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Sightings of Tesla Supercharger expansions taking place worldwide

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Tesla recently announced that it would be doubling the size of its Supercharging network by the end of this year, as the automaker continues to set record vehicle deliveries each quarter and prepares for volume production of its highly anticipated Model 3.

“It is extremely important to us and our mission that charging is convenient, abundant, and reliable for all owners, current and future.” said Tesla early last month when the electric car maker assured existing owners of its Model S, Model X and Model 3 reservation holders that they would “never wait to charge“.

Tesla has announced an aggressive plan to mitigate Supercharger Apocalypse by way of a 3-pronged approach. First, Tesla will double the number of charging stations in its Supercharging network in 2017. Second, it is pushing to quadruple the number of destination chargers for drivers to use at hotels, retail locations and similar points of interests around the world. Third, it has implemented a cap on free lifetime Supercharging which limits owners that purchased a Model S or Model X after January 15, 2017 to 400 kWh of free Supercharger use per year, or roughly 1,200 miles of driving.

Evidence is mounting in support of Tesla’s efforts to expand existing Supercharger sites, after photos posted by Tesla drivers from around the world reveal new construction taking place at popular Supercharger locations.

The Culver City Supercharger which serves a critical hub in the greater Los Angeles is seeing its first expansion from 12 stalls to a reported  18 stalls. It’s a busy site frequented by ride sharing services and Model S and Model X drivers that are passing through Los Angeles’ infamous 405 freeway.

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Construction taking place at the Culver City Supercharger. All stalls were full and a queue of 6 cars were waiting in line to Supercharge reports Redditor ajcadoo who took the photo.

Another busy Supercharger location at Harris Ranch, California which services weary travelers between Los Angeles and San Francisco is also getting a much needed upgrade from Tesla. Jack Bowers tweeted a photo showing the arrival of a larger PG&E transformer at the site to support the expansion of the 13-stall Supercharger station to 18 charging stalls. Crews were on site working on the expansion when the photo was taken.

Another popular Southern California charging location, the Redondo Beach Supercharger, is also getting an expansion.

Maienfeld, Switzerland is getting a Supercharger of its own. The country has been a world leader in the transition to electrified transportation and is the only nation in the world with a fully electrified train system. Photos by Redditor pilif.

Swinging back to the midwestern United States and the Bolingbrook, Illinois Supercharger is almost ready to open. Bolingbrook is strategically located just west of Chicago and will service travelers in and around the greater Chicago area. Photo by Redditor pazdan.

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Finally, the grand opening of the Arlington, Texas Supercharger was on May 13th and was captured on video by Insolation Station over on YouTube. They capture the Supercharger opening ceremony which incidentally appears to be playing out all over the world, by the week.

I'm passionate about clean technology, sustainability and life. I've worked in manufacturing, IT, project management and environmental...and enjoy unpacking complex topics in layman's terms. TSLA investor. Find more of my words on my website or follow me on Twitter for all the latest. Tesla Referral link: http://ts.la/kyle623

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Tesla adjusts crucial feature as winter weather arrives

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Credit: Tesla Cybertruck Owners Club Forum user CybertruckCovers

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.

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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.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends rivals dire warning about Full Self-Driving

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today on the social media platform X that legacy automakers, such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, do not want to license the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, at least not without a long list of their own terms.

“I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy,” Musk said on X. “When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless.”

Musk made the remark in response to a note we wrote about earlier today from Melius Research, in which analyst Rob Wertheimer said, “Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is,” in terms of autonomy and self-driving development.

Wertheimer believes there are hundreds of billions of dollars in value headed toward Tesla’s way because of its prowess with FSD.

A few years ago, Musk first remarked that Tesla was in early talks with one legacy automaker regarding licensing Full Self-Driving for its vehicles. Tesla never confirmed which company it was, but given Musk’s ongoing talks with Ford CEO Jim Farley at the time, it seemed the Detroit-based automaker was the likely suspect.

Tesla’s Elon Musk reiterates FSD licensing offer for other automakers

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Ford has been perhaps the most aggressive legacy automaker in terms of its EV efforts, but it recently scaled back its electric offensive due to profitability issues and weak demand. It simply was not making enough vehicles, nor selling the volume needed to turn a profit.

Musk truly believes that many of the companies that turn their backs on FSD now will suffer in the future, especially considering the increased chance it could be a parallel to what has happened with EV efforts for many of these companies.

Unfortunately, they got started too late and are now playing catch-up with Tesla, XPeng, BYD, and the other dominating forces in EVs across the globe.

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Tesla backtracks on strange Nav feature after numerous complaints

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is backtracking on a strange adjustment it made to its in-car Navigation feature after numerous complaints from owners convinced the company to make a change.

Tesla’s in-car Navigation is catered to its vehicles, as it routes Supercharging stops and preps your vehicle for charging with preconditioning. It is also very intuitive, and features other things like weather radar and a detailed map outlining points of interest.

However, a recent change to the Navigation by Tesla did not go unnoticed, and owners were really upset about it.

Tesla’s Navigation gets huge improvement with simple update

For trips that required multiple Supercharger stops, Tesla decided to implement a naming change, which did not show the city or state of each charging stop. Instead, it just showed the business where the Supercharger was located, giving many owners an unwelcome surprise.

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However, Tesla’s Director of Supercharging, Max de Zegher, admitted the update was a “big mistake on our end,” and made a change that rolled out within 24 hours:

The lack of a name for the city where a Supercharging stop would be made caused some confusion for owners in the short term. Some drivers argued that it was more difficult to make stops at some familiar locations that were special to them. Others were not too keen on not knowing where they were going to be along their trip.

Tesla was quick to scramble to resolve this issue, and it did a great job of rolling it out in an expedited manner, as de Zegher said that most in-car touch screens would notice the fix within one day of the change being rolled out.

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Additionally, there will be even more improvements in December, as Tesla plans to show the common name/amenity below the site name as well, which will give people a better idea of what to expect when they arrive at a Supercharger.

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