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New survey compares demographic of Tesla Model X vs. Model S buyer
A new survey that polled nearly 500 Tesla owners, reservation holders, and enthusiasts found several key differences between Model S and Model X owners. This is my largest Tesla-focused study to date and is a follow up to last year’s 22-question owner’s satisfaction survey. The latest study finds both new interesting data and reaffirms Tesla’s high customer satisfaction rating, while also taking a peek at Model 3 demand.
Model X vs. Model S Owners
Differences in satisfaction between Model X and Model S owners show, Model X owners are 20% more likely to have had “non-routine” maintenance done. Despite this occurrence, 95% of Model X owners report that their vehicle “held up extremely well”. Both Model S and X owners alike rate the service department at 89% satisfied.
Overall, Model X owners spent on average 29% more on their vehicles than Model S owners, with the average price of their Model X purchase ringing in at $125,000 compared to $97,000 for Model S buyers. Both Model S and X owners had an average age of 53 years old. Model X owners showed a significant bump in household annual income versus Model S owners, ticking in at an average of $503,000 and $267,000 respectively.
Despite the fact that income levels of both Model S and X owners place them near the top 1% of household incomes in the United States, 94% of current owners claim that this is the most expensive vehicle they have ever purchased.
When asked how much one would pay for a 30% battery upgrade in 3 years, both Model S and X owners said they would pay over $5,900 for a battery upgrade. Assuming an average battery size of 83 kWh, based on the average of a 75 kWh and 90 kWh pack, we can assume a 30% increase in capacity would be somewhere on the level of 25 kWh. This would put the retail price for the upgrade at ~$235 per kWh, which seems reasonable given Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s prediction that battery costs could dip as low as $100 per kWh by 2020.
Model 3 Owners
Of Model 3 reservation holders, they expect to spend just over $48,000 on their Model 3. By comparison, preliminary data from crowdsourced database Model3Tracker.info shows that existing Tesla owners will spend 7% more than first time owners and pay an average price of $55,084, based on contributors intended Model 3 configurations.
Model 3 reservation holders held an 82.5% satisfaction rate with the reservation process.
The average age of a Model 3 reservation holder polled was 43 years, with an annual household income of $160,000. On average, Model 3 reservation holders indicated that they have been following Tesla for over 5 years.
Overall Results
Overall, 97% of respondents believed that Tesla is on the right track and 92% of owners believed that they will purchase a Tesla in the future. Additionally, 56% of owners plan on purchasing a Tesla Energy or SolarCity product in the next 2-3 years. This helps bring insight to the combined merger between SolarCity and Tesla that was completed in 2016.
To receive the full results of the survey you can message us on Facebook or follow our Facebook page where we will be dropping some additional results. If you would like to be included in future Tesla owners/fans studies, you can enroll yourself here.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
