Tesla Model S
James May gears up to pit his new Tesla vs a Hydrogen Toyota Mirai
Former Top Gear host and Model S owner James May will compare his new battery-powered Tesla sedan to his most recent purchase: a Toyota Mirai, a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (HFCEV).
The Toyota Mirai is the Japanese automaker’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered mid-size sedan and was unveiled in 2014 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Toyota has been developing fuel cell vehicle technology since 1992 when the company decided to invest time into producing alternative fuel options for its vehicles, and decided to redevelop the Mirai for release in 2020. Hydrogen must be extracted from an external source, such as water or a fossil fuel. This can be a lengthy and somewhat laborious process, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated in the past he finds hydrogen fuel cells to be “extremely silly”.
After speaking at the Automotive World News Congress event in Detroit in 2015, Musk gave his thoughts on the process of separating hydrogen from its main derivative to supply a vehicle with energy. “It’s just very difficult to make hydrogen and store it and use it in a car. Hydrogen is an energy storage mechanism, it is not a source of energy, so you have to get that hydrogen from somewhere,” Musk said to reporters.
“If you get that hydrogen from water, so you’re splitting H2O, the electrolysis is extremely inefficient as an energy process. If you compare it to a solar panel, and you use that energy from a solar panel to charge a battery pack directly, compared to trying to split water, take the hydrogen, dump the oxygen, compress the hydrogen to an extremely high pressure or liquefy it and then put it in a car and run a fuel cell, its about half the efficiency, its terrible. So why would you do that? It makes no sense.”
May purchased his Tesla Model S 100D in early November and unveiled it on the DRIVETRIBE YouTube channel. Describing his newest purchase as “just a car”, May stated he enjoyed the excessive cargo space, the frunk, and the keyfob shaped like his vehicle. While the man responsible for hosting a show that has primarily showcased the power and performance of petrol-based automobiles, he admits he does not know where the automotive industry will go in the future due to the evolving popularity of electric vehicles. He does see, however, electric cars being the norm.
Vehicles powered by a hydrogen fuel cell must be “filled up” at a hydrogen fuel station. These stations are rare according to energy.gov, who states there are 49 total hydrogen refueling locations within the United States and Canada. The availability of Tesla Superchargers is growing every week, and currently, there are 1,636 total stations, with 14,497 total Superchargers in North America. The convenience factor of electric vehicles, as of now, is more beneficial to a consumer that lives outside of California, where 43 of the 49 total hydrogen stations are located.
An influencer like James May who has such a strong following is comparing the advantages and disadvantages of both battery-powered vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell cars could be beneficial. This strategy could bring an even and unbiased contrast between the cars powered by different fuel sources. May stated he will release a follow-up video within the coming weeks that will do an in-depth comparison of the two vehicles.
You can watch James May’s unveiling of his new Toyota Mirai below.
Elon Musk
Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
Tesla confirmed HW3 vehicles cannot run unsupervised FSD, replacing its free upgrade promise with a discounted trade-in.
Tesla has officially confirmed that early vehicles with its Autopilot Hardware 3 (HW3) will not be capable of unsupervised Full Self-Driving, while extending a path forward for legacy owners through a discounted trade-in program. The announcement came by way of Elon Musk in today’s Tesla Q1 2026 earnings call.
🚨 Our LIVE updates on the Tesla Earnings Call will take place here in a thread 🧵
Follow along below: pic.twitter.com/hzJeBitzJU
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2026
The history here matters. HW3 launched in April 2019, and Tesla sold Full Self-Driving packages to owners on the understanding that the hardware was sufficient for full autonomy. Some owners paid between $8,000 and $15,000 for FSD during that period. For years, as FSD’s AI models grew more demanding, HW3 vehicles fell progressively further behind, eventually landing on FSD v12.6 in January 2025 while AI4 vehicles moved to v13 and then v14. When Musk acknowledged in January 2025 that HW3 simply could not reach unsupervised operation, and alluded to a difficult hardware retrofit.
The near-term offering is more concrete. Tesla’s head of Autopilot Ashok Elluswamy confirmed on today’s call that a V14-lite will be coming to HW3 vehicles in late June, bringing all the V14 features currently running on AI4 hardware. That is a meaningful software update for owners who have been frozen at v12.6 for over a year, and it represents genuine effort to keep older hardware relevant. Unsupervised FSD for vehicles is now targeted for Q4 2026 at the earliest, with Musk describing it as a gradual, geography-limited rollout.
For HW3 owners, the over-the-air V14-lite update is welcomed, and the discounted trade-in path at least acknowledges an old obligation. What happens next with the trade-in pricing will define how this chapter ultimately gets written. If Tesla prices the hardware path fairly, acknowledges what early adopters are owed, and delivers V14-lite on the June timeline it committed to today, it has a real opportunity to convert one of the longest-running sore subjects among early adopters into a loyalty story.
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
Elon Musk
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
Tesla’s final 350-unit Signature Edition closes the book on two cars that changed everything.
Tesla has announced a super limited Signature Edition run of 250 Model S Plaid and 100 Model X Plaid units as an invite only purchase in a bid to give its original flagship vehicles a proper send-off.
When the Model S first launched in 2012, the first 1,000 units sold were “Signature” editions that required a $40,000 deposit and cost nearly $100,000 each. Those early buyers were Tesla’s first real believers. This new Signature Edition deliberately echoes that moment, bookending a 14-year run with numbered collector hardware.
Both models are finished in an exclusive Garnet Red paint not available on any current Tesla production vehicle, with gold Tesla T badges up front, a gold Plaid badge and Signature badge at the rear, and a white Alcantara interior featuring gold Plaid seat badges, gold piping, Signature-marked door sills, and a numbered dash plate. The Model S adds carbon ceramic brakes with gold calipers. Every unit ships with Tesla’s Luxe Package, bundling Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Service, free lifetime Supercharging, and a Signature Edition key fob. Both are priced at $159,420, a roughly $35,000 premium over standard Plaid inventory.
The discontinuation is part of a broader strategic shift. At Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings call, Musk described the decision as “slightly sad” but necessary, saying: “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge, because we’re really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
The Fremont factory floor that built these cars is being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots, with a target of one million units annually.
SpaceX Board has set a Mars bonus for Elon Musk
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