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Tesla Model S owner shares remarkable battery and brakes update after 400k km
A Tesla Model S 75D owner from Australia has shared some notable insights about his ownership experience after driving the premium all-electric sedan for over 400k km (248k miles). These include some remarkable anecdotes about the Model S’ physical brakes, as well as its 75 kWh battery pack.
The Model S owner, Nigel Raynard, currently runs an airport pickup business in the Byron Bay/Ballina region with his partner. During a conversation with electric vehicle publication The Driven, Raynard noted that a Tesla was actually not his first choice. Prior to getting the Model S, he was actually looking to purchase a BMW.
Things changed when he watched the “Hard NOx” episode of the series “Dirty Money,” which extensively covered the Dieselgate scandal. In the episode, it was highlighted that emissions cheating practices were not just exclusive to Volkswagen. Other automakers, including BMW, also had diesel cars that were polluting more than they should.
The episode hit Raynard hard, as his mother had passed away from cancer. Coupled with his background in environmental science, Raynard ultimately decided that a BMW was not the way to go. If we were going to operate an airport pickup business, he would be behind the wheel of a more environmentally-friendly car. Thus, he ended up selecting a Tesla Model S.
Being a car for an airport pickup service, Raynard’s Model S gets driven about 400 km (248 miles) every day. Those miles pack up, and just three years into his ownership experience, Raynard’s Model S 75D already crossed the 400k-km mark. Despite this, Raynard noted that his car is still running on its original brake pads, which is pretty impressive considering that brake pads are typically changed every 50k-70k miles.
The Model S 75D is also still using its original battery pack. And after 400k miles, Raynard noted that he still gets about 343 km (213 miles) out of the car’s original 379 km (235 miles) of range. That translates to a loss of just about 9-10% after 400k km. That’s not bad at all, and it proves that electric vehicle batteries from Tesla could indeed go the distance. It also effectively debunks allegations from critics that EV batteries need to be changed frequently.
Raynard, for his part, stated that Tesla staff typically get surprised with his vehicle. “Talking to the staff at the Tesla service centers in Brisbane and now the Gold Coast has been a great experience because they admit that they don’t have a model this new with this many kilometers. This is on the original battery. I’ve gone from 379 km fully charged to 343 km so I believe it’s about a 9 or 10% loss of battery,” he said.
Raynard informed The Driven that over the course of his Tesla Model S 75D ownership, he had spent about AUD5,000 (about USD3,700) in service and repairs. These include replacements for a camera that ended up damaged after too many high-pressure washes at 210k km (130k miles), an air conditioning compressor at 330k km (205k miles), and a driveshaft replacement at 360k km (223k miles). One of the vehicle’s door handles was also replaced, but that was covered by Tesla’s warranty.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk confirms Grok 4 launch on July 9 with livestream event
The rollout will be accompanied by a livestream at 8 p.m. Pacific Time.

Elon Musk has officially confirmed that Grok 4, the latest version of xAI’s large language model, will launch on July 9. The rollout will be accompanied by a livestream at 8 p.m. Pacific Time, hosted on xAI’s official account on X.
xAI goes straight to Grok 4
Back in May, leaks indicated that xAI was getting ready to ship Grok 3.5. Considering Musk’s recent comments, however, it appears that the artificial intelligence startup would be focusing on the large language model’s fourth iteration instead. As noted in a Financial Express report, users on X have sighted references to Grok 4 in the lead up to the update’s launch, such as “grok-4-prod-mimic” and “Grok 4 Code.”
Musk’s Grok 4 announcement comes as AI competition intensifies between major players including OpenAI, Google, and xAI. With Musk’s Colossus supercomputer fully operational in Memphis, xAI appears to be accelerating its AI product roadmap.
Musk pushes Grok toward political neutrality
Grok 4’s launch also follows a recent controversy involving political bias, as noted in a CNN report. Last week, Grok responded to a user on X stating that political violence in the U.S. since 2016 had come more from the political right than the left. The chatbot noted in a later reply that its answer was based on information from sources like Reuters, the Journal of Democracy, and University of Maryland studies.
Musk stated that Grok’s response was a “major fail.” “Major fail, as this is objectively false. Grok is parroting legacy media. Working on it,” he wrote in a post on X. By the end of June, Musk noted that he was “grinding all night with the xAI team” and that they were making “good progress.” He also stated that the model “Will be called Grok 4. Release just after July 4th. Needs one more big run for a specialized coding model.”
News
Tesla opens massive solar Supercharger station in California
The Supercharger opened to customers ahead of Fourth of July weekend, while Tesla continues phase two of construction on the site.

Tesla has officially launched the first several Supercharging posts at a massive station in California, notably including solar canopies and grid-scale batteries to offer completely renewable charging.
Last week, Tesla announced on X that it opened the first 84 Supercharger stalls of a planned 168-stall station in Lost Hills, California. Additionally, the massive Supercharger project features 11MW of solar canopies and 10 Megapack batteries for off-grid charging powered entirely by solar energy.
Tesla completed the first phase of the project just days ahead of the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend, adding that initial construction took just eight months. In addition to the remaining charging stalls, Tesla says it’s building a set of lounge areas, renderings of which can be seen below alongside current photos of the site.
Notably, the site also includes V4 charging posts for the company’s latest available charging speeds, and it’s located near the busy junction between I-5 and Highway 46 in Kern County.
“Thank you [Kern County] and [PG&E] for collaboration and approvals,” Tesla wrote in a follow-up post.

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X
Tesla Supercharger Maps for North America, Europe, and Asia pic.twitter.com/0U5r0XRPyo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 2, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA SUPERCHARGERS: Tesla launches ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time
Testing at the LA Diner, plus Musk update on potential Tesla solar Gigafactory
The huge Tesla Supercharger station completed phase one of construction fairly quickly, especially given how long Tesla has been working on its unique Los Angeles diner, drive-in, and Supercharger location. Still, the company was seen performing some testing at the nearly-completed charging station earlier this month, and will reportedly be holding a job fair.
Elon Musk also responded on Monday morning to a post on X, suggesting that Tesla is “thinking about” building a U.S.-based solar Gigafactory in order to help support increased power needs with AI growth, and to bolster domestic solar production.
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News
Tesla driver walks away from major accident with minor injuries
The driver sustained only minor injuries, and the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The driver of a Tesla Model Y survived and walked away from a harrowing accident on Monday in California, only sustaining minor injuries despite the vehicle being impaled by a guardrail.
On Monday morning around 4:34 a.m., the Los Banos division of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) responded to the accident on I-5 near Panoche Road, involving a 23-year-old in a Tesla Model Y. According to a post on social media, the driver veered off the road for unknown reasons in the northbound lane, before crashing directly into the guardrail and impaling the vehicle.
You can read the full message and photos from Los Banos CHP below, as were shared in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon.
This morning a Tesla model y was traveling in the #1 northbound lane of I-5 north of Panoche Rd. For unknown reasons driver allowed V-1 to veer off the roadway, travel through a dirt center divide, and crashed into the fixed metal guardrail. Lucky for the driver he only sustained minor injuries and was able to walk away. Driving a vehicle requires 100% attention to the road. Avoid distractions and focus on driving.

Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)

Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)

Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)
In a statement to SFGate, CHP officer Myles Anderson said that the driver only sustained minor injuries, while no arrests are made and drugs and alcohol are not suspected to have been involved. The report also notes that Tesla’s “cruise control and lane assistance features” were activated, according to Anderson. However, it’s not entirely clear if this is referring to Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), or to the cruise control and lane assist features baked into Autopilot.
At the time of writing, CHP has not yet responded to Teslarati’s request for clarification and additional details on the matter.
Tesla Crash Safety Ratings across its lineup: pic.twitter.com/ny30R7ceji
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 1, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA SAFETY: Tesla rolls out crucial new safety feature aimed at saving children
The news comes after Tesla has touted its vehicles as incredibly safe for many years. In December, for example, the company highlighted receiving top safety scores from regulators on four different continents throughout the world, including from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) in the U.S.
Tesla has also listed the goal of making its vehicles the safest on the road throughout the years, both in the overall design of its vehicles and in its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) programs.
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