Kman has been producing videos about Tesla since 2013, when he took delivery of a 60 kWh Model S. His latest opus is a four-part collection of handy tips and tricks for Tesla drivers.
Kman includes a raft of recommendations for increasing range. Most of these will be familiar to any energy-conscious driver, but the analytically-minded Kman has tested the techniques, and offers a pretty precise assessment of exactly how much juice each suggestion will save.
Obviously, it’s good to keep the total vehicle weight down – consider taking that bowling ball out of the trunk if you don’t use it much. However, Kman has found that the additional weight of passengers and cargo affects range far less than other things, such as tire pressure.
Like most cars, Model S has a sticker on the door jamb listing the recommended tire pressure. However, Kman has found that using the recommended pressure increases his energy consumption (and feels “squishy”), so he uses 50 psi on the rear and 48 on the front, instead of Tesla’s recommended 45.
We all know that Tesla’s Range Mode increases range. Kman explains exactly how it works, and what the trade-offs are (mostly stuff you can do without).
Slow down! Everyone knows that vehicles (electric or fossil) are more efficient at slower speeds. Kman has calculated that the optimum speed for Model S is 24 mph. If you could somehow manage to drive around at a constant 24 mph, you should get as much as 550 miles of range.
Auto racing fans know that drafting – the practice of following closely behind another vehicle to cut down wind resistance – saves energy. Tesla’s adaptive cruise control makes this easy – just set the desired distance from the vehicle ahead of you. Kman claims he has seen a 40% increase in range drafting a semi truck.
Climate control is another well-known energy hog, but in an EV, heating uses much more power than cooling (gas cars use waste heat from the engine for cabin heating). If you can get by with the Tesla’s seat heaters, you’ll save some range, as using them is much more efficient than heating the whole cabin.
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Above: Tesla CEO Elon Musk talks shop with Kman (Facebook: KmanAuto)
There seems to be a bit of controversy when it comes to ride height. Theoretically the lowest suspension setting saves range on the highway, but some Tesla drivers claim that it increases tire wear, and that medium ride height is best. Your mileage may vary.
Model X is rated to tow a trailer of up to 5,000 pounds, but it will cost you in terms of range. Figure on at least a 50% reduction in range when towing. Kman points out that the aerodynamics of a trailer are much more important than weight. Officially, Model S can’t tow at all, but Kman claims it can tow up to 2,000 pounds (sounds like something that could void the warranty if anything goes wrong – be careful).
Next, Kman debunks the common belief that charging to 100% reduces battery life. In fact, the big no-no is charging to 100% and then leaving the car sitting around in high temperatures. But topping up is fine if you’re going to be driving right away, and it’s the easiest and most obvious way to maximize your range.
No matter how careful you are, you’re going to run out of energy eventually, so it’s best to be prepared for various charging scenarios, especially when taking road trips. It’s handy to have a collection of charging adapters in the car, including a CHAdeMO adapter and a couple of adapters for different types of 240-volt receptacles (even if you have to spend some time searching for them, as Kman does). And keep a heavy-duty extension cord in the car in case you ever need to plug into a regular outlet somewhere on the road.
Another handy accessory is a ChargePoint account, which gives access to thousands of public chargers. Theoretically you can initiate charging just with the smartphone app, but that won’t work if there’s a dodgy internet connection, so order the free card and keep it in your vehicle (there are various other regional charging networks, some of which require their own cards).
Tesla Tips: Part 1
Tesla Tips: Part 2
Tesla Tips: Part 3
Tesla Tips: Part 4
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Note: Article originally published on evannex.com, by Charles Morris
Source: KmanAuto
For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.
Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.
Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.
This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?
If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.
What do you think? Leave me a comment.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade
Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.
Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.
The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”
The Tesla UI team absolutely crushed it with the infotainment software. Nicely done @CarCoder!
One feature request: Allow folks to pull up the rear & repeater cameras on demand. This would be great especially for peace of mind. https://t.co/mNAOSLx6pE
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) October 10, 2026
The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.
It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.
The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.
For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s surprise addition to the X Takeover lineup has fans talking
Elon Musk will join Saturday’s X Takeover at Giga Texas for a live virtual interview.
Elon Musk will join X Takeover at Giga Texas on Saturday for a live virtual interview, according to Sawyer Merritt, who shared the news late Thursday. Musk will not be on stage in Austin. The conversation is set to stream for free on the @teslaownersSV account on X.
Organizers had kept expectations in check. In a September update, Tesla Owners Silicon Valley said Musk had appeared at the event twice before but was not promising a third appearance, even as fans hoped he would walk the Giga Texas grounds in person. A virtual spot matches 2024, when Musk gave a surprise interview of about an hour to the crowd in San Luis Obispo, as Teslarati reported at the time.
Wasn’t expecting this 🫡
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 9, 2026
This year’s edition is a first in several ways. It is the first X Takeover held outside California and the first at a Tesla facility, with tickets selling out in eight days. Tesla provides the venue, but the event is produced independently by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley. The main event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, followed by a drone and light show at 9 p.m. Maye Musk is the keynote speaker, Franz von Holzhausen is set for a virtual keynote, and Nicki Minaj is the special guest. Joe Tegtmeyer, whose drone footage Teslarati used to track the Optimus factory steel frame at Giga Texas, is also on the speaker list.
Musk’s interview topics have not been revealed, but the backdrop is busy. Tesla doubled its Cybercab fleet in Austin in late September, and last week Musk explained why Robotaxi hours only moved from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Merritt also reported Thursday that Texas DMV records now show 319 registered Cybercabs, up from 169. NHTSA’s deadline for Tesla’s sworn answers on Cybercab certification is October 30, and Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21.
Fans who cannot make it to Austin can watch the livestream on X. Musk tends to say more in unscripted settings than he does in prepared remarks, which is the reason this one is worth having open on Saturday.
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