

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You can also tap the weather icon at the top of the interface at any time and tap Destination to switch between the weather at your current location and the weather at your destination.

You’re probably considering that the weather at your destination doesn’t matter when you’re three hours away - but that’s all taken into account by the trip planner. It will add in both charge time and travel time and show you the weather at your destination at your expected arrival time.

And if the weather is drastically different or inclement, such as rain or snow, while you’ve got sunshine and rainbows - the weather will be shown above the destination ETA for a few moments before it tucks itself away.

Tesla also recently introduced a new voice command. Asking, “What’s the weather?” or something similar will now bring up Tesla’s weather popup.

The weather pop-up above the ETA

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One limitation, though—if you’re planning a long road trip that is more than a day of driving, the weather at destination feature won’t be available until you get closer.

Weather Radar Overlay

As part of the improvements to weather, Tesla has also added a radar overlay for precipitation. You can access the new radar overlay by tapping the map and then tapping the weather icon on the right side of the map. It’ll bring up a radar overlay centered on your vehicle. It’ll animate through the radar data over the last 3 hours so that you can see the direction of the storm, but you can also pause it at any point.

You’re able to scroll around in this view and see the weather anywhere, even if you zoom out. It also works while you’re driving, although it can be a little confusing if you’re trying to pay attention to the navigation system. If you like to have Points of Interest enabled on your map, the weather overlay will hide POIs except for Charging POIs.

Requirements / Data

Unfortunately, you’ll need Premium Connectivity for any of the weather features to work, and being on WiFi or using a hotspot will not be enough to get the data to show up. The data, including the weather radar, is provided by The Weather Channel.

As for supported models, weather and weather at destination are available on all vehicles except for the 2012-2020 Model S and Model X. The weather radar has more strict requirements and requires the newer AMD Ryzen-powered infotainment center available on the 2021+ Model S and Model X and more recent Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

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