News
Tesla Supercharger Network allows Model 3 owner to travel from NY to FL for less than $70
One of Tesla’s biggest advantages in the electric vehicle sector is arguably its Supercharger Network, which allows vehicles to recharge their batteries in a convenient, rapid, and affordable fashion. This was highlighted recently by a Model 3 owner who spent less than $70 in Supercharging fees during a two-day trip that spanned over 1,200 miles, from Buffalo, NY to Melbourne, FL.
Tesla owner Richard Clements shared some insights about his 1,248-mile drive in a recent post on the Tesla Owners Club New York State blog. According to the Tesla owner, the trip was not difficult at all, especially since the Model 3 provided all the information necessary to ensure that the vehicle always had sufficient charge.
Thanks to the Supercharger Network’s reasonable rates, the Model 3 owner only spent an average of $0.25/kWh during the New York to Florida trip. This meant that over the course of the two-day drive, Clements only spent a total of $69.96 in Supercharger fees. The Tesla owner noted that this amount was about half of what he used to spend when he was still making the trip with his Jaguar or CR-V. Even with low fuel prices, Clements noted that he would spend about $140 in fuel costs.
The Model 3’s total charging time at Tesla Superchargers stood at about 207 minutes, though 40 minutes of this was done in a hotel, where Clements spent the night. With this in consideration, the Tesla owner noted that the effective charging time of the Model 3 was actually just around 167 minutes. Based on his driving behavior, which involves stopping for bathroom and food breaks every 3.5 hours or so, the Tesla owner noted that the Model 3’s downtime was comparable to his previous ICE vehicles.
“To make a valid time comparison though, our Supercharging time in Wytheville VA was done right in the parking lot of the hotel where we were spending the night, so that charging time had no effect on our overall travel time. Deducting those 40 minutes makes the effective time 167 minutes. To make a valid comparison, there has to be some downtime on a trip like this. Any ICE vehicle still needs about 10 minutes to refuel at least 3 times on a trip of 1,250 miles, so by my estimate that’s 30 minutes for refueling.
“Also, as a practical matter, we don’t generally last more than about 3.5 hours without a need for plumbing or something to eat, so generally, we’d also be stopping for some meals… Assuming lunch and other miscellaneous breaks on our Florida run, that would easily account for about another 2 hours of downtime. So adding those two hours to the gasoline refueling time, the total would be 160 minutes. That compares to the 167 minutes in our Tesla—only an insignificant 7 minute’s difference,” Clements concluded.
Tesla’s ramp of its Supercharger Network would likely accelerate this year, particularly as the company doubles down on the expansion of its V3 chargers across the United States. Overseas, Tesla’s charging network is also making waves, with the electric car maker establishing a dedicated Supercharger factory just a few miles from Gigafactory Shanghai. The facility is expected to have an output of 10,000 Superchargers per year.
Clements’ full account of his sub-$70, 1,248-mile drive from Buffalo, NY to Melbourne, FL could be accessed here.
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Elon Musk
Tesla Terafab set for launch: Inside the $20B AI chip factory that will reshape the auto industry
Tesla set to launch “Terafab Project: A vertically integrated chip fabrication effort combining logic processing, memory, and advanced packaging.
Tesla is making one of the boldest bets in its history. On March 14, Elon Musk posted on X that the “Terafab Project launches in 7 days,” pointing to March 21, 2026 as the start date for what he has described as a vertically integrated chip fabrication effort combining logic processing, memory, and advanced packaging.
Tesla first confirmed Terafab on its January 28, 2026 earnings call, where Musk told investors the company needs to build a chip fabrication facility to avoid a supply constraint projected to materialize within three to four years. But the seeds were planted even earlier. At Tesla’s annual general meeting last year, Musk warned that even in the best-case scenario for chip production from their suppliers, it still wouldn’t be enough, and declared that building a “gigantic chip fab” simply had to be done.
While there has been no official announcement on where Tesla plans to break ground on the massive Terafab, all signs point to the North Campus of Giga Texas in Austin.
Months of speculation has surrounded Tesla’s North Campus expansion at Giga Texas, where drone footage captured by observer Joe Tegtmeyer revealed massive construction site preparation just north of the existing factory on a scale that rivals the original Giga Texas footprint itself.
Samsung’s Tesla AI5/AI6 chip factory to start key equipment tests in March: report
The project is projected to produce 100–200 billion AI and memory chips annually, targeting 100,000 wafer starts per month, at an estimated cost of $20 billion. Tesla is targeting 2-nanometre process technology and anticipated to be the most advanced node currently in commercial production. Dubbed the Tesla AI5 chip, the chip will pack 40x–50x more compute performance and 9x more memory than AI4, and will be among the first products Terafab factory is set to produce. This highly optimized, and massively powerful inference chip is designed to make full self-driving (FSD) and Tesla’s Optimus robots faster, safer, and with full autonomy.
(Credit: Tesla)
This is where Terafab becomes a genuine game-changer. If Tesla successfully builds a 2nm chip fab at scale, it becomes one of only a handful of entities that’s capable of producing AI silicon in-house, with competitive implications that extend far beyond Tesla’s own vehicles, and potentially positioning Tesla as a chip supplier or licensor to other industries.
Credit: @serobinsonjr/X
The next-gen Tesla AI chips will power advancements in Full Self-Driving software, the Cybercab Robotaxi program, and the Optimus humanoid robot line. Musk’s projections for Optimus require chip volumes that no existing external supplier can commit to on Tesla’s timeline.Competitors like Waymo and GM’s Cruise remain dependent on third-party silicon, leaving them exposed to the same supply chain vulnerabilities Tesla is now working to eliminate entirely.
The Terafab launch this week may not mean a factory opens its doors overnight, but it signals Tesla is serious about owning the entire AI stack, from software to silicon.
Elon Musk
What is Digital Optimus? The new Tesla and xAI project explained
At its core, Digital Optimus operates through a dual-process architecture inspired by human cognition.
Tesla and xAI announced their groundbreaking joint project, Digital Optimus, also nicknamed “Macrohard” in a humorous jab at Microsoft, earlier this week.
This software-based AI agent is designed to automate complex office workflows by observing and replicating human interactions with computers. As the first major outcome of Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI, it represents a powerful fusion of hardware efficiency and advanced reasoning.
At its core, Digital Optimus operates through a dual-process architecture inspired by human cognition.
Macrohard or Digital Optimus is a joint xAI-Tesla project, coming as part of Tesla’s investment agreement with xAI.
Grok is the master conductor/navigator with deep understanding of the world to direct digital Optimus, which is processing and actioning the past 5 secs of…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2026
Tesla’s specialized AI acts as “System 1”—the fast, instinctive executor—processing the past five seconds of real-time computer screen video along with keyboard and mouse actions to perform immediate tasks.
xAI’s Grok model serves as “System 2,” the strategic “master conductor” or navigator, providing high-level reasoning, world understanding, and directional oversight, much like an advanced turn-by-turn navigation system.
When combined, the two can create a powerful AI-based assistant that can complete everything from accounting work to HR tasks.
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The system runs primarily on Tesla’s low-cost AI4 inference chip, minimizing expensive Nvidia resources from xAI for competitive, real-time performance.
Elon Musk described it as “the only real-time smart AI system” capable, in principle, of emulating the functions of entire companies, handling everything from accounting and HR to repetitive digital operations.
Timelines point to swift deployment. Announced just days ago, Musk expects Digital Optimus to be ready for user experience within about six months, targeting rollout around September 2026.
It will integrate into all AI4-equipped Tesla vehicles, enabling parked cars to handle office work during downtime. Millions of dedicated units are also planned for deployment at Supercharger stations, tapping into roughly 7 gigawatts of available power.
Oh and it works in all AI4-equipped cars, so your car can do office work for you when not driving.
We’re also deploying millions of dedicated Digital Optimus units in the field at Superchargers where we have ~7 gigawatts of available power.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2026
Digital Optimus directly supports Tesla’s broader autonomy strategy. It leverages the same end-to-end neural networks, computer vision, and real-time decision-making tech that power Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and the physical Optimus humanoid robot.
By repurposing idle vehicle compute and extending AI4 hardware beyond driving, the project scales Tesla’s autonomy ecosystem from roads to digital workspaces.
As a virtual counterpart to physical Optimus, it divides labor: software agents manage screen-based tasks while humanoid robots tackle physical ones, accelerating Tesla’s vision of general-purpose AI for productivity, Robotaxi fleets, and beyond.
In essence, Digital Optimus bridges Tesla’s vehicle and robotics autonomy with enterprise-scale AI, promising massive efficiency gains. No other company currently matches its real-time capabilities on such accessible hardware.
It really could be one of the most crucial developments Tesla and xAI begin to integrate, as it could revolutionize how people work and travel.
News
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla is adding an awesome new driving feature to Model Y vehicles, effective on Juniper-updated models considered model year 2026 or newer.
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla writes in the release notes for the feature:
“Your Tesla now provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.”
🚨 Tesla has added a new “Comfort Braking” update with 2026.8
“Your Tesla provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.” https://t.co/afqCpBSVeA pic.twitter.com/C6MRmzfzls
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
Interestingly, we’re not too sure what catalyzed Tesla to try to improve braking smoothness, because it hasn’t seemed overly abrupt or rough from my perspective. Although the brake pedal in my Model Y is rarely used due to Regenerative Braking, it seems Tesla wanted to try to make the ride comfort even smoother for owners.
There is always room for improvement, though, and it seems that there is a way to make braking smoother for passengers while the vehicle is coming to a stop.
This is far from the first time Tesla has attempted to improve its ride comfort through Over-the-Air updates, as it has rolled out updates to improve regenerative braking performance, handling while using Full Self-Driving, improvements to Steer-by-Wire to Cybertruck, and even recent releases that have combatted Active Road Noise.
Tesla holds a unique ability to change the functionality of its vehicles through software updates, which have come in handy for many things, including remedying certain recalls and shipping new features to the Full Self-Driving suite.
Tesla seems to have the most seamless OTA processes, as many automakers have the ability to ship improvements through a simple software update.
We’re really excited to test the update, so when we get an opportunity to try out Comfort Braking when it makes it to our Model Y.
Tesla Terafab set for launch: Inside the $20B AI chip factory that will reshape the auto industry
What is Digital Optimus? The new Tesla and xAI project explained
