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Thoughts About the Model X from a Model S Owner
Here’s a little story about my journey to becoming a Model X owner. I started my search for a new car roughly two years ago to replace my aging Acura MDX SUV. Gas prices were at an all time high back then and having a monthly expenditure of $600 for transportation was something I could surely do away with. I did my fair share of research on hybrids in hopes I would eventually choose one as a replacement car, but ultimately dismissed them as an alternative due to the complexities of the powertrain. That was until I ran into Tesla and its Model X. The rest was history.
The Model X Promise
I finally narrowed my search among hybrids and EVs to Tesla’s Model X. The Model S was already available for order at the time and the Model X was still coming soon. I’d driven SUVs for the last 14 years and had an affinity towards them. Needing to survive through the New England winters, while living on a farm with an expanding family, naturally skewed my pursuits for a SUV as it seemed to be the right fit for my lifestyle. Although I had already fallen in love with the Model S, I managed to curb any desires to purchase one and waited patiently on the Model X through much of the second half of 2013 and early 2014.
That was until the Model X delivery estimate began to slip from “early 2014” to “late 2014”, and then again to “second quarter 2015” (it would be postponed yet again later on). I eventually got the hint that the Model X wasn’t going to roll off the production line anytime soon. To make matters worse, my aging SUV was surpassing 200K miles and my kid was becoming of driving age and was to receive the hand-me-down SUV.
Full-size bike stored in the back of a Model S
I really wanted the Model X but inevitably I started to think about whether the Model S could satisfy my criteria for a new car, as follows:
- Must have plenty of room for carrying around luggage, sports gear, bikes, farm stuff, etc.
- Something I could drive all year round and has maximum safety
- Must have enough room for seven people
I left off the need to have a towing package on my must-have list because in my seven years and 200k miles of ownership on the Acura MDX, I never used its built-in towing capabilities once. The MDX had more than ample space for bikes, which I would place inside the car, and roof mounted equipment using the roof rack.
I watched countless Bjorn Nyland videos and ones from Tesla, so much that I was thoroughly convinced that the Model S (real wheel drive was the only option at the time) could be driven in the harshest of winter environments.
My thoughts around owning a seven seater started to dissipate. When my daughter was young, I would haul her and a pack of her friends around in a seven passenger vehicle. But as she grew up and no longer needed rides other than for a few close friends and her boyfriend (sigh), having a vehicle to seat seven became less of a requirement.
And for that reason, I forewent my Model X and ordered the Model S instead during March of 2014. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in life.
Longing for the Model X
Despite being happily committed to my Model S as a relatively new owner, I still couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the Model X and ultimately ended up putting down a reservation for one once the Design Studio became available. I had convinced myself that a SUV is what I really wanted from the get go. Perhaps I’d trade my Model S in for the X but I still had time to figure that out.
I had also justified placing a deposit on the Model X because my wife’s SUV, a ML 350 diesel, was starting to experience a lot of mechanical and maintenance issues despite being only 20K miles old (we bought it used). I figured that the X would serve as a great replacement vehicle because frankly I was sick of maintaining her SUV.
Finally, Hello Model X
Nearly two years after I was introduced to the Model X online, I finally witnessed its unveiling, along with the rest of the world, via the Model X online test drive videos. The reactions to it seem generally mixed according to friends that attended the Model X launch event. Don’t get me wrong, the Model X is an amazing and transformative vehicle, but to me I felt that I could not obtain much utility from it over what my Model S is already capable of providing.
Sure I’d love to have all wheel drive, autopilot, and being able to open falcon wing doors in tight parking spaces, but even those features aren’t radically different than newer versions of the Model S, less the falcon wing doors.
Model X panoramic windshield
The Model X panoramic windshield is cool although I’m not sure I’d welcome that much sunlight on me while driving. The ‘bio weapon defense mode‘ seems gimmicky to me and a feature that feels cooler to talk about than it would live out in the real world.
The falcon wing doors are amazing and unique but I can’t help but think that its complexity will lead to long term maintenance problems for Tesla. And after all the challenges faced with creating the rad falcon wing doors, they compounded difficulties by creating auto opening front doors. And what about the active rear spoiler? Why is it deployed in all pictures? Will it ever retract?
What surprised me the most during Elon’s 30 minute presentation on the Model X was the amount of time he spent describing the vehicle’s safety rating and air filtration capabilities. Compare this presentation to an Apple product launch event that’s typically packed with detailed specifications and you’re left feeling a bit underwhelmed. Does anyone know the cargo room for the Model X? How wide is it? How tall? How long? What is the max height of the falcon wing doors? Do all the seats fold flat? A car that costs over $132,000 shouldn’t have details as vague as they are.
We caught glimpses of Firmware 7.0 features on the Model X, but there’s still no official word from Tesla that a new interface will be launched with the Model X.
My Future with the Model X
Electric vehicles are the future and Tesla is clearly leading the way in this new vertical. From the Roadster, to the Model S, and to the Model X, Tesla continues to innovate and redefine what an automobile should be like.
While I still have my Model X reservation, I want to know a lot more about it, touch it and maybe even drive it before I decide on the fate of my reservation. Fortunately, my wife’s SUV started behaving as of late, and I’m also very happy with my Model S. Now is probably not the best time for me to pick up a new Model X, but I can easily see a day when all my cars will be electric powered — and made by Tesla.
News
Tesla Semi lands the biggest electric truck deal in U.S. history
Tesla leads a record 2,500 truck order, but not every truck will be a Semi.
Tesla has landed the largest electric truck order in U.S. history. ZET SCALE, a new alliance of shippers and carriers, named Tesla its primary manufacturer on Tuesday for an initial order of 2,500 electric Class 8 trucks. The deal alone would nearly double the number of electric heavy trucks operating in the country.
According to the press release from Catalyst Mobility, the nonprofit formerly known as CALSTART, Kenworth, RIDE and Volvo were also selected as secondary manufacturers that carriers can pick if their operations call for it. No split between the four brands has been published, so the exact number of Semis in the order is not yet known.
Tesla was selected as the primary OEM for the largest electric Class 8 order in the US by ZET SCALE, a new shippers’ alliance
With 2,500 Semis on order, this will double the entire US electric Class 8 fleet
We’re serious about scale, and ZET SCALE is too!… pic.twitter.com/IiTAdzgken
— Tesla Semi (@tesla_semi) September 22, 2026
Tesla won the top slot through a competitive request for proposals. The alliance, which Catalyst Mobility runs with the Smart Freight Centre, scored bidders on price, range, charging capability and production capacity. Pooling freight demand from founding shippers, including Microsoft and PepsiCo, let every truck maker bid lower than it would for a single fleet. “The Tesla Semi is designed for lower cost per mile operations than diesel,” said Dan Priestley, director of the Tesla Semi program, as noted in the press release.
The financing is built to pull in carriers who have avoided electric trucks. ZET Financial is issuing the purchase order for all 2,500 units and will place them with fleets through a fair market value lease. The trucks will be deployed over the next few years across 10 freight hubs in Los Angeles, Stockton, Bakersfield, Seattle and Tacoma, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Atlanta, and the Newark and New York area. ZET SCALE says the first order is only the opening round, with a longer term goal of 10,000 trucks or more.
Even if Tesla ends up with only a majority share, it would still be the biggest Semi deal to date. Einride’s 500 unit order in August was the previous record, and WattEV’s 370 truck order in May was the largest California deal at the time. Einride’s CEO has since said he expects all 500 trucks delivered by the end of 2027.
The announcement lands two days before Tesla formally inaugurates its Semi factory in Nevada on September 24. The 1.7 million square foot plant sits next to Gigafactory Nevada’s 4680 cell lines and is designed for 50,000 trucks a year.
Tesla has expanded Grok from an in-car chatbot into a hands-free work assistant. On September 22, Tesla officially launched Grok Bot capability, confirming that drivers can now manage email, calendars, files, chats, and tasks by voice and then hand more ambitious errands to the AI-fueled productivity cheat code.
Grok itself is built by xAI. The new car features split into two layers: Connectors link Grok to outside accounts. Grok Bot, currently limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers, can complete multi-step tasks such as placing a usual coffee order, booking a reservation, or scheduling an appointment. It truly puts the driver in a nearly complete hands-free driving and productivity setting, with ironically the only task truly requiring your hands being to touch the “Start Self-Driving” button.
We were granted access to Grok Bot’s Tesla integration a few weeks back, and we’ve been able to do a handful of things with it. On a handful of occasions, we’ve used it to order food and have it ready for pickup slightly later into the evening; we’ve managed to pick up groceries after a day of errands with Grok Bot, and outside of the car, it’s helped with budgeting and even my fantasy football draft.
We’ve been using @Grok Bot in Tesla for a few weeks after gaining Early Access, which we thank the awesome engineers for
Grok Bot makes things much easier across your entire life. From the Tesla, I’ve used it to place pickup orders for my Fiancée and I, we’ve ordered groceries… https://t.co/ZJSLieG1s5
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 22, 2026
Tesla shows another way to utilize it: in their demo, a driver says “Hey Grok,” asks the assistant to check an inbox, and hears that a message concerns a weekend reservation. Grok then scans the calendar, reports no conflicts, and confirms the Tahoe trip is clear. It can also add check-in details to a road-trip itinerary. The point is not novelty chat. It is keeping eyes on the road, or on Full Self-Driving, while the car handles the paperwork of a trip:
.@Grok in your Tesla can now do meaningful work for you
With Connectors, you can manage your inbox, clean up your calendar, or talk through existing files/chat/tasks – all hands-free pic.twitter.com/W1LuybQh0P
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 22, 2026
This Grok rollout is not a gadget add-on as much as it is Tesla’s thesis in software form: the car should stop being a machine you operate and start being a room you occupy.
Connectors and Grok Bot treat the cabin as an office that happens to move, and that has truly been Tesla’s intention for years now. The car has slowly become an extension of a home more than a vehicle. Inbox, calendar, groceries, takeout, and reservations become voice work, not dashboard chores that you need to do before you get in your car.
Responsibility shifts from the driver to the stack, and as many Tesla owners rely on FSD for travel, Grok Bot now handles the monotony of dinner reservations or appointments.
Elon Musk
X changed how everyone gets paid, and this lawsuit shows why
X sued a Bitcoin account network over fake payouts as its creator pay model shifts
Elon Musk’s X has taken a Bitcoin-focused engagement ring to court, and the case doubles as a receipt for how differently the platform pays creators today. The company filed suit in the High Court of England and Wales against Vivek Kumar Sen and Zamyang Sherpa, alleging the pair ran six accounts, including @Vivek4real_, @Bitcoin_Teddy and @TrendingBitcoin, as one coordinated operation to fake the kind of engagement that used to translate directly into money.
According to the filing, first reported by Gizmodo, the accounts posted near identical “BREAKING” crypto headlines seconds apart, in one case 11 seconds, then had three more handles like, reply to and repost the material to manufacture what X called “a false appearance of genuine, human communication and interaction.” X says the scheme pulled in at least £207,384, about $278,000, and pegs its own investigation and remediation costs at another £75,000. The accounts were suspended August 18. X general counsel James Burnham announced the case on X last weekend, writing that the company “will act forcefully to protect our platform and the earnings of genuine creators.” Musk’s own reaction, posted shortly after, was three words: “Don’t mess with 𝕏.”
Don’t mess with 𝕏 https://t.co/HSmd5hL6aQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2026
The timing lines up with a a recent update to how X pays its creators. The program these accounts allegedly gamed, Creator Revenue Sharing, launched in mid 2023 and paid out based on how much a post got engaged with. Originality was never part of the formula, which is exactly how the platform ended up flooded with recycled clips, copy pasted “BREAKING” posts and replies engineered purely to farm reactions from paying subscribers.
X tried patching the model more than once, including an April cut to aggregator payouts and a March regional weighting change that Musk personally paused hours after it was announced. X retired Creator Revenue Sharing for good on September 7 and opened its replacement, Original Content Rewards, the next day.
Today, we’re launching Original Content Rewards.
The reality is that Revenue Sharing had reached a point where its incentives were misaligned. Creators should be focused on bringing net new content to the platform instead of maximizing payouts. We could have kept adding more… pic.twitter.com/VJIxqlPrjm
— Allegra Jacchia (@allegrajacchia) August 7, 2026
The new math is stricter. Payouts now come only from qualified impressions, meaning unique Home Timeline views from Premium subscribers where at least half the post is visible, and replies no longer count toward eligibility at all. Copied posts, reuploaded media and reposts without meaningful changes are explicitly excluded. Allegra Jacchia, senior product manager for Creators at SpaceXAI, which now runs X’s product and AI work following xAI’s acquisition of the platform, put it bluntly, saying the goal is to reward creators who bring original ideas and perspective, “not those who have become best at gaming the system.”
Read that way, the lawsuit isn’t really about six crypto accounts. It’s X putting a dollar figure on what the old incentive structure cost, then suing to collect it right as the new one goes live. For live updates on how the case and the new rewards program shake out, follow @Teslarati on X.
Tesla Semi lands the biggest electric truck deal in U.S. history
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
