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Tesla Model 3 Performance endures 31 hard launches with no throttling
The Tesla Model 3 could be considered as the electric car maker’s endurance champion in its current lineup. Not quite as quick as a Model S or Model X Performance in Ludicrous Plus Mode but capable of being driven hard for extended periods in a racetrack, the Model 3 Performance is a vehicle that has charmed even the staunchest gearheads of motoring media. Top Gear host Chris Harris, for one, described the Model 3 Performance as an “AK-47 disguised as a butter knife” during his review of the vehicle, which he found to be too plain in design compared to comparable ICE cars like the BMW M3. It should be noted that after his review, Harris noted on Twitter that he will be buying a Model 3 Performance for himself soon.
The Model 3’s endurance, both on the track and the highway, has been tested and proven by professionals and enthusiasts alike. Tesla and electric vehicle veteran Bjorn Nyland tested the Model 3 in the Autobahn last June, going flat at full speed in an attempt to overheat the car. He failed. The same is true for other reviewers such as Harris, who pitted the Model 3 Performance against the BMW M3-beating Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio in a time attack battle. True to Elon Musk’s statements on Twitter, the Model 3 Performance, thanks to its instant torque that allows the vehicle to launch from 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds, soundly beat the Giulia Q4 in a closed circuit.
Last week, Porsche made headlines when the company allowed Fifth Gear and Fully Charged host Jonny Smith to take one of its Taycan Turbo pre-production vehicles for a launch mode repeatability test. Conducted on an empty airfield, the test involved the EV veteran launching the Taycan Turbo at max power 26 times with no power throttling. The exhibition was impressive, and it invoked just how much work Porsche has put into the Taycan and its development. The Taycan’s feat also brought comparisons to Tesla’s Model S P100D, which was quicker off the line with its 0-60 mph time of 2.4 seconds, but is prone to limiting its power after multiple max power launches.
After watching the Taycan’s demonstration, Tesla owner Patrick Lawson opted to see if his vehicle, a Tesla Model 3 Performance, could accomplish multiple max power launches without losing power as well. Accompanied by his son, Lawson headed to a (mostly) empty stretch of road to test the endurance of his Model 3. In a message to Teslarati, the Tesla owner noted that with Track Mode on, he figured that his vehicle should be able to perform comparably to the Taycan.
By the 10th 0-60 mph test, Lawson noted that he was already feeling the effects of the Model 3’s multiple hard launches. The father and son duo continued over the next 30 minutes, hitting 31 consecutive launches in the Model 3. At that point, Lawson noted that his son was probably good for about 10 more launches, but that was about all he could handle. Interestingly, the Model 3 Performance, just like the Porsche Taycan Turbo, did not throttle its power at all. The 31st launch registered a 0-60 mph time of 3.11 seconds, which is in the same territory as the Taycan Turbo.
Granted, Lawson’s test did not involve the same parameters as Fully Charged’s test of Porsche’s all-electric car. The Taycan Turbo, for one, performed 26 runs that topped up at speeds of 200 kph (124 mph), while Lawson’s Model 3 Performance test only involved 31 0-60/0-70 mph runs. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the Tesla owner’s tests were conducted on a public road in the United States, which usually have speed limits of around 60-70 mph.
The Tesla Model 3 could be considered, in more ways than one, as a Trojan Horse of sorts. While the vehicle is considered as the “cheaper” Tesla (and this is accurate, of course), and while the vehicle experienced a notable period of anti-selling by the company, the electric car has been showing signs that there is more to it than meets the eye. With track capability and a price point that is notably more affordable than other premium EVs in the market, the Model 3 will likely be the vehicle that ultimately brings electric cars into the mainstream.
Watch Partick Lawson and his son’s Tesla Model 3 Performance 31-launch endurance test in the video below.
Tesla has initiated Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time, as the all-electric pickup has officially made its way to the United Arab Emirates, marking the newest territory to receive the polarizing truck.
Tesla launched orders for the Cybertruck in the Middle East back in September 2025, just months after the company confirmed that it planned to launch the pickup in the region, which happened in April.
I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned
By early October, Tesla launched the Cybertruck configurator in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, with pricing starting at around AED 404,900, or about $110,000 for the Dual Motor configuration.
This decision positioned the Gulf states as key early international markets, and Tesla was hoping to get the Cybertruck outside of North America for the first time, as it has still been tough to launch in other popular EV markets, like Europe and Asia.
By late 2025, Tesla had pushed delivery timelines slightly and aimed for an early 2026 delivery launch in the Middle East. The first official customer deliveries started this month, and a notable handover event occurred in Dubai’s Al Marmoom desert area, featuring a light and fire show.
Around 63 Cybertrucks made their way to customers during the event:
First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA
— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026
As of this month, the Cybertruck still remains available for configuration on Tesla’s websites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Israel. Deliveries are rolling out progressively, with the UAE leading as the first to see hands-on customer events.
In other markets, most notably Europe, there are still plenty of regulatory hurdles that Tesla is hoping to work through, but they may never be resolved. The issues come from the unique design features that conflict with the European Union’s (EU) stringent safety standards.
These standards include pedestrian protection regulations, which require vehicles to minimize injury risks in collisions. However, the Cybertruck features sharp edges and an ultra-hard stainless steel exoskeleton, and its rigid structure is seen as non-compliant with the EU’s list of preferred designs.
The vehicle’s gross weight is also above the 3.5-tonne threshold for standard vehicles, which has prompted Tesla to consider a more compact design. However, the company’s focus on autonomy and Robotaxi has likely pushed that out of the realm of possibility.
For now, Tesla will work with the governments that want it to succeed in their region, and the Middle East has been a great partner to the company with the launch of the Cybertruck.
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time. https://t.co/ShMpZjefwB
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) January 22, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi program also operates in the California Bay Area, where the fleet is much larger, but Safety Monitors are placed in the driver’s seat and utilize Full Self-Driving, so it is essentially the same as an Uber driver using a Tesla with FSD.
In Austin, the removal of Safety Monitors marks a substantial achievement for Tesla moving forward. Now that it has enough confidence to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis altogether, there are nearly unlimited options for the company in terms of expansion.
While it is hoping to launch the ride-hailing service in more cities across the U.S. this year, this is a much larger development than expansion, at least for now, as it is the first time it is performing driverless rides in Robotaxi anywhere in the world for the public to enjoy.
Tesla has scheduled its Earnings Call for Q4 and Full Year 2025 for next Wednesday, January 28, at 5:30 p.m. EST, and investors are already preparing to get some answers from executives regarding a wide variety of topics.
The company accepts several questions from retail investors through the platform Say, which then allows shareholders to vote on the best questions.
Tesla does not answer anything regarding future product releases, but they are willing to shed light on current timelines, progress of certain projects, and other plans.
There are five questions that range over a variety of topics, including SpaceX, Full Self-Driving, Robotaxi, and Optimus, which are currently in the lead to be asked and potentially answered by Elon Musk and other Tesla executives:
- You once said: Loyalty deserves loyalty. Will long-term Tesla shareholders still be prioritized if SpaceX does an IPO?
- Our Take – With a lot of speculation regarding an incoming SpaceX IPO, Tesla investors, especially long-term ones, should be able to benefit from an early opportunity to purchase shares. This has been discussed endlessly over the past year, and we must be getting close to it.
- When is FSD going to be 100% unsupervised?
- Our Take – Musk said today that this is essentially a solved problem, and it could be available in the U.S. by the end of this year.
- What is the current bottleneck to increase Robotaxi deployment & personal use unsupervised FSD? The safety/performance of the most recent models or people to monitor robots, robotaxis, in-car, or remotely? Or something else?
- Our Take – The bottleneck seems to be based on data, which Musk said Tesla needs 10 billion miles of data to achieve unsupervised FSD. Once that happens, regulatory issues will be what hold things up from moving forward.
- Regarding Optimus, could you share the current number of units deployed in Tesla factories and actively performing production tasks? What specific roles or operations are they handling, and how has their integration impacted factory efficiency or output?
- Our Take – Optimus is going to have a larger role in factories moving forward, and later this year, they will have larger responsibilities.
- Can you please tie purchased FSD to our owner accounts vs. locked to the car? This will help us enjoy it in any Tesla we drive/buy and reward us for hanging in so long, some of us since 2017.
- Our Take – This is a good one and should get us some additional information on the FSD transfer plans and Subscription-only model that Tesla will adopt soon.
Tesla will have its Earnings Call on Wednesday, January 28.
Tesla begins Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
