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Tesla shuts down battery swap program in favor of Superchargers, for now

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Photo Credit: TeslaOwner

Tesla’s battery swap station near the Harris Ranch Supercharger station in Coalinga, CA seems to have been shut down, at least for now. What started out as a company vision to recharge Tesla vehicles in the same amount of time, if not quicker, as refueling a gas vehicle, turned into a pilot program that saw little to no fanfare.

Now, three years after Tesla first demonstrated the ability to quickly swap out the floor-mounted battery on a Model S and replace it with a fully charged battery pack, the company has seemingly closed the pilot program in favor of expanding its global network of Superchargers.

The news comes from a Tesla owner who had been following the development of the battery swap station off Interstate 5 (I-5) since its first debut. TeslaOwner accounts on their blog the experience with using Tesla’s battery swap program.

Battery Swap station at Harris Ranch [Credit: TeslaOwner]

Battery Swap station at Harris Ranch [Credit: TeslaOwner]

TeslaOwner described the battery swap process as being a mix of machine and human. Any automation that occurred during the exchange was augmented by humans. Swap time was, on average, seven minutes. There was some trepidation that, upon returning the battery, a driver would receive a different battery with more accumulated mileage on it. Onboard technology did not recognize the swap and assumed that the original trip totals were continuing.

“Presently the Battery Swap Program is not accepting any new requests for appointments.”

Since experiencing the battery swap last July, TeslaOwner tells us that the same station has remained relatively quiet and “looked quite closed” each time they’ve driven by the station which appeared to have no activity.

This prompted them to inquire with Tesla about scheduling an appointment for another battery swap. According to TeslaOwner, they received a response from the Service Manager for the battery swap station, indicating that Tesla is no longer taking requests for appointments. “Presently the Battery Swap Program is not accepting any new requests for appointments.”

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The viability of battery swaps moving forward

The Tesla proprietary charging station service was projected to be able to support both battery pack swaps as well as fast recharging of the Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicle battery packs. By December 2014, 18 months after the original announcement, no battery swapping stations had yet opened to the public. Then a single battery-swap station was opened in California as a pilot project, where only invited Model S owners could do battery swaps by appointment, to assess technical and economic aspects of the service. Demand for the priced service would be used to determine whether the company would fully commercialize battery swapping stations more generally.

Photos captured of the Tesla battery swap station at Harris Ranch from December, 2014

By June 2015, the company had indicated that the battery swapping capability was no longer a significant part of Tesla’s plans for on-road energy replacement for their vehicles. Tesla’s standardization of car and the swapping stations alongside battery and battery fasteners prohibited other EV car owners from utilizing the battery swap station. For battery swapping to grow, the following conditions might need to be considered:

  • Find strategic locations for battery swapping;
  • Use alternative energy onsite to recharge batteries;
  • Draw upon grid electricity when it is off-peak, cheapest, or when the more environmental energy generation is available;
  • Assure customers that swapped batteries have comparable life expectancy in relation to the original;
  • Incorporate fleet vehicles to reduce battery swapping costs overall.

The Tesla battery swap program doesn’t receive much press these days, given the news about the impending SolarCity merger and glass roof tiles, among the other constant Tesla technological innovations. Work on accelerating the rollout of Supercharger stations ahead of the Model 3 coming to market next year seems most critical. Moreover, regular Tesla owners at this moment in time don’t really seem to find the battery swap option as attractive as the Supercharger.

Of course, speculation continues to swirl. Tesla recently hired Audi’s North America commercial account manager to lead a new B2B push for Tesla in “fleet management, rental, government/public sectors & corporate enterprises.” Large commercial fleets of Tesla vehicles could change many aspects of the way that Tesla provides services, including a revisit to the battery swap with special, private fleet stations.

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Carolyn Fortuna is a writer and researcher with a Ph.D. in education from the University of Rhode Island. She brings a social justice perspective to environmental issues. Please follow me on Twitter and Facebook and Google+

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Tesla begins deliveries of its affordable Model Y Standard

The ‘Standard’ Model Y is now getting ready to fall into customer hands, according to some owners, who are preparing for or have already taken delivery of the new model.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has officially started deliveries of the affordable Model Y ‘Standard’ less than three weeks after the company launched it on October 8.

Following the loss of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, Tesla launched the Model 3 and Model Y ‘Standard’ trims, both coming in at sub-$40,000 starting prices, but being stripped of many of the features that come in the ‘Premium’ configuration levels.

Tesla launches two new affordable models with ‘Standard’ Model 3, Y offerings

The vehicles are Tesla’s answer to the loss of the tax credit, which was phased out by the Trump Administration. Tesla said it has been developing these models for over a year, as it revealed in early 2024 that it was working to create new vehicles that would be more affordable.

It also said it was developing vehicles to be built on a new-generation platform, which is a likely reference to the Cybercab, which has also been spotted at both Gigafactory Texas and the Fremont Factory.

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The ‘Standard’ Model Y is now getting ready to fall into customer hands, according to some owners, who are preparing for or have already taken delivery of the new model:

Tesla slated deliveries for November when the two vehicles launched on October 8, but that seems to be an underpromise and overdeliver type of situation.

The new features for the Model Y include:

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  • New athletically tuned exterior and new alloy wheels to improve aerodynamics
  • 15.4″ touchscreen in the front, the same as the other trims
  • Available in three colors: Stealth Grey (free), White ($1,oo0 extra), Diamond Black ($1,500 extra)
  • Textile and vegan leather interior
  • Range sits at 321 miles
  • New front fascia
  • Covered glass roof (textile on inside)
  • Windows are not acoustically laminated for a quieter cabin
  • Manual mirrors and seats
  • Smaller frunk
  • No rear infotainment screen
  • No basic Autopilot
  • 69 kWh battery
  • New 19″ Aperture wheels
  • 0-60 MPH in 6.8 seconds
  • 7 speaker stereo, down from 15 speakers in premium models
@teslarati 🚨 Tesla’s Affordable Models are here! Let’s talk about them! #tesla #fyp #viral #teslaev #elonmusk ♬ Natural Emotions – Muspace Lofi

 

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Investor's Corner

Tesla analyst says this common earnings narrative is losing importance

“Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy.”

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(Credit: Tesla)

A Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) analyst is doubling down on the idea that one common earnings narrative is losing importance as the company continues to work toward new technologies and projects.

This week, Tesla will report earnings for the third quarter, and one thing people always pay attention to is deliveries. Although Tesla reveals its deliveries for the quarter well before it reports earnings, many investors will look for commentary regarding the company’s strategy for responding to the loss of the $7,500 tax credit.

Tesla has made a few moves already, including a lease deal that takes a substantial amount of money off, launching new Standard models, and cutting up to 23 percent off of lease pricing.

Tesla makes crazy move to spur short-term demand in the U.S.

However, analysts are looking at the company in a different light.

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Aligning with the narrative that Tesla is not just a car company and has many different projects, Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management believes many investors need to look at another part of the business.

Munster said the delivery figures for Q3, which landed at 497,099, the highest in company history, were padded by customers rushing to showrooms to take advantage of the expiring tax credit.

He believes that deliveries will be more realistic in subsequent quarters, but investors should not worry because the focus on Tesla is not going to be on how many cars it hands over to customers:

“Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy.”

Tesla has been working nonstop to roll out a dedicated Robotaxi platform in various cities across the United States, and has already launched in two states: Texas and California.

It has also received regulatory approvals to test driverless Robotaxis in Arizona and Nevada, while seeking permissions in Florida and other states, according to the company’s online job postings.

Munster continued:

“Most people are hyper-focused on the Robotaxi opportunity and not focused as much on FSD.”

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While Robotaxi is incredibly important, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite is also extremely crucial moving forward, as it sets the stage for the company to roll out a formidable self-driving service.

Tesla rolled out its newest FSD software to more owners last night, and as it expands, the company is gaining valuable data to refine its performance.

Earnings will be reported tomorrow at market close.

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Tesla rolled out a new feature with FSD v14 to fix a major complaint

One of the most crucial cameras for FSD operation is located at the top of the windshield, and some owners have complained about condensation or other debris accumulating here, which impacts FSD’s availability during drives.

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Credit: The Kilowatts | X

Tesla rolled out a new feature with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.3 in an effort to fix a major complaint from owners.

Tesla’s approach to self-driving is significantly different than other companies as it only relies on cameras for operation. Tesla Vision was launched several years ago and completely axed any reliance the suite had on sensors, as CEO Elon Musk’s strategy was unorthodox and went against the grain.

However, it has proven to be effective, as Tesla still operates the most refined semi-autonomous driving suite in the United States.

There are some drawbacks, though, and one of them has to do with the obvious: cameras get dirty and need to be cleaned somewhat regularly.

One of the most crucial cameras for FSD operation is located at the top of the windshield, and some owners have complained about condensation or other debris accumulating here, which impacts FSD’s availability during drives:

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Tesla has been working to confront this issue, and in classic fashion, it used a software update to work on resolving it.

With the rollout of Full Self-Driving v14.1.3 and Software Version 2025.32.8.15, Tesla added a new feature that aims to clean the front camera efficiently without relying on the owner to do it manually.

Tesla Full Self-Driving’s new version officially gets a wider rollout

In its release notes for the suite, it said:

“Added automatic narrow field washing to provide rapid and efficient front camera self-cleaning, and optimize aerodynamics wash at higher vehicle speed.”

If the camera starts to have some issues with visibility, the car will automatically clean the front windshield camera to avoid any issues:

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This new addition is a small but mighty change considering all things. It is a necessary process to keep things operational and avoid any disruptions in FSD performance. It is also a testament to how much better Tesla vehicles can get with a simple software update.

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