The Tesla Model 3 scored a five-star Green NCAP rating, Tesla announced on Monday. The top-selling electric vehicle was awarded five stars with a Weighted Overall Index of 9.8 out of 10 by Green NCAP, which promotes the development of clean vehicles that are energy efficient and cause as little harm to the environment as possible.
Tesla noted that its vehicles are “designed to be more than just a great electric vehicle, but the best vehicles, period. Their efficiency are simply a positive by-product of making the absolute best and most fun products possible.”
Tesla scored ten out of ten for the clean air index laboratory tests, which are a set of laboratory tests and road tests. Tesla scored 9.6 for energy efficiency and 9.8 for greenhouse gases. The Model 3 aced the warm and cold laboratory tests and the highway tests, in which it received the highest score of all vehicles tested to date.
“By comparison, the average ICE vehicle tested in 2022 received 4.2/10, and the average hybrid vehicle scored 5.1/10,” Tesla said.
The company added that its process of continuous iteration introduced running changes to its vehicles to improve thermal comfort, efficiency, range, and more.
“In fact, 1 kWh of energy allows you to drive 7 kilometers in Model 3, compared to only 2 kilometers in an equivalent ICE vehicle. This efficiency leads to customer savings. Tesla’s online Calculator for European customers shows that a German Tesla owner spends as little as 0.08 € per kilometer on a Model 3 versus 0.12 € on an equivalent ICE vehicle—that’s 35% savings per kilometer,” Tesla noted.
Although Tesla scored 9.8 out of 10 on the greenhouse gas emissions tests, Tesla noted that its 2021 Impact Report analyzed the lifecycle emissions of its vehicles and compared them with equivalent internal combustion engine vehicles in the U.S., Europe, and China, and the Model 3 produced fewer greenhouse gases.
Green NCAP shared details of its Greenhouse Gas index, which is based on a Well-to-Wheel+ approach. The greenhouse gas emissions related to the supply of energy are added to those of the tailpipe.
“The vehicle’s production is not yet included in the assessment due to the implicit limitations of generic data about global supply chains. Since the Model 3 is a purely electric car, its assessed GHG emissions originate only from the upstream processes of electricity supply – ca. 45-80 gCO2-eq./km. Thanks to its low energy consumption and the relatively low GHG of EU electricity production, the Tesla scores a very high 9.8/10,” the organization said.
Disclosure: Johnna is a $TSLA shareholder and believes in Tesla’s mission.
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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 rolled out late last week to Early Access Program (EAP) members, but its best feature is not what you think.
While Tesla has done a great job of refining the performance of the Full Self-Driving suite with the latest update, there are some other interesting additions, including one that many owners have requested for some time.
Upon the release of v14.2, many owners recognized the Blue Dot next to the Autopilot tab in Vehicle Settings, notifying them of a new feature. What was included as a new feature in the new update was a Full Self-Driving stats feature, which now will show you how many miles you’ve traveled in total, and how many of those miles were driven using FSD:
🚨 The coolest non-driving change of Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 pic.twitter.com/HOJcFaV2Ny
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 21, 2025
The feature seems to be more of a bragging rights thing than anything, but it will also give drivers a good idea of how many miles they are using Full Self-Driving for. Those who use telematics-based insurance services will also be able to run experiments of their own, and could determine whether their premiums are impacted by the use of Full Self-Driving, and whether it is more advantageous to use over manual driving.
Tesla rolled out numerous other improvements with Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2, most notably, the company seems to have resolved previous complaints about brake stabbing and hesitation. This was a major complaint in v14.1, but Tesla has seemed to resolve it with this newest branch of the FSD suite.
There were also improvements in overall operation, and it was notably smoother than past versions. Speed Profiles are seemingly refined as well, as they seem much more fixed on how fast they will travel and how aggressive they will be with things like passing cars on freeways and lane changes.
In future updates, Tesla plans to add Parking Spot selection, along with overall operational improvements. However, CEO Elon Musk recently said that the next branch, Full Self-Driving v14.3, will be where the “final piece of the puzzle is placed.” Tesla believes it is close to solving autonomy, so v14.3 could be a major jump forward, but it remains to be seen.
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.
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.
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.”
I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy …
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. 🤷♂️
🦕 🦕
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2025
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
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.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2’s best new feature is not what you think
Tesla adjusts crucial feature as winter weather arrives
