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Opinion: Tesla is working hard to make 'fantasy' into reality Opinion: Tesla is working hard to make 'fantasy' into reality

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Opinion: Tesla is working hard to make ‘fantasy’ into reality

Image credit: JC

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Tesla is working hard to make what Reuters called a fantasy into a reality. In reality, Tesla has already achieved the impossible several times.

Just after the Tesla Q2 2022 earnings call last Wednesday wrapped up, Reuters published this article about Tesla’s investors betting on “recovery and fantasy.”

The article said that Tesla is losing some of its specialness yet its valuation still projects that specialness. To me, the article seemed a bit on the negative side and was trying to match the tone of the headline. It seemed to imply that Tesla’s shareholders who believe in Elon Musk and the company are delusional.

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The author didn’t say that, but the tone was there. However, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk handled the insult pretty well. And it was an insult not just to Tesla’s shareholders, but also to its hardworking employees.

Tesla’s employees are as revolutionary as Tesla itself is

Hiro Mizuno, a member of Tesla’s board of directors, shared his thoughts about the article on Twitter and he is, in my opinion, 100% on point. Hiro pointed out that it’s always those working hard to make the fantasy a reality who change the world.

It’s almost never talked about but Elon Musk is always giving credit to Tesla’s employees. Even during the earnings call itself, Elon made a point to highlight Tesla’s employees.

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“I think people will be amazed at what we’re able to show off on AI Day. So basically, there’s a tremendous amount to look forward to in the second half of this year. And I want to thank all of our employees and suppliers for their super hard work during these challenging times. Super appreciate it.”

Tesla has already achieved the impossible

Tesla has already achieved the impossible many times over. One notable achievement that resurfaced in my own Twitter feed was Tesla proving that it could produce 500,000 EVs in 2020.

I wrote about this in 2021 for CleanTechnica. For Tesla, 2020 was a year that seemed like the company was the lead actor on stage. It had four acts. The first act recapped the 2014 article published in Seeking Alpha that claimed Tesla selling 500,000 cars in 2020 was absurd.

The following two acts were results of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. First, the newly opened Gigafactory Shanghai was closed down. Then once it opened up, the Fremont factory closed down.

Despite all the challenges that 2020 presented for Tesla as well as the world, Tesla still met its goal.

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Tesla is transforming ‘fantasy’ into reality

Tesla has already done the impossible, several times over. And all the while doing it, critics were there, mocking and criticizing every move of Elon Musk. It’s still doing this today.

And it seems to overlook the fact that Tesla has a history of achieving the unachievable. No one thought 6 years ago that EVs would be so popular. We have Tesla to thank for that.

Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge writer covering Tesla, Elon Musk, EVs, and clean energy & supports Tesla's mission. Johnna also interviewed Elon Musk and you can listen here

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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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