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Tesla’s next-gen Roadster will exceed 1,000 km of battery range, says Elon Musk

(Photo: Tesla)

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When Elon Musk unveiled the next-generation Tesla Roadster back in November 2017, he shocked the electric car community by revealing that the all-electric supercar has a range of 620 miles per charge. That’s 1,000 kilometers between charges. The figures are pretty much insane, even by today’s standards.

There are now indications that the next-generation Tesla Roadster will go even farther in between charges. Elon Musk mentioned this on Twitter, stating that the range of the upcoming vehicle will be “above 1,000 km.” Musk was responding to Ride the Lightning podcast host Ryan McCaffrey then, who was inquiring if the efficiencies recently introduced to the Model S and X will make it to the all-electric supercar.

A lot has happened since Tesla unveiled the next-generation Roadster. In true Silicon Valley fashion, Tesla never really stopped innovating since then, particularly in terms of its battery technology. Tesla Automotive President Jerome Guillen mentioned this in a previous interview, stating that the company’s batteries are never frozen since they are always in a state of improvement. The same is true for the vehicles’ other components, such as their electric motors.

These efficiencies and improvements were showcased recently when Tesla rolled out updates for the Model S and Model X, its two flagship vehicles. The premium sedan and SUV received several enhancements, such as better charging speeds and adaptive suspension. More importantly, the new Model S and Model X were given more range despite retaining the size of their battery packs. As revealed by Tesla, the 100 kWh variants of the Model S now have 370 miles of range per charge, while the 100 kWh versions of the far heavier Model X now has 325 miles of range.

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These are incredibly impressive figures for Tesla’s vehicles. Rivian’s acclaimed R1T and R1S pickup and SUV are capable of going 400 miles per charge, but the vehicles require a 180 kWh battery pack. Motor Trend‘s test of the updated Model S showed that the 100 kWh sedan could probably reach the 400-mile mark in normal driving conditions. So how do these relate to the Roadster and its range? Well, the all-electric “hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars” is equipped with a 200 kWh pack.

Coupled with Tesla’s latest efficiencies, one can only imagine how much farther the Roadster could go with its monster battery. This range will likely be a big difference-maker for the next-gen Roadster, considering that conventional supercars are not exactly known for their fuel-efficiency. The Lamborghini Aventador gets up to 11 mpg in the city and 18 mpg on the highway, which gives it a range of around 428.4 miles of range on the highway and 261.8 miles in the city on a full tank. Higher-end cars like the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport consume even more gas, only lasting 51 miles on a tank at top speed.

Tesla’s electric motors are expected to last a million miles, and Elon Musk himself has mentioned that the company is developing batteries that also last a million miles. With these, it appears that the next-gen Roadster might not only be an electric car that can outrun gasoline-powered supercars; it might be a vehicle that will far outlast the best supercars on the market as well.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst

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elon musk phone
Photo: Boss Hunting.com.au

For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.

Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.

It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.

Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.

The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.

Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.

The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.

SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.

There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.

The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.

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Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.

The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.

On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.

Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD

It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:

“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”

This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.

It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something

There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

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(Credit: Megan Gale/Twitter)

Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.

Here are the full release notes for the suite:

  • Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
  • Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
  • Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
  • Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
  • Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.

These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

He added:

“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”

Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.

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