Lifestyle
Tesla’s cross country rally looks to set a new Guinness world record
It was shortly after midnight this evening when I watched two Model S’ embark on a Tesla cross country cannonball run with a mission
– a mission to set a new Guinness world record for the lowest time of charge by an electric vehicle to travel across the United States. This comes just days after father-daughter duo had set another record for becoming the first Tesla Model S to drive coast-to-coast using nothing but the proprietary Tesla Supercharger.
This was my first official Tesla Motors promotional event so I really didn’t know what to expect. We usually have our team of journalists reporting on these kind of invitational events, but tonight will be a different story – I’m going! My usual nightly activity of watching re-runs of Breaking Bad can wait for all I care. Tonight I’ll be there to support the kick-off to this momentous occasion, but secretly I’m also there to satisfy an ulterior motive to chat it up with Elon himself.
The Tesla Cross Country Rally Event
The event was held at the Tesla design studio in Hawthorne, Los Angeles which neighbors Mr. Musk’s other venture – you’ve probably heard of it – a little company by the name of Space X.
You know, the first private company contracted by NASA that successfully sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station.
As I pull into the venue, the sheer number of people and Model S vehicles that were present immediately takes me aback. For some reason I had this preconceived notion that Wednesday evenings at 10pm+ is a time of rest and relaxation (or re-runs of Breaking Bad in my case), but that wasn’t the case here. Dimly lit amber mood lighting line pockets of modern lounge furniture while a DJ spins the tunes of what can only be described as some form of electronic dance music (EDM). I get it. Electronic music to inspire electric vehicles! Right? Perhaps that’s the kind of rationale that takes form after hitting multiple rounds of an open bar – EDM for EV. I like it. Now where I can get another beer?
Young and old alike were there to talk Tesla and about the life changing moments derived from their experiences with the Model S. The thrill of piloting a silent rocket ship, never having to pay for your commute, and never having to worry about using an ignition key are just some of the things that Model S owners start to get spoiled by. One Model S owner that I spoke with mentioned that his old Honda Civic has become his weekend ride, but for a reason purely out of necessity – the need to remain grounded and not lose sight that the rest of the world is still driving on 1920’s gas burning technology. It makes him appreciate the Model S all that much more and never lose sight of the amenities that most owners have gotten quite accustomed to.
The Send-Off
A crowd forms around the towering Supercharger so I instinctively start to gravitate towards it only to find Franz von Holzhausen, Chief Designer for Tesla Motors, perched on the ledge below. So that’s why everyone’s there, I think to myself. Cool. It looks like he’s about to make a speech. He speaks to the audience about free coast-to-coast travel using the Tesla Supercharger network, and makes mention of John and Jill’s historic road trip across America. Franz goes on to explain how the two Tesla Model S teams that are present will attempt to set a new Guinness world record by traveling from LA to NY while using the lowest amount of time charging. The teams will power through all inclement weather that lies ahead and reach NY within three days, or so is the plan.
Franz steps down from the base of the Supercharger and begins to greet fans and friends. Here is Franz showing us some pictures of his famed electric-blue Model S from his iPhone.
Shortly after midnight, the two teams depart from the design center and make their way down to LA City Hall where they officially start the race. Time: 12:40am PST. Godspeed ahead Tesla Cross Country Rally team!
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The Official Start Time: 12:40am PST, Jan. 30, 2013 [/tab][/tabs]
Elon Musk
Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration
Tesla is now shipping Cybercabs from Giga Texas with Starlink hardware built in as standard.
Tesla’s Cybercabs are now leaving Gigafactory Texas with Starlink hardware on the rear hatch in significant numbers, according to drone footage captured Tuesday by longtime Austin drone observer Joe Tegtmeyer. Production at the factory ramped back up after the Labor Day weekend, and his flyover of the outbound lot showed rows of gold Cybercabs alongside Model Y Long Wheelbase units, many carrying the satellite module for the first time as standard equipment rather than a one off retrofit.
Giga Texas today is busy with production coming back up following the long weekend. Of interest today in the outbound lot is the appearance of hundreds of Mode; YL’s and many more Cybercabs and for the 1st time equipped with the Starlink module one the hatch in big numbers.
At… pic.twitter.com/G9yl6s51m4
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) September 8, 2026
Tesla first showed Starlink built into an actual Cybercab on August 10, when the Robotaxi account posted images of a single gold unit with the antenna integrated into the roofline above the taillights and called it the first Cybercab with Starlink integration. That followed a July reveal where Tesla and Starlink jointly posted a cutaway diagram of the antenna placement without a working vehicle to back it up. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI software, said at the time that the connection isn’t required for the car to drive itself. It exists mainly for navigation, customer service and keeping tabs on the fleet.
Musk has made a different case in public. During Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, he said the company can’t afford robotaxis stranded in what he called “Bermuda Triangles of lack of cellular connectivity,” and he separately claimed on X that Starlink will eventually reach every Tesla built, calling it the only way to deliver high bandwidth to billions of vehicles. He has also pitched the antenna as an entertainment upgrade, telling riders they would be able to stream 4K video or play games during a trip.
The rollout has moved fast since. Robotaxi service opened to the public in Austin on September 3, and Cybercabs had already been spotted with Starlink hardware in Houston and near Miami International Airport in the weeks before Tuesday’s factory footage showed the module shipping at volume rather than on scattered test units. Whether the satellite link earns its keep is still an open question. Tesla’s unsupervised service currently runs in dense metro geofences in Texas and Florida, markets where cellular coverage is already strong, which is not where the rural dead zones Musk describes tend to show up.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years
Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.
Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.
In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.
The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.
But we do need to act much faster than that if people still want to live where the beach is today. We have about 50 years or so to take action, which should be more than enough time for the space satellites to solve any heating problems. https://t.co/xhrVQALwQw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2026
Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.
This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.








