News
Tesla Supercharger V3 station with 62 stalls in Santa Monica gains approval despite objections
Tesla’s largest Supercharger V3 station to date has taken a definitive step forward, with the Santa Monica Planning Commission approving the 62-stall rapid-charging facility in a 5-2 vote. The approval came following three hours of discussions and questions, which included some interesting points against the Supercharger V3 site.
The 62-stall Supercharger V3 station, located at 1401 Santa Monica Boulevard, would feature two lots split in the middle by an alley. The west lot of the station will include 36 Supercharger V3 stalls, while its east side will house the remaining 26. The project will also include solar arrays on the west lot, battery storage units, and a restroom that is accessed by a code.
- Credit: DriveTeslaCanada
- Credit: DriveTeslaCanada
What was rather remarkable was that the Santa Monica Planning Commission took about three hours discussing the proposed rapid charging facility’s advantages and disadvantages. Several officials expressed their opposition to the Supercharger V3 station, and their reasons were unprecedented, at least to some degree.
Among the concerns brought up was the possible fan noise from the Supercharger stations and how it may disturb local residents in the area. Other commissioners expressed their concern about Tesla drivers charging at night who may play their “radios” very loudly and wake up people nearby. In this light, some commissioners asked why Tesla engineers could not use their tech to geofence the charging location to limit the vehicles’ “radio” volume. It was also hinted that Tesla contribute funds to help the city address its housing shortage.
- The plans for the 36 Stall Supercharger lot at 1401 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. (Santa Monica Planning Commission)
- The plans for the 36 Stall Supercharger lot at 1401 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. (Santa Monica Planning Commission)
Other concerns against the proposed facility involved the fact that the Supercharger V3 station may attract the homeless to the site, likely due to its restroom. There were also concerns about the number of stalls in the Supercharger, with one commissioner asking why Tesla couldn’t just build fewer stalls and have EV owners make appointments. Commissioner Ellis Raskin, for his part, suggested that the Supercharger V3 station was a project for the rich. “You all know I’m an environmentalist, but I’m not in support. This (project) supports the rich,” Raskin said.
Despite all these concerns and opposition, the Santa Monica Planning Commission nevertheless approved the 62-stall Tesla Supercharger V3 station, which would be one of the company’s biggest V3 sites to date. A good reason for this may very well be the efforts of Tesla employees Noelani Derrickson and Nadir Hossain, both of whom addressed the Planning Commissions’ concerns with the utmost patience and respect. Tesla owner Robert Rosenbloom, who listened in on the full three-hour session, remarked that ultimately, the commissioners’ opposition to the Supercharger V3 site was quite strange considering that Santa Monica is a reasonably progressive city with strong support for environmentalism, with the city even allowing electric vehicles with an HOV sticker to park on city streets without paying into parking meters.
Watch the Santa Monica Planning Commission’s vote on the proposed 62-stall Tesla Supercharger V3 station below.
After 3 long hours, the conditional use permit for the world’s largest V3 Tesla Supercharger has been approved in a 5-2 vote.
Credit to the two Tesla employees who fielded all those (many ridiculous) questions! pic.twitter.com/VykvpmDZAM
— Drive Tesla 🇨🇦 (@DriveTeslaca) March 4, 2021
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Featured
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.
Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.
Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.
Cybercab will be on display in Asia this month!
Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/wGmmEastfX— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) September 4, 2026
The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.
Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
News
Tesla opens Cybercab rides to the public, with no steering wheel or pedals
Tesla Cybercab rides are officially open to the public in Austin, Texas, as the company confirmed on Thursday following its launch event that the two-seater would be available in the company’s Robotaxi fleet.
Cybercab is Tesla’s first vehicle completely void of any manual controls. It has no steering wheel and no pedals, and it will utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving fleet to operate. The first rides have already happened, as those at the event were able to hail a Cybercab to any location within the company’s geofence in Austin.
Tesla’s $25K car is the Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals
The addition of Cybercab to the public Robotaxi fleet is a major statement in Tesla’s trek to launch fully autonomous driving. For years, critics have complained about the need for drivers to continuously supervise the vehicle.
With Cybercab, there are no manual controls in the cockpit other than to control the seat, the center screen, and the climate. The vehicle is fully geared toward being a living room on wheels in a sense: equipped with Starlink V5 satellites, CEO Elon Musk said the vehicle would enable 4K live video, gaming, and other entertainment options during travel.
Cybercab is basically a super comfortable lounge on wheels with a great TV and epic sound https://t.co/X1aWKoJdJV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 3, 2026
Musk noted that Cybercab is “designed and built for maximally efficient autonomous operation.”
Tesla continues to push the envelope on autonomy, and over the next several months, the company could start selling Cybercab units to the public.
The company opened up a public interest form on its website to gauge demand, and many have already submitted requests to purchase a fleet of Cybercab units for their own personal ride-hailing side hustle.
The launch of Cybercab in this area marks a major accomplishment for Tesla, as it also announced that it has reached 1 million unsupervised autonomous miles since launching driverless rides on the Robotaxi fleet.
Things are moving along at a fine pace, and although we have waited for this for some time, the day has finally come when Tesla is offering self-driving rides of some kind to the public.




