

Lifestyle
2 Teslas, the Pan-American Highway, and an extreme adventure
Driving an electric vehicle down the Pan-American Highway is no easy feat but a team in two Teslas is doing just that. Life is a journey and sometimes we find ourselves in the most interesting places. This is literally true for Electric Americas Foundation founder, Martin Canabal. Martin is driving the Pan American Highway and has a team filming a documentary on the adventurous road trip. I interviewed Martin for CleanTechnica earlier this summer just after he started his trip from Alaska. This is a follow-up to that interview.
When we spoke, Martin was in Mexico and we talked about some of his adventures along the way from Alaska to Mexico. The team is taking two Teslas down the Pan-American Highway, the world’s longest motorable road. Although it starts in Alaska and ends in Patagonia, there will be a portion of the trip where they have to ship the cars across the Darién Gap, an area where the highway does not exist due to political and environmental reasons.
So far, Martin and his teams have endured flat tires, bad roads, heavy rain, and Mexican speed bumps. Martin explained that the speed bumps in Mexico are extremely huge and that he has to modify the tow hitch due to the speed bumps.
“We have taken the cars to places that I didn’t think we could be able to take them on this trip,” he said. One of those places is Punta Abreojos, Baja California. a remote fishing village in the Pacific.
“We slept in off-the-grid cabins with solar power (so no charging!), no charging stations in town. We could barely charge in some homes using the 110/12A mobile charger. We had to change tires, and we had to wait some days for them to arrive, so we could not reach our next charging station. The tire shop had a welding machine, but we did not have the correct plug, so we had to improvise.”
Bahia de Todos los Ángeles was another place Martin and his team visited in Baja, California. He told me they drove off the main roads to see shark whales and barely made it back in time to charge.
“We thought we could charge for some hours, but the voltage of the town was not enough, so no charging at all!”
In Cabo Pulmo, the roads were so bad that Martin had a flat tire and the two cars had become separated. And the bad roads ended up damaging their tires.
“We used a tire fix and had to put air on the wheel using a bicycle pump from someone who stop to help us. We had an electric air pump but it was on the other car, that had to leave the day before to replace the other tires. After that, we made a rule: we will not drive separately! After all of this, we were able to get replacement tires, replacement wheels, and everything we needed to repair and replace the tires, but we also added more weight and this affects our range.”
The team had to change their schedule and timings of the trip to replace all of the tires for the Model X, which had also gotten a flat tire.
“It was a challenge. In the end, we were able to buy old tires and continue our trip to Cabo San Lucas where we bought new tires. This story ended in Guadalajara where we were able to go to Tesla Service and were able to change the other two tires.”
Another extreme place that Martin and his team visited is El Peñon, a paragliding spot near Valle de Bravo.
“You get there driving countryside roads, and dirt roads. But the place is majestic, and it is one of the best paragliding/Hang Gliding in the world!”
Martin’s last Tesla Service appointment took place in Mexico City where they looked at the cars to make sure that any repairs were done. After Mexico City, there will be no more Tesla Service Centers for the team as they continue along the Pan-American Highway.
“We have road service in Mexico but in a week after we leave the country, we won’t have any support from Tesla. That will be a challenge if something happens. We also had our last Tesla Supercharger in Puebla, Mexico.”
While Martin was chatting with me, his car was at a local Nissan dealership that had charging stations. As for charging along the rest of the trip, Martin was prepared to be creative.
The initial plan didn’t include charging stations past certain points, however, Martin emphasized that the EV charging landscape has changed and he’s seeing this along his trip.
“I planned this trip in 2020 and we’re supposed to charge between several days. There were no charging stations. Now we are in Puerto Escondido and we’re going to be here for four days. We have to film for the documentary and we have to charge. Normally it was going to be slow with no chargers.”
“Now, we can find chargers so our situation is much better now. I think things have improved a lot in two years. When I did my research, there was not a lot of charging stations for our route from Mexico to Argentina. And now I see more. And that’s incredible.”
“On the other hand, we were supposed to charge using the normal outlet. But we found out that this isn’t possible all the time. In several places, we tried to charge it and the Tesla didn’t charge because it sensed that the grid was not okay.”
Martin and the team expect that this will be a common occurrence for the rest of the trip. One unexpected surprise was that they didn’t have to pay for Supercharging in Mexico.
“Since Tesla isn’t able to charge for Supercharging in Mexico, hotels were incentivized for installing destination chargers which were great for us.”
Martin noted that soon, Tesla would be charging for Supercharging in Mexico but for his trip, however, he didn’t have to pay for Supercharging. He and the team also had hotel adventures. Some were expensive, some were reasonable, and some, he said with a laugh, were difficult to explain.
As Martin continues his journey across the Pan-American Highway, he plans to keep me updated on his progress. And when he does, I’ll be sure to share his stories here.
Your feedback is important. If you have any comments, concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1
Lifestyle
EV fans urge Tesla to acquire Unplugged Performance for edge in fleet and security industry
Unplugged Performance has built a name for itself by producing performance upgrades for Tesla vehicles.

A growing number of Tesla enthusiasts and longtime community voices are calling on the electric vehicle maker to acquire Unplugged Performance, a California-based aftermarket company best known for tuning Tesla vehicles and developing specialized government fleet solutions under its UP.FIT division.
The idea was once considered a niche proposal among EV fans, but it is now gaining serious attention not just as a performance play but as a strategic move to deepen Tesla’s roots in the fleet and security industry.
A strategic fit
Unplugged Performance has built a name for itself by producing performance upgrades for Tesla vehicles, from track-optimized components to visual and aerodynamic upgrades. But in recent years, its UP.FIT division has pivoted toward a more functional future by outfitting Tesla vehicles like Model Ys for police, military, and government use.
That work has sparked growing calls for closer collaboration with Tesla, especially as the EV maker increasingly leans into autonomy, AI, and fleet services as core components of its next chapter.
“I posted this four years ago, but I think it’s more true now than ever,” wrote Whole Mars Catalog, a well-known Tesla investor and FSD Beta tester, on X. “Tesla should buy Unplugged. But not just as a Performance division. What they are doing with UP.FIT unlocks large government and commercial fleet purchases that can improve utilization.”
Tesla fans such as shareholder Sawyer Merritt echoed the sentiment, calling Unplugged a “great fit within Tesla.” adding, “They are literally located directly next to Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne.”
Enabling the next wave
Supporters of the idea noted that integrating Unplugged into Tesla’s corporate structure could help accelerate the adoption of autonomous technologies in government sectors. With UP.FIT patrol cars already in use across some U.S. police departments, Tesla fans envisioned a future where self-driving Teslas could potentially revolutionize law enforcement, search-and-rescue, and public service logistics.
“Just imagine how autonomous patrol cars could transform policing and bring us into a safer future,” the veteran FSD tester wrote.
The benefits could also extend to Tesla’s existing consumer base. “They also have some incredible products in the works that I think will appeal to many ordinary Tesla drivers — not just those looking for performance or mods. Stuff that’s so good it should have come straight from the design studio next door,” Whole Mars Catalog noted.
Unplugged Performance, founded in 2013, shares not just a product vision with Tesla, but also geography. Its Hawthorne headquarters sits directly adjacent to Tesla’s design studio, and the two companies have maintained a close working relationship over the years. The aftermarket firm has long positioned itself as a “mission-aligned” partner to Tesla.
In response to the recent calls for acquisition, Unplugged Performance acknowledged the support from the community. “Our very existence is to support the Tesla mission with @UpfitTesla and @UnpluggedTesla,” Unplugged CEO Ben Schaffer posted on X. “We love working with Tesla and are grateful for the community’s support since 2013!”
Elon Musk
X account with 184 followers inadvertently saves US space program amid Musk-Trump row
Needless to say, the X user has far more than 184 followers today after his level-headed feat.

An X user with 184 followers has become the unlikely hero of the United States’ space program by effectively de-escalating a row between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump on social media.
Needless to say, the X user has far more than 184 followers today after his level-headed feat.
A Near Fall
During Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s fallout last week, the U.S. President stated in a post on Truth Social that a good way for the United States government to save money would be to terminate subsidies and contracts from the CEO’s companies. Musk responded to Trump’s post by stating that SpaceX will start decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.
Musk’s comment was received with shock among the space community, partly because the U.S. space program is currently reliant on SpaceX to send supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Without Dragon, the United States will likely have to utilize Russia’s Soyuz for the same services—at a significantly higher price.
X User to the Rescue
It was evident among X users that Musk’s comments about Dragon being decommissioned were posted while emotions were high. It was then no surprise that an X account with 184 followers, @Fab25june, commented on Musk’s post, urging the CEO to rethink his decision. “This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days,” the X user wrote in a reply.
Much to the social media platform’s surprise, Musk responded to the user. Even more surprising, the CEO stated that SpaceX would not be decommissioning Dragon after all. “Good advice. Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
Not Planned, But Welcomed
The X user’s comment and Musk’s response were received extremely well by social media users, many of whom noted that @Fab25june’s X comment effectively saved the U.S. space program. In a follow-up comment, the X user, who has over 9,100 followers as of writing, stated that he did not really plan on being a mediator between Musk and Trump.
“Elon Musk replied to me. Somehow, I became the accidental peace broker between two billionaires. I didn’t plan this. I was just being me. Two great minds can do wonders. Sometimes, all it takes is a breather. Grateful for every like, DM, and new follow. Life’s weird. The internet’s weirder. Let’s ride. (Manifesting peace… and maybe a Model Y.)” the X user wrote.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck takes a bump from epic failing Dodge Charger
The Cybertruck seemed unharmed by the charging Charger.

There comes a time in a driver’s life when one is faced with one’s limitations. For the driver of a Dodge Charger, this time came when he lost control and crashed into a Tesla Cybertruck–an absolute epic fail.
A video of the rather unfortunate incident was shared on the r/TeslaLounge subreddit.
Charging Charger Fails
As could be seen in the video, which was posted on the subreddit by Model Y owner u/Hammer_of_something, a group of teens in a Dodge Charger decided to do some burnouts at a Tesla Supercharger. Unfortunately, the driver of the Charger failed in his burnout or donut attempt, resulting in the mopar sedan going over a curb and bumping a charging Cybertruck.
Ironically, the Dodge Charger seemed to have been parked at a Supercharger stall before its driver decided to perform the failed stunt. This suggests that the vehicle was likely ICE-ing a charging stall before it had its epic fail moment. Amusingly enough, the subreddit member noted that the Cybertruck did not seem like it took any damage at all despite its bump. The Charger, however, seemed like it ran into some trouble after crashing into the truck.
Alleged Aftermath
As per the the r/TeslaLounge subreddit member, the Cybertruck owner came rushing out to his vehicle after the Dodge Charger crashed into it. The Model Y owner then sent over the full video of the incident, which clearly showed the Charger attempting a burnout, failing, and bumping into the Cybertruck. The Cybertruck owner likely appreciated the video, in part because it showed the driver of the Dodge Charger absolutely freaking out after the incident.
The Cybertruck is not an impregnable vehicle, but it can take bumps pretty well thanks to its thick stainless steel body. Based on this video, it appears that the Cybertruck can even take bumps from a charging Charger, all while chilling and charging at a Supercharger. As for the teens in the Dodge, they likely had to provide a long explanation to authorities after the incident, since the cops were called to the location.
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