The inside of a car can get extremely hot in summer months. It doesn’t take much before the temperature inside of a vehicle becomes dangerous. For you, your loved ones or your little furry friends.
Tesla's Dog Mode screen
Not a Tesla App
Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you have a pet with you, but you need to run to a store. Even with your windows cracked, it’s a bad idea to leave your pet in the car on warmer or cold days.
Introducing Dog Mode
Tesla solves this problem with Dog Mode. Since Teslas are electric, there’s no engine that needs to run, meaning you can run any system in the car without needing the car to remain on. This includes the heater and air conditioner.
Dog Mode allows you to set the temperature in the car, just like you’d set it at home, and the car will keep the interior of the vehicle at that temperature until you return. It doesn’t matter whether the cabin needs to be heated or cooled, the car will control the HVAC to keep the vehicle at the selected temperature.
Letting Others Know Your Pet is Safe
Since leaving your pet alone in a vehicle isn’t normally a good idea and people may not be familiar with Tesla’s Dog Mode, Tesla also displays a message on the screen.
Tesla does a great job at letting bystanders know that your pet is safe inside of the car. Once Dog Mode is activated, a message will display on the car’s large center screen letting people know your pet is safe.
The screen will show a cute picture of a dog and display a message that states, “My driver will be back soon.” It will furthermore let them know to not worry, and that the heater or AC is on and it will display the current temperature inside of the car.
What Happens If the Battery Gets Low
The car will only let you activate Dog Mode if your charge level is above 20%. This is to be sure that there’s enough of a charge to keep your pet cool or warm and a buffer for you to get home.
If you have enabled Dog Mode and the battery reaches 20%, Tesla will send you a notification on your phone letting you know that the battery is getting low and that you should return to your car.
Dog Mode will remain on as long as possible until the car runs out of battery.
How Long Can You Leave Dog Mode On
The heater or air conditioner is getting power directly from your car’s battery. Besides driving, climate control is one of the largest draws of power. The amount of power actually consumed, or the amount of time your car can remain in Dog Mode is entirely dependent on the outdoor temperature and how much energy the car needs to use to keep the cabin at the selected temperature.
A rough estimate is that your car will use about 4 miles of range per hour in which the climate system is on. This will differ based on whether you’re using the heater or AC, your Tesla model and the outside temperature.
Which Models have Dog Mode
Dog Mode is a standard feature available in Tesla Model Y, Model 3, Model S and Model X. You do not need to have Tesla’s Premium Connectivity in order to receive notifications from your Tesla or to control your Tesla from the Tesla app.
How to Turn On Dog Mode
To activate Dog Mode you’ll need to be inside of the vehicle. Tap on the fan icon along the bottom navigation bar and you should see the HVAC screen come up. Toward the top right corner, you’ll see different modes, such as On, Dog and Camp.
Touching Dog Mode will activate it as soon as you leave the car. Just set your temperature and you’re all set.
How to Turn Off Dog Mode
Once you get back in the car and start driving, Dog Mode will automatically turn off. If you come back for just a minute and leave again, Dog Mode will remain on.
Dog Mode is a fantastic feature and shows a clear benefit of electric cars, where you don’t need to have the engine on in order to power the HVAC system. Please use it with caution and don’t leave your dog or pet unattended for long periods of time.
In this article, we’ll cover Tesla’s updates on Optimus, batteries, and Tesla Energy.
Optimus
Tesla has been working away on their humanoid robot and continues to make progress in software and hardware.
First, Tesla is preparing the Fremont factory for the Optimus pilot production line, which is scheduled for completion later this year. Once it is, wider deployments of Optimus for internal use within Tesla’s facilities are expected as well. Tesla aims to have several thousand Optimus units working in its North American factories by the end of the year once the pilot production line is operational.
Tesla’s goals for production remain extremely lofty - 1 million units per year by 2030. However, they could face some challenges when ramping production.
Key components like the shoulder actuators use specialized permanent and rare-earth magnets, which are currently sourced from China. Due to recent Chinese restrictions on the overseas sale of these magnets, Tesla is seeking an exemption or alternative suppliers. They have not yet looked into modifying the shoulder actuator but will likely do so if they cannot obtain the necessary materials.
Batteries
Batteries are another item that Tesla’s teams have been working on behind the scenes for years now. The second generation of the 4680 - the Cybercell - has been IRA-compliant for some time now. This means that the Cybertruck is eligible for the US Federal EV rebate.
Tesla also achieved the lowest cost-per-kWh of any of its cells with the 4680 battery - and it is potentially one of the cheapest cells being manufactured by any vehicle battery manufacturer at this point. With dry-cathode still being worked on, Tesla may be able to squeeze more optimizations and cost efficiencies from the 4680 cells.
Additionally, Tesla is progressing with its plans for lithium refining and cathode production in the US, both of which are scheduled to commence in 2025. While the company says they’re no longer supply-constrained for non-LFP vehicle batteries, on-shoring production and sourcing critical minerals from nations outside of China will be key.
LFP batteries continue to be supply-constrained, namely for the Tesla Energy division. LFP batteries and their materials are sourced from China. Due to tariffs and limited exports, Tesla can’t obtain enough and is considering potentially building an LFP production facility in North America.
Energy
Tesla’s energy division is still experiencing some of the highest growth of any of its divisions. Year over year, Tesla saw a 154% increase in energy storage deployments, including both Megapack and Powerwall - for a total of 10.4 GWh deployed in just Q1 2025. While deliveries in energy storage remain volatile due to the nature of Megapack installations, Tesla expects growth to continue rapidly in this segment.
Tesla also deployed 1GWh of Powerwall 3 residential storage this quarter, marking its strongest quarter. Powerwall 3 has received positive feedback from customers, many of whom appreciate its new capabilities with its built-in inverter for solar.
Megapack is continuing to see demand increases, currently highlighted by utility-scale Megapack systems, as well as data centers requiring stable power delivery. Megafactory Shanghai is also online now and producing Megapacks - with an annual production capacity of 20GWh today and up to 40GWh in the future. The site has also produced over 100 Megapacks this quarter, which are all awaiting delivery.
There was a lot of interesting news from Tesla’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call, covering everything from FSD and Robotaxi - to the less glamorous but equally important Megapack and Powerwall.
Tesla is heavily leaning into artificial intelligence, and its insurance offering is just another example of how it’s improving its product or lowering costs by leveraging AI.
Tesla recently started offering an insurance discount in select states when drivers use FSD for at least 50% of their drives and now it’s introducing an AI to help handle customer claims.
Tesla has developed an in-house voiced AI agent that can assist customers in handling simple support requests for Tesla Insurance.
For customers calling in from those states, the new AI agent provides a unique way to address the most common support calls. And it’s not just answering common questions but actually making requested changes to the owner’s account.
Policy Changes
The first key item is that it automates policy changes. Simple policy updates, including adjusting your deductible or coverage limits, are now done via AI. For policyholders who are simply looking to make quick changes and don’t have any questions, this makes the process a lot quicker by not having to wait for a representative. Tesla isn’t eliminating representatives, but this could reduce the number of representatives required or reduce wait times.
Continue Where You Left Off
The second item here, highlighted by Raj Jegannathan from Tesla’s internal IT team, is that Tesla’s AI agent is able to offer summaries of the user’s last interaction with Tesla Insurance. It will summarize your last interaction and provide assistance on that particular topic if you need to continue it. That means that you don’t have to wait for a human to review your file - the AI will kick off right where you left off.
Tesla appears to be focused on improving efficiency and making support more accessible. While actual items like claims are left up to humans due to their inherently complex nature, this helps free up employees to handle more complex items. While there’s no doubt Tesla will continue to develop this AI like they do everything else, we may soon see it take on even more tasks.
More AI
This isn’t the first AI agent that Tesla has demoed - there is now a chat-based AI sales agent available on the front page of Tesla’s website, which is able to answer common questions on Tesla vehicles.
Tesla has also been improving their AI support tool available in the Tesla App is able to provide feedback on common issues and also guide users towards either solving the problem or placing a support request.
Tesla’s strategy here is to influence the cost-heavy areas associated with having humans address simple requests and instead leverage AI, which can offer instant answers and reduce support costs.
Roll Out to More States
While this new AI is currently limited to just 12 states, it is likely to follow Tesla Insurance’s expansion. Insurance seems to have been at a bit of a standstill lately. Tesla continues to improve features such as the improvements to Safety Score V2.2, but we haven’t seen Tesla roll out support to new states since it added Minnesota in November of 2022.
![Tesla’s B-Pillar Recording Requires HW4 [Update: New Dashcam Viewer Included on HW3 / Ryzen Vehicles]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/tesla-screen/dashcam-viewer-hw3.jpg/ba8281c93679d2cf4a405a771e96b167/dashcam-viewer-hw3.jpg)
![Tesla Semi Keynote: New Features, 46 Charging Sites, Upgraded Battery & More [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/semi/semi-new-features.jpg/c7df4e0d32f8cb0beee080ad201e943b/semi-new-features.jpg)
_300w.png)
