News
SpaceX ships hardware for first 33-engine Super Heavy booster to Starbase
SpaceX appears to have delivered hardware that will eventually become part of the first 33-engine Super Heavy booster to its South Texas ‘Starbase’ factory.
Coming either from SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California headquarters and Falcon rocket factory or a smaller fabrication shop colocated on the company’s McGregor, Texas development and testing campus, the giant coin-like structure was spotted arriving at Starbase on Tuesday afternoon. Unlike Falcon boosters, the latest variant of which relies on a structure known as an octaweb that’s bolted together from dozens of structural elements, SpaceX has moved towards more monolithic ‘thrust pucks’ for Starship and Super Heavy.
Starship’s central ‘thrust puck’ is just two or so meters in diameter and designed to support the ship’s three gimballing Raptor Center (RC) engines. Super Heavy’s ‘puck’ is actually more like a giant steel coin than Starship’s almost conical thrust structure, measuring some 5-6 meters (16-20 ft) across but no more than a few inches (~10 cm) thick. It’s also designed to support a good deal more than three Raptors.
That’s where Tuesday’s deliver becomes significant. Unlike older booster thrust pucks, one of which was actually delivered to Starbase (likely for Super Heavy B6) just last week, this newer puck features a few design changes. Most importantly, it bumps the number of Raptor Center engine hardpoints to 13. Slightly earlier instances – including the puck currently packed with Raptors on Super Heavy Booster 4 (B4) – have an outer circle of eight Raptors and a ninth engine at the very center.
In line with comments made by CEO Elon Musk in early July, SpaceX’s newest Super Heavy thrust puck updates both figures, boosting the outer ring to ten engines and inner cluster to three engines for a total of 13 Raptors. Combined with a ring of 20 fixed Raptor Boost (RB) engines installed on the inside of Super Heavy’s aft skirt, a 13-engine puck will allow SpaceX to install up to 33 engines on Super Heavy boosters.
Using present-day first-generation Raptor 1 engines, a Super Heavy booster with 33 engines installed could produce up to 6100 tons (~13.5M lbf) of thrust at liftoff. Once SpaceX has qualified and ramped up production of next-generation Raptor 2 engines, Super Heavy’s max thrust at liftoff could jump to almost 7600 tons (~16.8M lbf) – more than twice that of the current record-holder, NASA’s famous Saturn V Moon rocket.
Given that the puck delivered on October 5th appears to be the first of its kind, there’s a decent chance that it will end up not on the first 33-engine Super Heavy – but on a small ‘test tank’ designed to qualify its structural changes. However, even if that’s the case, the next flight-grade 13-engine thrust puck will likely arrive at Starbase in just a month or two when SpaceX sets its sights on the assembly of that first 33-engine booster.
News
Tesla breaks Norway’s all-time annual sales record with one month to spare
With November alone delivering 4,260 new registrations, Tesla has cemented its most dominant year ever in one of Europe’s most mature EV markets.
Tesla shattered Norway’s decade-old annual sales record this month, overtaking Volkswagen’s long-standing milestone with over one month still left in the year. Backed by surging demand ahead of Norway’s upcoming VAT changes, Tesla has already registered 26,666 vehicles year-to-date, surpassing Volkswagen’s 2016 record of 26,572 units.
With November alone delivering 4,260 new registrations month-to-date, Tesla has cemented its most dominant year ever in one of Europe’s most mature EV markets.
Model Y drives historic surge in Norway
Tesla’s impressive momentum has been led overwhelmingly by the Model Y, which accounted for 21,517 of Norway’s registrations this year, as noted in a CarUp report, citing data from Elbil Statistik. The Model 3 followed with 5,087 units, while the Model S and Model X contributed 30 and 19 vehicles, respectively. Even the parallel-imported Cybertruck made the charts with 13 registrations.
Demand intensified sharply through autumn as Norwegian buyers rushed to secure deliveries before the country’s VAT changes take effect in January. The new regulation is expected to add roughly NOK 50,000 to the price of a Model Y, prompting a wave of early purchases that helped lift Tesla beyond the previous all-time record well before year-end.
With December still ahead, Tesla is positioned to extend its historic lead further. Needless to say, it appears that Norway will prove to be one of Tesla’s strongest markets in Europe.
FSD could be a notable demand driver in 2026
What’s especially interesting about Tesla’s feat in Norway is that the company’s biggest selling point today, Full Self-Driving (Supervised), is not yet available there. Tesla, however, recently noted in a post on X that the Dutch regulator RDW has reportedly committed to issuing a Netherlands national approval for FSD (Supervised) in February 2026.
The RDW posted a response to Tesla’s post, clarifying the February 2026 target but stating that FSD’s approval is not assured yet. “The RDW has drawn up a schedule with Tesla in which Tesla is expected to be able to demonstrate that FSD Supervised meets the requirements in February 2026. RDW and Tesla know what efforts need to be made to make a decision on this in February. Whether the schedule will be met remains to be seen in the coming period,” the RDW wrote in a post on its official wesbite.
If FSD (Supervised) does get approved next year, Tesla’s vehicles could gain a notable advantage over competitors, as they would be the only vehicles on the market capable of driving themselves on both inner-city streets and highways with practically no driver input.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 rolled out late last week to Early Access Program (EAP) members, but its best feature is not what you think.
While Tesla has done a great job of refining the performance of the Full Self-Driving suite with the latest update, there are some other interesting additions, including one that many owners have requested for some time.
Upon the release of v14.2, many owners recognized the Blue Dot next to the Autopilot tab in Vehicle Settings, notifying them of a new feature. What was included as a new feature in the new update was a Full Self-Driving stats feature, which now will show you how many miles you’ve traveled in total, and how many of those miles were driven using FSD:
🚨 The coolest non-driving change of Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 pic.twitter.com/HOJcFaV2Ny
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 21, 2025
The feature seems to be more of a bragging rights thing than anything, but it will also give drivers a good idea of how many miles they are using Full Self-Driving for. Those who use telematics-based insurance services will also be able to run experiments of their own, and could determine whether their premiums are impacted by the use of Full Self-Driving, and whether it is more advantageous to use over manual driving.
Tesla rolled out numerous other improvements with Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2, most notably, the company seems to have resolved previous complaints about brake stabbing and hesitation. This was a major complaint in v14.1, but Tesla has seemed to resolve it with this newest branch of the FSD suite.
There were also improvements in overall operation, and it was notably smoother than past versions. Speed Profiles are seemingly refined as well, as they seem much more fixed on how fast they will travel and how aggressive they will be with things like passing cars on freeways and lane changes.
In future updates, Tesla plans to add Parking Spot selection, along with overall operational improvements. However, CEO Elon Musk recently said that the next branch, Full Self-Driving v14.3, will be where the “final piece of the puzzle is placed.” Tesla believes it is close to solving autonomy, so v14.3 could be a major jump forward, but it remains to be seen.
Tesla has adjusted the functionality of a crucial climate feature as Winter weather has started to arrive throughout some parts of the United States. The new feature was highly requested by owners.
Tesla has a Cabin Overheat Protection feature that helps keep the temperature regulated if it reaches a certain threshold. Inversely, it can be used in cold weather as well, which will automatically warm the cabin if it sinks to a temperature that is too low for the owner’s comfort.
This is a great way to keep the cabin either warmed up just enough or cooled down just enough so that it never gets too hot or too cold. Extreme temperatures could damage certain parts of the vehicle or damage personal belongings that are kept inside the car.
Overheat protection is a great thing to have in hot climates like Arizona or Texas, especially with the Premium trims of the Model 3 and Model Y, which feature a glass roof.
Many owners appreciate the feature, but they argue that using it at home will utilize too much energy, especially during extreme temperatures. For a while, many Tesla fans have requested an option to disable this feature when the car is parked at home, which the company recently added, according to Not a Tesla App.
The feature is part of Software Version 2025.44.3, and the release notes state:
“You can now choose Exclude Home when Cabin Overheat Protection or No A/C is enabled.”
Tesla has been great at listening to what owners want with new features, and this is one that will reserve some charge and prevent unnecessary utilization of available power, especially as the car is parked at home. If owners want to condition the cabin or get the car ready for operation with a comfortable interior, they can utilize the Tesla app to adjust the climate.
Tesla breaks Norway’s all-time annual sales record with one month to spare
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2’s best new feature is not what you think
