News
Texas-made Tesla Model Y with 4680 battery charges 0-97% in under 1 hour
A Texas-made Tesla Model Y with 4680 battery cells has been able to complete a charging session from 0% to 97% in 52 minutes.
Tesla advocate Ryan Levenson of The Kilowatts, who maintains several electric vehicles that he rents out on Turo, recently took delivery of a Texas-made Dual Motor Model Y. The vehicle is equipped with the company’s highly-anticipated 4680 battery cells, similar to a Texas-based Model Y purchased by teardown firm Munro & Associates.
As noted by the Tesla owner on Twitter, he actually drove the Texas-made Model Y until its battery showed 0 miles of range. Posts on social media indicated that the vehicle drove 3 miles beyond its “0 mile” point with seemingly no impact on acceleration.
Plugging into a Supercharger V3 station, Levenson was expecting to wait a bit in the vehicle until it filled its battery. The Model Y was plugged in at 12:25 a.m. with 0 miles of range remaining, and by 1:17 a.m., the Texas-made crossover was unplugged with 270 miles of range. It should be noted that the Dual Motor Model Y from Texas is listed with a range of 279 miles per charge on a full battery.
Charging from 0% to 97% in 52 minutes is very impressive, especially considering that the vehicle started its charging session at a time when it was technically “empty.” In later posts, Levenson noted that the Texas-made Model Y’s charging curve is quite interesting, as its charging rate immediately jumped to 250 kW when it was plugged in. This is quite different from previous Teslas, which tend to see a more deliberate increase to 250 kW.
Considering the fact that the Texas-made Model Y did not seem to encounter any limiters despite reaching 0 miles, and considering its ability to recharge practically its entire battery pack in less than an hour, it appears that Tesla’s 4680-equipped electric cars have some capabilities and advantages that are not openly discussed by the company.
When Tesla unveiled its 4680 battery technology at its Battery Day event in 2020, the company made it a point to highlight that its next-generation cells could pave the way for vast production efficiencies, weight savings, and more power. Since then, however, Tesla has been pretty tight-lipped about the actual advantages offered by 4680 cells, especially compared to the 2170 cells used in the Model Y produced in the Fremont Factory and Gigafactory Berlin.
For Levenson, the recent feat of his Texas-made Model Y suggests that 4680-equipped vehicles have a lot more to offer than what Tesla would suggest for now. In a statement to Teslarati, the EV advocate noted that there is definitely still quite a bit to discover with Tesla’s vehicles.
“Collecting this data opens more questions for me rather than answering them. Like why was my regenerative braking not limited even when the pack was full and why wasn’t my acceleration limited when I was near empty? For me, it’s indicating that there’s something big we don’t yet know or understand about the 4680 pack. Sure, it’s wishful thinking, but it absolutely could mean there’s more capacity to these new Austin-built Dual Motor Model Ys than Tesla is advertising or letting us access at this time,” he said.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
News
Tesla Full Self-Driving gets sparkling review from South Korean politician
“Having already ridden in an unmanned robotaxi, the novelty wasn’t as strong for me, but it drives just as well as most people do. It already feels like a completed technology, which gives me a lot to think about.”
Tesla Full Self-Driving got its first sparkling review from South Korean politician Lee So-young, a member of the country’s National Assembly, earlier this week.
Lee is a member of the Strategy and Finance Committee in South Korea and is a proponent of sustainable technologies and their applications in both residential and commercial settings. For the first time, Lee was able to utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology as it launched in the country in late November.
Her thoughts on the suite were complimentary to the suite, stating that “it drives just as well as most people do,” and that “it already feels like a completed technology.”
드디어 오늘, 서울에서 테슬라 FSD 체험 했습니다.
JiDal Papa님의 모델S 협찬에 힘입어^^ 파파님 정말 감사합니다.
국회 -> 망원시장 -> 홍익대 -> 국회 복귀 코스였고요.
이미 무인 로보택시를 타봐서 그런지 신기함은
덜했지만, 웬만한 사람만큼 운전을 잘하네요.이미 완성된 기술이라고… pic.twitter.com/8pAidHBpRG
— 이소영 국회의원 (Soyoung Lee) (@im_soyounglee) December 17, 2025
Her translated post says:
“Finally, today I got to experience Tesla FSD in Seoul. Thanks to the Model S sponsored by JiDal Papa^^, I’m truly grateful to Papa. The route was from the National Assembly -> Mangwon Market -> Hongik University -> back to the National Assembly. Having already ridden in an unmanned robotaxi, the novelty wasn’t as strong for me, but it drives just as well as most people do. It already feels like a completed technology, which gives me a lot to think about. Once it actually spreads into widespread use, I feel like our daily lives are going to change a lot. Even I, with my license gathering dust in a drawer, don’t see much reason to learn to drive a manual anymore.”
Tesla Full Self-Driving officially landed in South Korea in late November, with the initial launch being one of Tesla’s most recent, v14.1.4.
It marked the seventh country in which Tesla was able to enable the driver assistance suite, following the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.
It is important to see politicians and figures in power try new technologies, especially ones that are widely popular in other regions of the world and could potentially revolutionize how people travel globally.
News
Tesla dispels reports of ‘sales suspension’ in California
“This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
Tesla has dispelled reports that it is facing a thirty-day sales suspension in California after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued a penalty to the company after a judge ruled it “misled consumers about its driver-assistance technology.”
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the California DMV was planning to adopt the penalty but decided to put it on ice for ninety days, giving Tesla an opportunity to “come into compliance.”
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
Tesla responded to the report on Tuesday evening, after it came out, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order that was brought up over its use of the term “Autopilot.”
The company said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem,” yet a judge and the DMV determined it was, so they want to apply the penalty if Tesla doesn’t oblige.
However, Tesla said that its sales operations in California “will continue uninterrupted.”
It confirmed this in an X post on Tuesday night:
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
The report and the decision by the DMV and Judge involved sparked outrage from the Tesla community, who stated that it should do its best to get out of California.
One X post said California “didn’t deserve” what Tesla had done for it in terms of employment, engineering, and innovation.
Tesla has used Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but it did add the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite earlier this year, potentially aiming to protect itself from instances like this one.
This is the first primary dispute over the terminology of Full Self-Driving, but it has undergone some scrutiny at the federal level, as some government officials have claimed the suite has “deceptive” naming. Previous Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was vocally critical of the use of the name “Full Self-Driving,” as well as “Autopilot.”
News
New EV tax credit rule could impact many EV buyers
We confirmed with a Tesla Sales Advisor that any current orders that have the $7,500 tax credit applied to them must be completed by December 31, meaning delivery must take place by that date. However, it is unclear at this point whether someone could still claim the credit when filing their tax returns for 2025 as long as the order reflects an order date before September 30.
Tesla owners could be impacted by a new EV tax credit rule, which seems to be a new hoop to jump through for those who benefited from the “extension,” which allowed orderers to take delivery after the loss of the $7,500 discount.
After the Trump Administration initiated the phase-out of the $7,500 EV tax credit, many were happy to see the rules had been changed slightly, as deliveries could occur after the September 30 cutoff as long as orders were placed before the end of that month.
However, there appears to be a new threshold that EV buyers will have to go through, and it will impact their ability to get the credit, at least at the Point of Sale, for now.
Delivery must be completed by the end of the year, and buyers must take possession of the car by December 31, 2025, or they will lose the tax credit. The U.S. government will be closing the tax credit portal, which allows people to claim the credit at the Point of Sale.
🚨UPDATE: $7,500 Tax Credit Portal “Closes By End of Year”.
This is bad news for pending Tesla buyers (MYP) looking to lock in the $7,500 Tax Credit.
“it looks like the portal closes by end of the year so there be no way for us to guarantee the funds however, we will try our… pic.twitter.com/LnWiaXL30k
— DennisCW | wen my L (@DennisCW_) December 15, 2025
We confirmed with a Tesla Sales Advisor that any current orders that have the $7,500 tax credit applied to them must be completed by December 31, meaning delivery must take place by that date.
However, it is unclear at this point whether someone could still claim the credit when filing their tax returns for 2025 as long as the order reflects an order date before September 30.
If not, the order can still go through, but the buyer will not be able to claim the tax credit, meaning they will pay full price for the vehicle.
This puts some buyers in a strange limbo, especially if they placed an order for the Model Y Performance. Some deliveries have already taken place, and some are scheduled before the end of the month, but many others are not expecting deliveries until January.