While the most exciting parts of the 2024 Impact Report were focused on Tesla’s future roadmap, a deeper dive into the data reveals a lot about what’s currently happening. The report is packed with key metrics on vehicle safety, ownership costs, and the explosive growth of Tesla Energy.
These aren’t just separate points - they all come together as part of a self-reinforcing and self-feeding engine. The data shows just how all these elements work together to help scale Tesla’s various businesses, while also advancing each one. Let’s take a look.
Pillar 1: Safety
The report makes some of Tesla’s boldest safety claims to date, but they’re all backed by data from the global fleet. This fleet data is one of Tesla's biggest advantages, allowing it to prove just how much safer its vehicles are.
As of 2024, vehicles using Autopilot technology were involved in one accident for every 6.77 million miles driven. This represents a safety record nearly 10 times better than the U.S. national average of one accident per 0.70 million miles.
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Alongside that, the entire Tesla lineup, including the Cybertruck, now boasts 5-star safety ratings from the NHTSA. Tesla vehicles are also 8 times less likely to be involved in a fire than the average vehicle in the United States, which completely blows the “EVs are a fire risk” claim out of the water.
In general, Tesla vehicles are far safer than their legacy automotive cousins, especially with new features being added in the name of safety, like the 4D cabin radar, customizable parental controls, and extreme body strength.
In fact, Tesla vehicles are so safe, you might be denied a driver’s license because your vehicle is too safe. That’s something that only Tesla could pull off.
But why does this matter? Safety is safety, right? In fact, the data that proves just how safe Tesla is helps build both consumer and regulatory trust, which in turn facilitates initiatives like the recent Robotaxi pilot. A safer car is a better car, which helps drive demand and fuel the growth of the fleet. That also means more data, which can be used to make the fleet safer.
Pillar 2: Total Cost of Ownership
The report also makes a compelling case that this best-in-class vehicle safety is now as affordable as mass-market alternatives when measured over the vehicle's total life cycle.
That is known as the Total Cost of Ownership, or TCO. The Model Y RWD has a TCO of $0.74/mi. In comparison to popular ICE competitors, like the Honda CR-V ($0.74/mi) and the Toyota RAV4 ($0.76/mi), the Model Y is a stellar competitor. When you look at comparable luxury SUVs like the BMW X3 ($1.19/mi), this number looks even better.
While the initial buy-in cost of the Model Y is higher, the TCO lowers due to many reasons. The lower cost of electricity to power the Model Y, the lower cost of ongoing maintenance, and the likelihood that the vehicle will stay on the road for longer all matter here.
EVs, and Teslas in particular, have lower maintenance costs compared to other vehicles. That all adds up over the years when the only things you need to replace are washer fluid, wipers, and tires, versus a whole litany of consumable parts and oils in an ICE vehicle.
Tesla needs to shatter the perception that EVs are prohibitively expensive by focusing on the total cost, which includes fuel, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation. This affordability expands Tesla's addressable market far beyond the premium segment, which is essential for growing the fleet. Combining that low TCO with safety is the key to mass-market adoption, which also helps to drive safety and data collection for FSD.
Pillar 3: Tesla Energy
The quiet winner of Tesla’s recent Earnings Calls and this Impact Report has been Tesla Energy, which supports the fleet, while also being a massive, rapidly growing business in its own right.
There are three key parts to this - the first is Megapack. Tesla has scaled Megapack deployments by 110% year-over-year since 2023, making an enormous impact on grid sustainability through the provision of energy storage and grid-forming services.
Alongside Tesla’s Autobidder and Opticaster software, which help make better use of renewables on the grid, Megapack can effectively double grid capacity when used correctly.
Alongside Megapack, Powerwalls are also making an impact. Over 100,000 Powerwall units are enrolled in Virtual Power Plant programs across the globe, which help manage and reduce grid fluctuations, while allowing customers to benefit from the ability to buy and sell energy. For many, it can yield a tidy profit per Powerwall, sometimes around $50-$100 USD per month.
Tesla has also achieved scale in energy. Giga Shanghai came online in Q1 2025, which brings Tesla Energy’s total global capacity to 80 GWh. With demand stretching well past 250 GWh, there’s plenty of room for Tesla to continue expanding their stationary energy storage business.
That is exceptionally important, as Tesla’s auto business has faced challenges in the last few quarters. Tesla Energy will be essential in picking up the slack from the loss in vehicle sales, as well as in powering the renewable energy that will ensure the fleet is more sustainable than ever.
Wrapping Up
Putting it all together, the 2024 Impact Report tells us that Tesla has a plan. Superior safety creates a desirable product. A low cost of ownership makes that product accessible to everyone. A booming energy business powers the whole ecosystem sustainably and profitably. Each pillar reinforces the others, creating a cycle that is accelerating Tesla's growth and its mission.
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Tesla has unveiled its 6-seat Model Y variant in China, known as the Model Y L. This new variant of one of the world’s best-selling vehicles comes with a longer wheelbase, adjusted C-pillar design, and most importantly, a six-seat interior layout.
The vehicle’s specifications have been officially listed in a filing with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), confirming a launch for this fall.
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The addition of a longer wheelbase and a more spacious third row is a fantastic addition for the Model Y’s family utility, and positions this variant as sort of a mini Model X, but let’s compare the sizes to really know how this new Model Y compares to a Model X.
Meet the Model Y L
The defining feature of the new Model Y L is its six-seat configuration. This layout has previously been exclusive to the larger and more expensive Model X. While Tesla has offered the Model Y in a 7-seat configuration before, the third row was much too small to be utilized by anyone but small children.
Comparing Model Y L to the Model X
@xiaoteshushu on X
Let’s compare this upcoming Model Y L to the regular Model Y and the Model X.
Vehicle/Dimension
Wheelbase
Overall Length
Model Y
2,890mm / 113.8 in
4,797mm / 188.9 in
Model Y L
3,040mm / 119.7 in
4,976mm / 195.9 in
Model X
2,965mm / 116.7 in
5,060mm / 199.2 in
The new wheelbase of 3,040mm is a significant stretch from the standard wheelbase, and in fact, is longer than the Model X’s wheelbase of 2,965mm. However, the overall length of the vehicle is 84mm (~3 inches) shorter than the Model X. This means the vehicle sits neatly between the current Model Y and Model X, filling a much-needed gap.
While this Model Y L is slightly smaller than the Model X, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s smaller inside. The Model X features a much larger front end than the Model Y, accounting for several inches. When you line up the front wheel base of the Model X with this new Model Y, the vehicles are almost exactly the same length.
Tesla has designed this Model Y to be a bit more compact and efficient than the Model X, and likely much cheaper, while featuring the well-loved design of the new Model Y.
Other Specifications and Price
The MIIT filing also provided a detailed look at some additional specifications. The Model Y L is a dual-motor, AWD variant, so it will likely be more expensive than the current Model Y AWD that’s available in China today. Tesla charges an additional $6,500 USD when upgrading the Model X from a 5-seat configuration to a 6-seat layout, so we may see something similar here.
The extra length has been added behind the C-pillar, resulting in a longer rear profile for the Model Y L. To accompany this, Tesla has added an updated rear spoiler, similar to the one found on Performance variants, but not carbon fiber. There is also a new wheel design to complement the updated look, along with unique Model Y L badging and a new light gold paint option.
In classic Tesla fashion, no Tesla is slow - and the Y L has a 0-100 km/h (0-60mph) time of 5.9s, with a top speed of 217km/h. Alongside an 82.5 kWh LFP battery pack, the Model Y L boasts an impressive CLTC range of 688 km (427 mi).
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Launch & Availability
According to posts from Tesla China on Chinese social media, the new Model Y L is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2025. Its official listing in the MIIT database is essentially the final regulatory step required before sales can begin, which means the launch is really just around the corner. For now, it appears that Tesla intends to launch this vehicle only in China, as no other filings have been made in other regions. However, these could be revealed in the coming months.
The new Model Y L is a huge addition to Tesla’s lineup - one that addresses the Chinese preference for vehicles with longer wheelbases and additional passenger room in a compact SUV package. The question is - will this variant make its way to North America and Europe?
Solving real-world artificial intelligence - whether for autonomous driving, real-world robotics, or advanced reasoning - requires an almost unfathomable amount of computational power. To meet this challenge, Tesla has been developing its own custom AI training hardware while simultaneously purchasing hardware in the open market.
Now, the next-generation Dojo 2 chip has reportedly entered mass production with the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC. While many may consider this a side quest, expanding Tesla’s computing base will be necessary to achieve exascale supercomputing, which will be crucial for all of Tesla’s AI ambitions.
Elon Musk called Dojo 2 “a good computer,” and then followed up with a classic computer performance joke - Dojo 2 can indeed play Crysis at a billion frames per second.
While Tesla has effectively utilized powerful third-party GPUs to train its models to date, the Dojo supercomputer is a ground-up, application-specific solution designed for a single purpose. It will efficiently process massive amounts of video data for training neural networks. The Dojo 2 chip itself is the key that unlocks this potential.
Dojo 2 will train the vision-based neural nets that FSD relies on, allowing Tesla to process video from its massive global fleet of vehicles even faster. As Tesla continues to improve FSD, one of the biggest challenges has been the intake of video for handling difficult edge cases.
Hundreds of thousands of miles of training data may pass by before an edge case is identified and trained on, but it all needs to be analyzed, labeled, and processed, which is key for Dojo 2. Each new useful piece of training data will help Tesla proceed down the march of 9s, making FSD just that little bit better every time.
This process requires massive amounts of compute and training time - but it is an absolute necessity to improve FSD. Of course, this goes beyond just FSD in vehicles. Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, also runs on FSD to navigate and interact with the physical world.
While it may be a custom version of FSD, it remains FSD at its core, which means the same neural nets that analyze the environment and build a 3D map of the world for your car perform the same work for Optimus.
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Custom Approach to AI Hardware
Dojo 2’s power doesn’t just come from raw compute; it comes from a series of architectural choices that make it excel at training FSD and differentiate it from general-purpose hardware, or even other AI-specific hardware.
To this end, Tesla is using TSMC’s new Integrated Fan-Out with Silicon-on-Wafer (InFO-SoW) packaging technology. For massive AI workloads, heat and the speed at which data moves between chips are often the biggest bottlenecks.
This new packaging technique allows for high-bandwidth connections directly between processing dies, which lowers latency and dramatically improves heat dissipation, all key to building massive and dense compute clusters.
Unlike general-purpose chips, Dojo 2 is designed with a custom instruction set, specifically built to train FSD. The cores are specifically made to accelerate the exact mathematical operations, like matrix multiples and systolic arrays, which form the backbone of Tesla’s vision-based neural networks.
By building its own hardware, Tesla can then integrate its own software and compilers directly with the silicon, optimizing for specific workloads and avoiding the performance penalties that can result from using third-party software, such as Nvidia’s CUDA.
The start of Dojo 2 may seem like a side quest for some, but it’s actually a key step for Tesla’s AI technologies that give them an advantage over the competition using off-the-shelf hardware. They’ll need to continue investing in custom hardware to improve FSD at a reasonable pace, rather than the current glacial pace we’ve seen over the last few months.
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