Lifestyle
Tesla Model S Front Trunk (Frunk) Electric Cooler Review
Now that Tesla Motors has officially demonstrated to the world that long distance and even cross-country travel in a Tesla is easily attainable – annihilating the age-old lexicon “EV range anxiety” from everyone’s vocabulary – we thought it might be appropriate to review a product that would maintain the quality of perishables during these extended road trips.
We were on a mission to find a container that would be lightweight, portable and provides thermoelectric cooling / heating capabilities and came across the Koolatron Soft-Sided Electric Travel Cooler.
Koolatron 26-Quart Soft-Sided Electric Travel Cooler
What we really liked about the Koolatron is that it’s designed with the everyday traveler in mind. The thermoelectric cooler has a generous 26-quart capacity and outfitted with several compartments, most of which are secured through zippered pockets.
We found that the ergonomics of the soft-sided design combined with the detachable shoulder strap makes it more comfortable to lug around than your traditional hard-sided cooler.
A 12V electric fan is attached to the thick thermo lining and together they ensure that the contents of the cooler are kept at optimal temperatures while you’re on the go.
Product Specifications
- Soft-sided thermoelectric travel cooler with 12V, cigarette-lighter car adapter
- Detachable shoulder strap
- Bungee cord holds extra items to the lid of the cooler
- External zippered pockets for storage
- Mesh interior pocket
- 2 external beverage holders
- Cell phone pocket
- Holds 26 quarts or up to 34 12-ounce cans
- Cord pocket keeps the 12V cord out of the way when you’re on the move
- Keeps food and drinks 30°F below ambient temperatures
- Measures 9 by 17.5 by 15 inches; weighs 7 pounds
How does it fit within the Tesla Model S?
The first thing to note is that the Koolatron Soft-Sided Electric Travel Cooler
Its 26-quart capacity can easily accommodate a full set of plastic ware and beverage containers.
Despite its tall dimension, the travel cooler fits perfectly within the Tesla Model S front trunk (Frunk), 
when positioned onto its side, which further validates how great the Model S is when it comes to storage capacity (more on that in a separate article to come). The bungee cords on the top lid can be extended outwards and used as a means to secure the cooler from movement during travel.
Editors’ note: The Tesla Model S front trunk cargo net may provide better security in the event of emergency braking.
One notable feature of the Koolatron Electric Travel Cooler is that that it’s soft-sided which makes it easy to transport and secure within tight spaces. This is especially the case when fitting the cooler within the interior of the Model S.
The cooler can be placed onto the empty center channel floor once the external beverage holders are folded down. Keeping the cooler between the two front seats means that there’s no lateral movement while the car’s in motion, kept away from children, and also adds an element of convenient when trying to dine-in-car (à la Bjorn Nyland).
The Koolatron Soft-Sided Electric Travel Cooler fits snugly between the arm rest assembly and touchscreen.
Tip: Those with the optional CCI can either place the cooler on top or along the floor of the 2nd row seating.
How does the electric cooler work?
As its name implies, the Koolatron 26-Quart Soft-Sided Electric Travel Cooler is made for travel and not meant to be used as a refrigerator or toaster oven. The electric fan is great for extracting warm air from within, but we found that bringing contents from room temperature to 30°F below ambient temperatures, as marketed, could be a lofty goal. That being said, it’s great at maintaining temperature and contents that are pre-chilled remain chilled for a long time while the cooler is plugged in.
The cooler comes standard with a 12V cigarette-lighter adapter which plugs directly into the Model S center console assembly. Reversing the orientation of the cable from blue to red will enable the heating capabilities of the travel cooler, making it convenient to keep foods warm.
An 110V adapter
Conclusion
The Koolatron 26-Quart Soft-Sided Electric Travel Cooler
Its large 26-quart capacity along with its multiple external pockets provides easy access to your belongings while on the move and all for a moderate price of $129.97
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[box type=”bio”]TESLARATI provides impartial reviews and is in no way paid by the vendor for the content that is produced.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026
Lifestyle
NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
The NTSB confirmed the driver, not Tesla’s FSD, caused the fatal Texas house crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings Wednesday confirming that a Tesla driver, not the vehicle’s software, caused a fatal crash in Katy, Texas in June. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, had engaged Full Self-Driving Supervised mode on Rose Hollow Lane, a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit, before manually overriding the system by pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100%. Data recovered from the 2025 Tesla Model 3 showed the vehicle was traveling over 70 miles per hour when it struck a home and killed 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside. Weather was clear, the road was dry, and it was daylight.
Texas man charged in fatal Tesla crash where he blamed Autopilot
Butler told authorities he had passed out at the wheel. But security camera footage obtained by the NTSB told a different story, and showed the car accelerating through an intersection before leaving the road entirely. Police also found that Butler’s phone had Google searches including the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026” and “Tesla FSD too timid,” raising serious questions about how he was using the system before the crash. Butler has since been charged with manslaughter. The victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against both Butler and Tesla, alleging negligence.
The NTSB findings aligned directly with what Tesla VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy had already stated publicly on X in the weeks after the crash, writing that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.” The data confirmed his account.
Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Texas ranch to showcase the lifelong work that changed the world
Elon Musk is building a product gallery at his Texas ranch spanning his lifelong inventions.
Elon Musk took to X earlier today, noting “Am putting together a product gallery at my ranch in Texas.” in response to a resurfaced famous quote from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s wherein he draw parallels of the Tesla CEO to legendary physicist Albert Einstein.
Dimon made the remark at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland back in January 2025, telling CNBC at the time, “SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, I mean, the guy is our Einstein.” The remark seemingly ended a long-time feud between the two high profile execs.
While details are thin about the exact location of Elon Musk’s Texas ranch and any pending projects that would serve as a gallery and homage to his portfolio of revolutionary product inventions spanning from 1984 to 2025, land acquisition records point to roughly a location of several thousand acres in Bastrop County, east of Austin near the Colorado River and held through an LLC called Horse Ranch LLC that’s managed by Musk’s longtime personal friend and family wealth manager Jared Birchall. Birchall also serves as the CEO of Neuralink.
Tesla’s “ecological paradise” in Giga Texas may be larger than expected
The broader Bastrop County footprint surrounding the ranch has grown significantly. Entities tied to Musk have accumulated approximately 2,000 acres in Bastrop County as of mid-2026, up from 700 acres earlier in the year, with possibly as much as 6,000 acres acquired in total across Bastrop and Travis counties based on deed records.
No completion date for the gallery has been announced and Musk has not confirmed whether it will be open to the public. As Teslarati has reported, SpaceX just completed the largest IPO in history raising $75 billion, a milestone that makes this particular moment in Musk’s career a natural inflection point for looking back at what he has built through the years.
Am putting together a product gallery at my ranch in Texas https://t.co/xQf5FRy4uz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2026
Starting with Blastar, a simple space shooter game Musk coded at 12 years old and sold to a South African magazine for $500. From there the timeline moves through a commercial career that started with Zip2 in 1995, a city guide software company sold to Compaq for roughly $300 million in 1999. That was followed by X.com in 1999, which merged with Confinity to become PayPal, acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. SpaceX came in 2002, Tesla in 2003, SolarCity in 2006, the Supercharger network in 2012, Neuralink in 2016, The Boring Company in 2016, OpenAI co-founded in 2015, X acquired in 2022, xAI in 2023, Optimus in 2024, the Cybercab in 2026, and most recently SpaceXAI following the SpaceX and xAI merger. The gallery will also likely include items that blur the line between product and cultural artifact, among them The Boring Company’s Not-a-Flamethrower from 2018, Tesla Short Shorts from 2020, and Burnt Hair perfume released under X in 2022.
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Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
