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Tesla owner shares FSD purchase concerns after vandals set Model X on fire
When Tesla owner Den Dal plugged his family’s 2018 Model X Long Range at a public charger during a recent business trip to Düsseldorf, Germany, he had no idea that it would be the start of a grueling ordeal. Twenty-four hours after plugging in his Tesla, Dal was left with a burned Model X, an FSD purchase that seemed to be up in the air, and a plausible arson incident that seemingly targeted the all-electric SUV.
Den Dal had rented an apartment for his business trip to Düsseldorf which was close to a row of public chargers that his Model X could be plugged in. Unfortunately, all of the public charger’s stalls were being blocked by fossil fuel cars on that day. This resulted in the Tesla owner plugging his Model X at another public charger, which was farther away, about 600 meters from the rented apartment.
The rates of the station were notably higher than Tesla’s charges for its Supercharger Network, but the location at least had a free stall for the all-electric SUV. Dal plugged in his vehicle and went back to his rented apartment, expecting to find his Model X charged and ready to go the next morning.
What he saw was not what he expected at all. To the Tesla owner’s shock, he found his Model X torched, and the burns on the vehicle suggested that it had been deliberately set on fire. A note from the police was placed on the windshield of the all-electric SUV, notifying the Tesla owner that he should head over to the station as soon as possible.
Unfortunately for the Tesla owner, his vehicle did not have a USB drive that was linked to its Sentry Mode feature. Thus, while Sentry Mode was active during the incident, no videos were retrieved from the Model X. The police also stated that there were no local cameras around the public charging station. No other Teslas were in the area either, which may have helped if they were running Sentry Mode as well.
Based on the specifics of the incident, it does appear that the Model X was singled out and deliberately burned. In the street where the vehicle was charging, there were more than 60 cars, some of which were premium vehicles and most of which were from German automakers, yet none were touched. Dal later found out that before his Model X was set on fire, another bike parked in the same area had been torched as well. Local firefighters who responded to the scene also saw where the flames started.
Quite amazingly, the Model X remained drivable despite being burned, which suggested that the vehicle’s batteries and powertrain were still intact after the incident. Describing the vehicle’s status in a message to Teslarati, Dal noted that the interior smelled particularly bad since chemicals of the cooling system seemed to have entered the cabin, as per observations from a Tesla Service Center. Tesla has not provided an update to the Model X owner yet, though there is a pretty good chance that the vehicle may be a total loss.
Dal is a supporter of Tesla and the company’s mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy, and he purchased Enhanced Autopilot and the Full Self-Driving suite for his Model X despite knowing that the systems’ full features will be rolled out at a later time. That being said, Dal has notable concerns about his FSD purchase after his Model X was set aflame.
The Tesla owner had purchased FSD at a time when Tesla had a discount for the suite, and as such, the system was not insured with the vehicle. From this standpoint, it appears that while the Model X may be insured, its Full Self-Driving system was not. Dal is thus concerned that his FSD purchase will not be carried over if he does purchase another Tesla, which is unfortunate considering that he has not really been able to use much of what Autopilot and Full Self-Driving have to offer yet.
Dal resides in Europe, a region where regulations have forced Tesla to essentially cripple some key features of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving suite. This results in key FSD capabilities such as Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes and Smart Summon being practically impossible to roll out unless revisions are implemented in the region’s regulations. Tesla is doing what it can to address these regulations, but in the meantime, owners such as Dal, who have purchased FSD with their vehicle, are in a limbo of sorts.
Adding insult to injury, the Tesla owner has unfortunately been subjected to some online attacks from the electric car maker’s critics since posting about his experience online. Some have accused Dal of simply trying to attract attention, while others were insisting that the Model X’s batteries combusted on their own. The former point simply lacks basic empathy, while the latter seems farfetched considering that the Model X remained drivable even after it was torched.
For now, Dal is simply hoping that Tesla could provide a resolution for his vehicle and his FSD purchase. The Tesla owner noted that he would like to acquire another Model X if his SUV is totaled, though he looks forward to hearing about an update from the electric car maker soon.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just got pulled into the biggest Weapons Program in U.S. history
SpaceX joins the Golden Dome software group, deepening its role in America’s most expensive defense program.
SpaceX has joined a nine-company group developing the core operating software for the Golden Dome, America’s next-generation missile defense system. According to a Bloomberg report, SpaceX is focused on integrating satellite communications for military operations and is working alongside eight other defense and artificial intelligence companies, including Anduril Industries, Palantir Technologies, and Aalyria Technologies, to build software connecting missile defense capabilities.
The Golden Dome concept dates back to President Trump’s 2024 campaign, and on January 27, 2025, he signed an executive order directing the U.S. Armed Forces to construct the system before the end of his term. The system is planned to employ a constellation of thousands of satellites equipped with interceptors, with data centers in space providing automated control through an AI network.
FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan
Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome initiative, has described the software layer as a “glue layer” that would enable officers to manage and control radars, sensors, and missile batteries across services. The consortium is aiming to test the platform this summer.
Trump selected a design in May 2025 with a $175 billion price tag, expected to be operational by the end of his term in 2029, though the Congressional Budget Office projected the cost could reach $831 billion over two decades.
The Golden Dome role is only the latest in a string of military wins for SpaceX. As Teslarati reported, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million task order on April 1, 2026 to launch missile tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, covering two Falcon 9 launches beginning in Q3 2027. That came on top of more than $22 billion in government contracts held by SpaceX as of 2024, per CEO Gwynne Shotwell, spanning NASA resupply missions, classified intelligence satellites through its Starshield program, and military broadband.
The accumulation of defense contracts, now including a seat at the table on the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history, positions SpaceX as the dominant infrastructure provider for American national security in space. With a SpaceX IPO still on the horizon, each new contract adds weight to what is already one of the most consequential companies in aerospace history, raising real questions about how much of America’s defense architecture will depend on a single private operator before it ever trades publicly.
News
Tesla pulls back the curtain on Cybercab mass production
Tesla’s Cybercab drives itself off the Gigafactory Texas line in a striking new production video.
Tesla has provided a first look from inside a production Cybercab as it drove itself off the assembly line at Gigafactory Texas. The video footage, posted on X, opens on the factory floor with robotic arms and assembly equipment visible through the Cybercab windshield, and follows the car through a branded tunnel marked “Cybercab”, before autonomously navigating itself to a holding lot.
The first Cybercab rolled off the Giga Texas production line on February 17, 2026, with Musk writing on X, “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.” April marked the official shift to volume production. The Giga Texas line is being prepared to produce hundreds of units per week, with 60 units already spotted on the Gigafactory campus earlier this month.
Purpose-built for autonomy
Cybercab in production now at Giga Texas pic.twitter.com/Y9qG3KyWBa
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 23, 2026
The Cybercab was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event in October 2024 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk said he believed the average operating cost would be around $0.20 per mile, and that buyers would be able to purchase one for under $30,000. The two-seat design is deliberate. Musk noted that 90 percent of miles driven involve one or two people, making a compact two-passenger vehicle the most efficient configuration for a fleet-scale robotaxi. Eliminating rear seats also removes complexity and cost, supporting that sub-$30,000 target.
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once several factories reach full design capacity. The Cybercab has no steering wheel, no pedals, and relies entirely on Tesla’s vision-based FSD system. What the video shows is the first evidence of that system working not as a demo, but as a production reality, driving itself off the line and into the world.
🚗 Our first ride in Tesla Cybercab last October: pic.twitter.com/kGqIqgJPRn https://t.co/BITCXFhbVd
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2025
Elon Musk
Elon Musk talks Tesla Roadster’s future
Elon Musk confirmed the Roadster as Tesla’s last manually driven car, with a debut coming soon.
During Tesla’s Q1 2026 earnings call on April 22, Elon Musk made a brief but notable comment about the long-awaited next generation Roadster while describing Tesla’s future vehicle lineup. “Long term, the only manually driven car will be the new Tesla Roadster,” he said. “Speaking of which, we may be able to debut that in a month or so. It requires a lot of testing and validation before we can actually have a demo and not have something go wrong with the demo.”
That single statement is the entire Roadster update from yesterday’s call, and while it represents another timeline shift, it comes as no surprise with Tesla heads-down-at-work on the mass rollout of its Robotaxi service across US cities, and the industrial scale production of the humanoid Optimus.
The fact that Musk specifically framed the Roadster as the last manually driven Tesla is significant on its own. As the rest of the lineup moves toward full autonomy, the Roadster becomes something rare in the Tesla-sphere by keeping the driver in control. Driving enthusiasts who buy a $200,000 supercar are not doing so to be passengers. They want the physical connection to the road, the feel of acceleration under their own input, and the experience of controlling something with that level of performance. FSD, however capable it becomes, removes that entirely. The Roadster signals that Tesla understands this distinction and is building a car specifically for the people who consider driving itself the point.
Tesla isn’t joking about building Optimus at an industrial scale: Here we go
The specs for the Roadster Musk has teased over the years are genuinely unlike anything in production. The base model targets 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, a top speed above 250 mph, and up to 620 miles of range from a 200 kWh battery. The optional SpaceX package takes it further, rumored to add roughly ten cold gas thrusters operating at 10,000 psi, borrowed directly from Falcon 9 rocket technology. With thrusters, Musk has claimed 0 to 60 mph in as little as 1.1 seconds. In a 2021 Joe Rogan interview he went further, stating “I want it to hover. We got to figure out how to make it hover without killing people.” Tesla filed a patent for ground effect technology in August 2025, suggesting the hover concept has not been abandoned. The starting price remains $200,000, with the Founders Series requiring a $250,000 full deposit. Some reservation holders placed those deposits in 2017 and are approaching a full decade of waiting.
With production now targeted for 2027 or 2028 at the earliest, the Roadster remains Tesla’s most audacious promise and its longest-running delay. But if what Musk is testing lives up to even half of what he has described, the demo alone should be worth waiting for.
Elon Musk says the Tesla Roadster unveiling could be done “maybe in a month or so.”
He said it should be an extraordinary unveiling event. pic.twitter.com/6V9P7zmvEm
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2026
SpaceX just got pulled into the biggest Weapons Program in U.S. history
Tesla pulls back the curtain on Cybercab mass production
