Lifestyle
Trip Planning in a Tesla Model S
A dear friend of my husband’s that we’ll call “Bob” sent a text message on Saturday April 1st. We were at the airport en route home from the Model 3 unveiling and he apparently heard the news about the growing number of reservations.
“Should I reserve a Model 3?”
Yes, Bob. Yes you should. If you have $1,000 to spare and think there is some small chance you may want the car, make a refundable deposit. This goes for anyone, by the way.
In the days to follow, Bob and my husband chatted about the car a bit. Bob just hoped for enough range to get to and from work a couple of times without having to charge and had declared that he would probably just take another car on longer trips. Why? He didn’t feel like having to think and plan for charging stops.
That’s when it hit me. A large portion of the 325,000 Model 3 reservation holders have never owned a long-range EV that can be powered with a fast charging network on long trips. To some of them, the idea of having to chart out your trip ahead of time is unappealing. To me, it’s actually fun. So fun, in fact, that after seeing someone ask about whether Pittsburgh, PA to Fort Myers, FL is doable – I charted this trip for them.
100% of the credit for the above trip, as well as every trip I’ve taken in my Model S, goes to the website EVtripplanner.com. This website lets you plug in your start and finish points, various other important pieces of information and route through Tesla superchargers. (At the moment, no other long-range EVs are on the market, nor are other nationwide fast chargers included in the price of your car.) The results take into account elevation information and everything you entered to project the time it will take to get to each charge stop and the amount of rated range you will probably use. This information is easily understood and can be used to jot down a little trip plan like the one above. While I was at it, I used google maps to check the location of each stop. That’s where I got the information included in the suggestion of what to do while charging for any of the above charge stops I haven’t personally been to. The whole plan above took me fewer than 20 minutes and that’s with a little extra formatting to make it easy for the new driver I was making it for to read.
Voluntarily charting the above trip out for someone else was a joy. I live in PA and have family in Fort Myers so I wouldn’t mind taking this trip myself, but primarily wanted to showcase how easy the trip could be. On my longest trip, I did Savannah, GA to Philadelphia, PA without an overnight stop. It was long but doable with two drivers. My favorite part of taking trips on the SC network is the forced stopping that encourages stretching your legs, keeping hydrated (not feeling guilty about the restroom breaks since you’re charging anyway) and switching drivers at each stop. Fatigue isn’t a problem when you have the ability to split the driving responsibility. Mostly everyone who has ever road tripped in a Tesla knows it’s great but back to the ease of planning.
Planning ahead, as shown above, is advisable but Tesla’s built-in navigation also trip plans on the go. In March of 2015, it was announced that a software update would effectively end range anxiety. This enhanced trip planning and range assurance considers real-time information and gives you guidance on getting to where you need to be. It will warn you if you’re in danger of running out, and will advise you to charge to avoid it. Of course, if you just get into the car and head in a direction that is not covered by Superchargers, your trip will end up a lot less convenient. That is why I like to go to EVtripplanner.com from time to time and find various potential trips I can make easily from my home in Philadelphia. I record them on a spreadsheet file, one tab per trip idea, and keep them in mind next time I’m ready for a vacation. It’s also a great idea to revisit it regularly, since new Supercharger locations pop up all the time.
This thread over on the Tesla forum gives excellent tips and reviews of various Supercharging locations and is a valuable resource that helped me to avoid some real confusion when I had to take a ticket to get into the paid parking garage at the Savannah airport, for example.
In the next few years, many more Tesla drivers will learn the joys of EV road tripping and understand that planning ahead is no sweat at all.
Where would you like to road trip in your future Model 3? Leave me a comment!
Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Tesla Full Self-Driving expansion in Europe continues with new addition
Elon Musk strikes down reports on SpaceX IPO rumors
