Lifestyle
Tesla Model S, X, 3 up for grabs as Climate XChange takes carbon fight nationwide
The UN has warned us of the serious and irreversible consequences of global warming if we do not enact “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” A crucial policy that will, according to the report, drive the move towards a low-carbon economy and help us reduce emissions, is putting a price on carbon pollution. Doing so captures externalities from emissions the public pays for in other ways, including property damage from floods, healthcare costs, and economic losses.
Climate XChange, a Boston-based organization aiming to tackle global warming by researching and advocating for methods to curb carbon pollution, has been fighting for carbon pricing legislation since 2013. With the help of Tesla owners, electric vehicle enthusiasts and clean energy advocates, the team was able to successfully push through a carbon pricing bill which passed the Massachusetts State Senate unanimously. Now, Climate XChange is setting its sights in other states across the U.S. that are looking to support carbon pricing efforts and research.
In order to fight carbon emissions and see through its successes in Massachusettes but on a national scale, the organization needs to raise additional funds and aims to do so by raffling off three brand new Teslas (Model 3 Performance, Model S, and Model X) on New Year’s Day. For context, the non-profit first raffled off a Tesla Model S – a car that symbolizes the industry’s shift towards renewable energy – in previous years, and the success of the initiative led to this year’s biggest Tesla raffle yet.
-
- Make a difference. Help Climate XChange take the fight against carbon emissions on a national level
-
- Make a difference. Help Climate XChange take the fight against carbon emissions on a national level
-
- Make a difference. Help Climate XChange take the fight against carbon emissions on a national level
Make a difference. Help Climate XChange take the fight against carbon emissions on a national level and win a Tesla
The organization is offering a limited 4,000 tickets in their third annual Carbon raffle, as they take the ongoing fight against carbon emissions across the United States. Climate XChange will be covering the Prize Taxes associated with the vehicles, allowing the lucky winners of the premium electric cars to acquire their prizes completely hassle-free.
Details of the fundraiser/Carbon-raffle are as follows:
1st Prize – Tesla Model 3 Performance, Model S or Model X
First prize winners of this year’s Carbon Raffle can select between a Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, or a fully-loaded Tesla Model 3 Performance. The organization estimates the cost of the vehicle to be $89,763 on its own. Considering that Climate XChange is paying the vehicle’s total tax payments of $38,470, the total cost of the grand prize for this year’s raffle is worth $128,233.
2nd Prize – Dual Motor Long Range Tesla Model 3
Second prize winners are set to receive a Long Range Tesla Model 3 with Dual Motor AWD that’s worth $58,950. The organization will cover the vehicle’s taxes as well, which is worth an extra $25,625.
3rd Prize – Tesla Model 3 RWD
Climate XChange has committed to giving away a Standard Range RWD Model 3 and set aside $39,825 for the car, as well as total tax payments of $17,068.
New Year’s Day, January 1, 2019 @ 3 p.m. ET: Drawing
The Carbon Pricing Awareness Raffle Drawing will be conducted at 3 p.m. Eastern Time at Climate XChange’s headquarters, located at:
Old West Church
131 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02114
All ticket holders are invited to be present for the drawing but need not be present to win. The Drawing will be streamed over the Internet; instructions for locating and joining the stream will be published on the website a few days before the Drawing is held.
Winners of the raffle who do not wish to acquire a Tesla could instead opt for a cash prize. Those that choose to take delivery of a Tesla, will be given the opportunity to fully configure the vehicle to their liking. Deliveries for the electric cars are set to be conducted in centers closest to the homes of the raffle’s winners, where a representative from Climate XChange will facilitate the handover.
“We don’t believe that climate action and business interests are at odds with each other, and we are doing our research to prove that. We have spent the past five years sharpening our tools on a campaign in Massachusetts and finally this year, our legislation passed the State Senate unanimously … we have already set our sights in other states across the country and are looking to support carbon pricing efforts and research in as many states as possible. – Climate XChange”
Please consider helping and make a difference.
Following Climate XChange’s success in Massachusetts when the State Senate unanimously voted in favor of the carbon pricing bill, the organization contacted Teslarati and asked for support in taking their fight against carbon emissions to a national level.
Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
Lifestyle
Tesla hit by Iranian missile debris in Israel
A Tesla in Israel absorbed a direct hit from missile debris, and the glassroof held.
On March 30, 2026, Lara Shusterman was in Netanya, Israel when Iranian ballistic missiles triggered air raid sirens across the city. While she remained in safety, her 2024 Tesla Model Y did not escape untouched. A heavy piece of missile debris struck the car’s massive glass roof, leaving a deep crater but without shattering. In a Facebook post to the Tesla Israel community the following morning, Shusterman described what happened: “The glass did not shatter into dangerous shards. She stopped the damage and pushed the metal part to the ground.” She closed by thanking Elon Musk and the Tesla team for building what she called “security and a sense of trust even in extreme situations.”
Netanya is a coastal city in central Israel, roughly 18 miles north of Tel Aviv and has been among the areas most frequently struck during Iran’s ongoing missile campaign, following coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure. Falling shrapnel from intercepted missiles is a common occurrence.
-
- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
-
- A piece of Iranian missile debris that struck Lara Shusterman’s Tesla Model Y in Netanya, Israel on March 30, 2026, after being intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
-
- Tesla Model Y glass roof shattered from a piece of falling Iranian missile debris
Source: Tesla Israel Facebook Group
The incident is a testament to Tesla’s structural engineering. Tesla’s glass roof is designed to support over four times the vehicle’s own weight. That strength has shown up in real-world accidents too. In 2021, a Model Y in California was struck by a falling tree during a storm, with the glass roof holding firm and the cabin remaining intact. In another widely reported incident, a Tesla Model Y plunged 250 feet off the cliff at Devil’s Slide in California in January 2023, with all four occupants, including two young children, surviving.
Disturbing details about Tesla’s 250-foot cliff drop emerge amid initial investigation
Tesla officially launched sales in Israel in early 2021 and captured over 60 percent of Israel’s EV market in the first year. The brand’s foothold in Israel remains significant. Tens of thousands of Teslas are now on Israeli roads, making incidents like Shusterman’s easy to corroborate. On the same week her Model Y took the hit, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million contract to launch missile tracking satellites, a separate but fitting reminder of how intertwined the Musk ecosystem has become with the realities of modern conflict.
Elon Musk
NASA sends humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972 – Here’s what’s next
NASA’s Artemis II launched four astronauts toward the Moon on the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist on NASA’s Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Operations and Support Building II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft launched at 6:35pm EDT from Launch Complex 39B. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA launched four astronauts toward the Moon on April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Launch System rocket at 6:35 p.m. EDT, sending commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon and back.
The mission does not include a lunar landing. It is a test flight designed to validate the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems, navigation, and communications in deep space with a crew aboard for the first time. If the crew reaches the planned distance of 252,000 miles from Earth, they will set a new record for the farthest any human has ever traveled, surpassing even the Apollo 13 distance record.
As Teslarati reported, SpaceX holds a central role in what comes next. The Starship Human Landing System is under contract to carry astronauts to the lunar surface for Artemis IV, now targeting 2028, after NASA restructured its mission sequence due to delays in Starship’s orbital refueling demonstration. Before any Moon landing happens, SpaceX must prove it can transfer propellant between two Starships in orbit, something no rocket program has done at this scale.
The last time humans left Earth’s orbit was 53 years ago. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 were the final people to walk on the Moon, a record that stands to this day. Elon Musk has long argued that returning is not optional. “It’s been now almost half a century since humans were last on the Moon,” Musk said. “That’s too long, we need to get back there and have a permanent base on the Moon.”
The Artemis program involves 60 countries signed onto the Artemis Accords, and this mission sets several firsts beyond distance. Glover becomes the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American astronaut to reach the Moon’s vicinity. According to NASA’s live mission updates, the spacecraft’s solar arrays deployed successfully after liftoff and the crew completed a proximity operations demonstration within the first hours of flight.
Artemis II is step one. The Moon landing and the permanent lunar base come later. But after more than five decades, humans are heading back.
Tesla intertwines FSD with in-house Insurance for attractive incentive
Tesla finalizes AI5 chip design, Elon Musk makes bold claim on capability
