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Tesla Cybertruck owner with Core Wheels and covers reports crazy range

Credit: Tesla

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One Tesla Cybertruck owner who took delivery this week reported crazy driving efficiency, after notably receiving the electric vehicle (EV) with the new Core Wheels and aero wheel covers.

In a post on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum on Friday, user MadMaxTX shared photos of the newly delivered Cybertruck, adding that the drive home resulted in 304 wH/mile, equating to about 370 miles of range total. On the second drive, the user reported a consumption of 285 wH/mile, which would equate to about 400 miles of range.

“Driving home, consumption was 304 wh/mile! This is around 370 miles on a full charge, mixed city driving, about half freeways,” wrote the user. “Next trip, streets only, light traffic, 97 degrees, BTW, and 285 wh/mile which works out to about 400 miles range.”

Credit: MadMaxTX | CybertruckOwnersClub

Credit: MadMaxTX | CybertruckOwnersClub

The driver also questioned whether or not this could be expected regularly with the Tesla Cybertruck, or if the initial drives were simply some kind of fluke.

As can be seen in the user’s photo, the new Core Wheels come with the Pirelli Scorpion ATR tires, which were developed specifically for the Cybertruck and include the word “CYBRTRK” on their outer walls. Tesla launched the Core Wheels option just this week, coming as a more efficient alternative to the company’s normal Cyber wheels included on the dual-motor configuration.

On its website, Tesla estimates that the tri-motor Cyberbeast configuration is rated for up to 301 miles, while the dual-motor AWD trim is rated for about 318 miles of range. With the inclusion of the Core Wheels, which are only available with the AWD configuration, Tesla estimates around 340 miles of range total.

Following our story, Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes Morrill also highlighted the fact that it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that all-season tires, which are included with the Core Wheels, are more efficient than all-terrains, which come with the Cyber Wheels option. Morrill notes that the tires included with the Core Wheels offer a “custom construction which balances handling and efficiency while also reducing road noise.”

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He later responded to continued conversations in the X thread, providing a few more details on the all-terrain versus all-season tires discussion:

Cybertrucks have recently been spotted in the wild with the new Core Wheels and covers, along with one unit sporting the highly anticipated lightbar alongside the covers and wheels. Tesla also began offering Cybertruck demo drives at select locations in the U.S. and Canada, after launching the EV in the latter country to mark the first Cybertruck sales outside the U.S.

Updated 8/18/24: Added responses from Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes Morrill.

Tesla Cybertruck is US’ best-selling vehicle above $100k in July 2024: KBB

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What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla just made its headlights even better through a software update

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Credit: @jojje167 on X

Tesla just upgraded its headlights through a software update, making them even better without any physical or hardware upgrade.

Tesla’s latest software update is quietly improving nighttime driving for a small number of owners. Version 2026.38 includes a new capability called Dynamic Headlight Leveling.

The feature automatically adjusts the aim of the low beams in response to driving conditions and nearby traffic, with the goal of giving the driver more usable light on the road while reducing glare for oncoming vehicles and traffic ahead.

Unlike Tesla’s matrix high-beam system, which selectively dims individual LED segments to create shadows around other cars, Dynamic Headlight Leveling physically tilts the low-beam projectors. Internal motors respond to changes in vehicle pitch.

When the car accelerates hard, climbs a steep grade, or carries extra weight in the rear, the headlights can otherwise point higher than intended. The software counters that movement in real time so the beam stays aimed at the road surface rather than into the eyes of other drivers.

Early indications reveal the update is reaching a limited set of vehicles, including certain Model 3 and Cybertruck examples in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The rollout does not appear tied to a single hardware revision, and Tesla has not published a broader schedule. It is simply a common waiting game until your car receives it.

The change arrives against a backdrop of wider complaints about headlight glare. Some earlier Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were the subject of an NHTSA recall related to excessive low-beam glare; the software adjustment offers a potential mitigation for cars equipped with the necessary leveling hardware. It does not replace adaptive high beams where those are already available, nor does it alter the basic low-beam pattern itself.

Instead, it keeps an existing beam pointed where it is most useful.

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For drivers who have received the update, the system requires no new settings or user input. The headlights simply respond as road conditions and traffic change. As the feature reaches more vehicles, it adds another example of Tesla using over-the-air software to refine existing hardware rather than waiting for a new model year. Nighttime visibility and reduced glare for others are the practical results owners are expected to notice first.

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Tesla teases “Halloween Mode” update with Optimus rising from a graveyard

Tesla’s Halloween teaser hides a covered vehicle and an Optimus hand rising from the ground.

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Tesla has started teasing a Halloween software update for its vehicles, with  a short clip on X that reads, “Halloween is coming.” The clip opens on a glowing pumpkin before pulling back to the car’s center touchscreen, where the usual parked visualization has been replaced by a graveyard scene, and the vehicle draped with a white sheet so it reads as a cartoon ghost.

The second detail is a robotic hand clawing its way out of the dirt like a zombie, which looks to be the hand of Tesla’s latest Optimus V3 humanoid robot. While Tesla still has not formally shown Optimus Gen 3 walking around in service, renders pulled from Tesla’s Android app last month gave the clearest look yet, including far more refined hands that Tesla has said carry 22 degrees of freedom. The hand has been the hardest part of the program. Musk has called it the majority of the robot’s engineering difficulty, and Tesla’s patents describe a design driven by tendons with the actuators moved into the forearm.

Tesla Optimus V3 hand and arm details revealed in new patents

Optimus also has a Halloween track record. Last October the robot handed out candy in Times Square, and a costumed “zombie” Optimus shuffled around the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles on Halloween night.

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On the software side, Tesla’s 2025 Holiday Update expanded Santa Mode with a Santa sleigh, snowmen, snow effects, and a festive lock chime, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched if we saw something similar but themed for a  Halloween Mode.

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Tesla says fixes on Full Self-Driving’s two biggest issues are on the way

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Tesla Full Self-Driving is set to receive improvements to address its two biggest issues, according to a company engineer.

Director of Engineering at Tesla AI, Phil Duan, revealed in a post on X that improvements to both pothole avoidance and navigation “are coming,’ something we have heard many times in the past. However, there are a few things that seem to hint that things might be different this time around.

Pothole avoidance, navigation, speed control, and left lane camping are some of the most prevalent and frequently mentioned shortcomings of the Full Self-Driving suite. These are a few of the biggest issues that have kept Tesla Full Self-Driving as a Supervised suite, meaning drivers must remain attentive during operation.

Pothole Avoidance

Pothole avoidance was first mentioned as an “Upcoming Improvement” with the Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3 update back in early April of this year. It was listed alongside “Expand reasoning to all behaviors beyond destination handling.”

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Tesla is fixing Full Self-Driving’s pothole problem

It’s been six months since we first saw pothole avoidance explicitly mentioned, and it has not moved beyond that and joined the main release notes yet.

Tesla has not shed any light on why pothole avoidance has been such an issue for it to solve, but it also has issues identifying large bumps much of the time, so its modeling of sudden changes in road conditions is likely pretty weak at this particular point. I’ve had more issues with large bumps than potholes, personally, but both are issues that need to be resolved.

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It makes sense that things might be pretty close to being released to the public, as we are going on such an extensive period of time between it being mentioned and it actually being deployed.

Navigation

Navigation is likely the most painful part of using Full Self-Driving, as it routinely takes strange routes, has trouble with local rules (like Except Right Turn Stop Signs in Pennsylvania), and sometimes does not realize that maneuvers it is suggesting are against the law. Turning out of my neighborhood, you cannot turn left, yet my Model Y still suggests it roughly 70 percent of the time when I’m leaving.

However, Tesla might be close to a breakthrough on this. With the Summer Update, Tesla added “Preferred Routes” alongside “Automatic Navigation.”

Preferred Routes prioritized roads that the driver had actually taken before, instead of always defaulting to what the vehicle believes is the most efficient path. This has already solved many of my issues. Formerly, I would turn off the Online Routing setting, and that would eliminate most of my complaints with routing, but then you lose out later on the Live Traffic Visualization.

Tesla’s Navigation has improved tremendously thanks to the Preferred Routes release with the Summer Update, but it still could use some polishing, as it still suggests strange routes from time to time, and it also has a lot of issues getting out of a parking lot. I find that those truly confuse FSD sometimes.

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