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Tesla’s 12V batteries set to receive major improvements through software update

Credit: The Car Colony <a href="https://thecarcolony.com/how-long-do-teslas-last/

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The Tesla ownership experience is intended to be as convenient as possible, with the vehicles themselves needing very little maintenance and practices like charging being effortless with the Supercharger Network’s plug-and-play nature. Yet even amidst all these conveniences, Tesla owners have cited a notable pain point in their ownership experience: their cars’ 12V battery.

RELATED: Tesla 12V Lithium-Ion battery replacement (up to 70% lighter, 4x life)

Similar to traditional vehicles, Teslas utilize a conventional 12V battery to power components like emergency blinkers, airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners, and the infotainment system. Typical 12V batteries last about 3-4 years under normal use in a fossil fuel-powered vehicle, but among Tesla owners, especially those who drive frequently, the lifespan of 12V batteries have been reported to go down to as short as 1-2 years.

Adding to the inconvenience is the fact that Teslas currently do not have a feature that notifies owners about the health of their cars’ 12V batteries. Tesla owners have responded to this by requesting for an update that would allow them to view the current state of their vehicles’ 12V batteries. One such request was posted on Twitter recently, with Tesla enthusiast @TeslaVibes stating that such a feature needs to be implemented in a future update.

Interestingly enough, Elon Musk completely agreed with the Tesla enthusiast’s request. The Tesla CEO added that major software improvements are set to be released for vehicles’ 12V batteries, which should allow them to last longer. “Couldn’t agree more — major software improvements are already in place to extend its life & more coming,” Musk wrote.

Considering Musk’s post, it seems that an update that would include 12V battery health warnings is all but confirmed. Such a feature will likely be universally appreciated by Tesla owners, as it could address a particularly infuriating part of the electric car ownership experience. Such a feature, if any, would definitely reduce the instances of owners running into major inconveniences when their vehicles’ 12V battery dies.

Elon Musk’s Twitter post suggests that Tesla is well aware of the limitations that 12V batteries still bring to the EV ownership experience. With this in mind, it would not be surprising if the company comes up with a superior alternative for 12V batteries in the coming years. Tesla, after all, is known for its quick pace of innovation, and the 12V battery is certainly an area that is in great need of some innovation.

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It should be noted that the earliest versions of the original Tesla Roadster did not use a traditional 12V battery. Instead, Tesla opted to utilize a portion of the vehicle’s main lithium-ion battery pack to supply 12V for the all-electric sports car’s accessories and lights. The system was quite novel, but the idea was later dropped in favor of a more traditional 12V battery. Conventional 12V batteries were initially used for the original Roadster 2.0, and in every vehicle that Tesla has released since.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Semi gets its largest order yet

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Credit: Einride

Tesla got its largest order for the all-electric Class 8 Semi yet, a 500-unit order from Einride AB, a Swedish trucking company.

Einride made the announcement this morning following its second-quarter earnings call. The company said it plans to use 500 Tesla Semi units on its fleet intelligence platform, called Saga AI. The deployments will serve large companies like Amazon and will extend Einride’s electric freight network across logistics routes in California, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, and Georgia.

The deployment is being carried out in several phases over the next two years as Tesla ramps production of the Semi at its dedicated production facility in Sparks, Nevada. Einride will receive its first Semi units in September.

Saga AI

Saga AI is Einride’s dedicated fleet intelligence platform. It enables scaled adoption of electric trucks for freight use and allows shippers to integrate electric capacity without the operational burden or capital risks of managing a fleet. This helps integrate cost-efficient logistics and makes budgeting and forecasting much more accurate.

Tesla Semi’s Adoption

The Tesla Semi is now gathering large-scale clients past those who have helped the company operate a Pilot Program to gain initial information and feedback from real-world drivers.

Perhaps the biggest and most notable is that of Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., who have worked with Tesla for the past several years to dial in the finer details of the truck, including its efficiency and operation-related components.

Tesla Semi gets strange-but-understandable comparison from Jay Leno

There has been tremendous progress in that time, and it even catalyzed Tesla to make some design changes, which were unveiled earlier this year.

But Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli says his company’s partnership with Tesla will continue to push those things forward:

“This deployment is yet another proof point that we can execute at the scale our customers demand. Working closely with Tesla to bring next-generation Semis into active operations quickly and at scale is a testament to the strength of that partnership, and how quickly this technology is maturing from promise to daily operations.”

Tesla Semi is already winning over truck drivers

Additionally, Dan Priestley, the Director of the Semi Program at Tesla, said the partnership is ideal due to Einride’s focus on sustainable transport:

“Einride is at the forefront of sustainable freight, and we are thrilled to deepen our relationship with them through this order of 500 Semis. EV heavy trucks provide lower costs per mile from fuel savings, reduced maintenance, and better uptime over diesel trucks. These savings increase further through operational efficiency when deploying EV trucks at scale, and we are excited that Einride recognizes this and look forward to supporting their deployments.” 

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India tells Elon Musk’s X to “Follow the Law” in latest censorship update

Elon Musk says X now exposes government censorship, but India’s secrecy laws complicate that promise.

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Elon Musk’s promise to make government censorship requests on X “clearly visible” is running into a wall in India, where the law forbids the very disclosure Musk is promising.

On August 15, Musk responded to an update from X’s open-source algorithm team by writing “Any censorship required by governments is now clearly visible.” The claim referred to a change X pushed two days earlier to its public xai-org/x-algorithm repository, which now includes a controversial filter written directly into the code. The filter suppresses posts from 665 accounts flagged by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court from appearing in the For You feed of any viewer located in Brazil, unless the viewer already follows the account. The election tied to the filter is scheduled for October 4.

India’s government wasn’t as impressed, and responded on Monday that “X will have to follow the law of the land,” in response to Musk’s transparency push covered by the Times of India. The problem is structural rather than political. India issues content blocking orders under Section 69A of its IT Act, and Rule 16 of the accompanying 2009 Blocking Rules requires those orders to stay confidential. Publishing an India equivalent of the Brazil filter, naming specific accounts and citing specific government orders, would itself violate Indian law. Government use of Section 69A has grown from roughly 6,000 orders a year between 2018 and 2023 to about 24,300 in 2025, according to a Tech Times report.

Elon Musk shares details on X vs. Brazil conflict

The contrast puts Musk’s transparency pledge in an odd spot. It works largely as advertised in Brazil, where electoral law requires disclosure and X can point to specific account IDs and a specific court order in public code. It cannot work the same way in India, where the law requires the opposite. X users in India will keep seeing content disappear from search and their feeds without any public accounting of why, even as X tells the rest of the world that its censorship compliance is now inspectable.

This isn’t the first time X’s fights with a national government have shaped how the platform operates. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered X to suspend the accounts of sitting lawmakers and journalists in 2024, a standoff that cost X its Brazilian revenue for months and froze Starlink’s local accounts before the investigation into Musk and X was closed in March with no evidence of wrongdoing found. X also sued California over a state law requiring moderation disclosures, arguing the mandate itself violated the First Amendment.

Whether India’s government pursues anything beyond a public statement remains to be seen. For now, the mismatch between what X can legally publish and what different governments legally allow it to publish is the real story behind Musk’s seven word claim.

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Tesla Cybercab launch preparations have begun

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Credit: TechOperator | X

Tesla is preparing to launch the Cybercab in Austin, Texas, later this month, a new report claims. Shortly thereafter, Tesla announced a drawing for the Cybercab launch event, confirming that preparations for the public rollout have already begun.

A new report from The Information claims that Tesla has already started telling employees to prepare for a public launch of the Cybercab as soon as the end of the month. The vehicle will launch publicly to riders in Austin initially.

The two-seater has no pedals or steering wheel, and will rely completely on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software to operate.

While the report went unconfirmed from Tesla, the company launched a lottery to ride in a Cybercab at an upcoming launch event, essentially confirming that preparations are underway:

Cybercab entered production at Gigafactory Texas back in April, with initial units being test mules for the company as it has put the car in a variety of environments and climates. Tesla has sent Cybercab to many states, including Texas, California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, Washington, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

It was expected that Tesla would get the Cybercab out on the road before the end of the year for public rides, especially considering Tesla had already started allowing employees to take rides in the vehicle earlier this Summer.

Tesla starts testing its Starlink-integrated Cybercab on public roads

This is a huge development, not only with the Cybercab program, but for Tesla’s self-driving program. Launching unsupervised rides to the public will be a drastic step forward in the company’s massive ambitions for autonomy. It is a long time coming, too. Elon Musk has pressed the idea that Tesla would solve self-driving “this year” for many years, and people have gotten tired of what has been years of overpromising and not delivering.

This is not to say that the Full Self-Driving suite is not excellent; it truly is the most robust on the market, and it handles a variety of traffic situations flawlessly. It definitely has its faults, but generally, it is fantastic.

Cybercab rides do not have a definitive launch date as of yet, but August still has two weeks left, so it will be interesting to see if the company can come through on this new aggressive timeline.

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