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Strikes against Tesla Sweden leave over 100 charging stalls waiting for power

Credit: TeslaCharging | X

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Tesla drivers and others with electric vehicles (EVs) have had to wait in line to access the company’s Supercharger stations in Sweden during holiday travel in recent weeks, as ongoing sympathy strikes against the company have blocked more than 100 new stalls from getting energized during the winter season.

Sweden’s largest auto and metalworkers union, IF Metall, has been lodging strike efforts against Tesla for over a year now, and ongoing sympathy strikes with the country’s electric utility operators have managed to prevent the company from bringing new Supercharger stalls online.

In response to a video showing long lines at one Swedish Supercharger station, Tesla Charging Director Max de Zegher said in a post on X on Sunday that the company is still working to roll out new stations, despite the situation leaving over 100 new stalls without electricity.

The executive also said that there was currently “no clear path yet to [the chargers] getting turned on,” adding that Swedish EV drivers are suffering in having to wait, while the move was also preventing the country’s EV infrastructure from keeping up with other regions.

“When Tesla Sweden signs the collective agreement, the strike and sympathy strike ends immediately,” an IF Metall spokesperson wrote in an email to Teslarati.

Specifically, de Zegher said that the company was still rolling out new stations in Malung, Käppen, Vansbro, Idre, Särna, and Sunne, and he encouraged the public in Sweden to reach out to elected officials to help get added sites energized as soon as possible. The news also comes after Tesla officially opened the Supercharger network to all EV brands in Sweden in November.

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You can read de Zegher’s full comment on the matter below:

As forecasted, Swedish EV drivers are suffering and EV infrastructure is not keeping up unless Superchargers get energized by the utilities blocking them from getting energized. Tesla Superchargers are critical infrastructure, especially for peak travel days like this. 100+ stalls in Sweden would have been energized this winter, if it wasn’t for sympathy strikes. Despite no clear path yet to getting turned on, we will also continue to invest and build sites for Swedish EV drivers, including more capacity in Malung, Käppen, Vansbro, Idre, Särna, and Sunne. We appreciate the support from the public to help us get Superchargers energized asap. Waiting in line like this is super painful, hurts EV adoption and totally fixable!

At the time of writing, Swedish utility provider Svenska kraftnät has not yet responded to Teslarati’s request for comment.

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READ MORE ON TESLA SWEDEN: Tesla Model 3 named Sweden’s Car of the Year for 2024

Tesla Sweden license plates withheld, with repairs blockade lifted

IF Metall initially launched strike efforts against Tesla Sweden in November 2023, after the company refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement. The labor efforts have since evolved into multiple phases, including efforts to cease imports, withhold Tesla’s license plates for newly registered vehicles, and to halt service and maintenance operations.

Prior to sympathy strikes breaking out over Tesla’s Supercharger stalls connecting to the electrical grid, the company first saw a dockworkers’ union attempt to block vehicles being imported into the country. Tesla later found workarounds for this by delivering the vehicles via ferry from Germany, bypassing the dock’s handling of the units.

Early last year, IF Metall also effectively had a blockade in place on repairs and maintenance at many Sweden-based Tesla service sites, though that was lifted in May as most repairs were approved to continue.

Tesla has also had to find workarounds for IF Metall encouraging PostNord, the country’s leading mail provider, to withhold the delivery of license plates for the company’s newly registered vehicles. Despite the efforts, Tesla has been able to sign a purchase agreement or leasing contract with buyers in advance, having them retrieve their plates and registration documents directly from PostNord and bring them to pick up their vehicles.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Updated 1/6/25: Added response from an IF Metall spokesperson.

Swedish union pissed off because Tesla is still thriving despite strike: “It’s bullsh*t”

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Starlink launches Communities Program for passive income through internet sharing

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(Credit: Starlink | X)

Starlink is launching a new beta path for ordinary property owners and local operators to turn a single Starlink kit into a small shared-access business for passive income.

Under the Starlink for Communities program, a host installs one dish and router setup in a location with nearby demand: an apartment complex, campground, rural crossroads, or event site. Neighbors or local users can buy short-term passes rather than full individual subscriptions, giving the Starlink provider a potential path to passive income.

Hour, day, and week passes cover one device. A month pass covers up to four. Starlink handles account creation, payments, access controls, and the satellite link itself. The host’s role is mainly placement, power, and basic upkeep, with earnings tied to each paid connection.

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The model echoes the passive-income vision long attached to Tesla’s Robotaxi plans, and it seems like it’s something Musk has hinted toward in the past as he believes AI will make the need to work relatively optional. In both cases, the platform owns the hard parts of matching, billing, and network management, while an individual supplies a physical asset that sits idle much of the time.

A Starlink host’s dish can serve multiple nearby users without each household buying and installing its own terminal. A Tesla owner, under the stated Robotaxi concept, would leave a vehicle enrolled in the fleet during unused hours so the car generates rides while the owner is at work or asleep.

Both arrangements convert under-utilized hardware into a revenue stream. They also let the company scale coverage or capacity without owning every endpoint.

Differences are practical. A Starlink kit is a fixed, relatively low-cost terminal whose main constraint is local congestion and line-of-sight. A Tesla Robotaxi is a mobile, high-value vehicle whose earnings depend on demand density, utilization rates, insurance, cleaning, and charging.

Starlink’s program is already accepting host applications in multiple countries and describes the revenue split as ongoing. Tesla’s owner-network version remains more aspirational.

The company currently operates a limited company-controlled robotaxi service in select areas and has solicited interest from fleet buyers for Cybercab vehicles, while private Full Self-Driving owners have not yet been able to dispatch their own cars for paid rides at scale.

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Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration

Starlink is a satellite broadband service operated by SpaceX that uses a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites to deliver internet to locations where terrestrial broadband is slow, expensive, or absent. It has grown to millions of subscribers worldwide by selling direct residential, mobile, and enterprise terminals, and have become widely available at a wide array at retail locations like Target and Best Buy.

The Communities program extends that reach by letting hosts resell short bursts of capacity to people nearby, while also providing high-speed internet access to those who are simply around a Starlink user.

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Tesla just made its headlights even better through a software update

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Credit: @jojje167 on X

Tesla just upgraded its headlights through a software update, making them even better without any physical or hardware upgrade.

Tesla’s latest software update is quietly improving nighttime driving for a small number of owners. Version 2026.38 includes a new capability called Dynamic Headlight Leveling.

The feature automatically adjusts the aim of the low beams in response to driving conditions and nearby traffic, with the goal of giving the driver more usable light on the road while reducing glare for oncoming vehicles and traffic ahead.

Unlike Tesla’s matrix high-beam system, which selectively dims individual LED segments to create shadows around other cars, Dynamic Headlight Leveling physically tilts the low-beam projectors. Internal motors respond to changes in vehicle pitch.

When the car accelerates hard, climbs a steep grade, or carries extra weight in the rear, the headlights can otherwise point higher than intended. The software counters that movement in real time so the beam stays aimed at the road surface rather than into the eyes of other drivers.

Early indications reveal the update is reaching a limited set of vehicles, including certain Model 3 and Cybertruck examples in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The rollout does not appear tied to a single hardware revision, and Tesla has not published a broader schedule. It is simply a common waiting game until your car receives it.

The change arrives against a backdrop of wider complaints about headlight glare. Some earlier Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were the subject of an NHTSA recall related to excessive low-beam glare; the software adjustment offers a potential mitigation for cars equipped with the necessary leveling hardware. It does not replace adaptive high beams where those are already available, nor does it alter the basic low-beam pattern itself.

Instead, it keeps an existing beam pointed where it is most useful.

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For drivers who have received the update, the system requires no new settings or user input. The headlights simply respond as road conditions and traffic change. As the feature reaches more vehicles, it adds another example of Tesla using over-the-air software to refine existing hardware rather than waiting for a new model year. Nighttime visibility and reduced glare for others are the practical results owners are expected to notice first.

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Tesla teases “Halloween Mode” update with Optimus rising from a graveyard

Tesla’s Halloween teaser hides a covered vehicle and an Optimus hand rising from the ground.

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Tesla has started teasing a Halloween software update for its vehicles, with  a short clip on X that reads, “Halloween is coming.” The clip opens on a glowing pumpkin before pulling back to the car’s center touchscreen, where the usual parked visualization has been replaced by a graveyard scene, and the vehicle draped with a white sheet so it reads as a cartoon ghost.

The second detail is a robotic hand clawing its way out of the dirt like a zombie, which looks to be the hand of Tesla’s latest Optimus V3 humanoid robot. While Tesla still has not formally shown Optimus Gen 3 walking around in service, renders pulled from Tesla’s Android app last month gave the clearest look yet, including far more refined hands that Tesla has said carry 22 degrees of freedom. The hand has been the hardest part of the program. Musk has called it the majority of the robot’s engineering difficulty, and Tesla’s patents describe a design driven by tendons with the actuators moved into the forearm.

Tesla Optimus V3 hand and arm details revealed in new patents

Optimus also has a Halloween track record. Last October the robot handed out candy in Times Square, and a costumed “zombie” Optimus shuffled around the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles on Halloween night.

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On the software side, Tesla’s 2025 Holiday Update expanded Santa Mode with a Santa sleigh, snowmen, snow effects, and a festive lock chime, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched if we saw something similar but themed for a  Halloween Mode.

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