Lifestyle
X-Rack Tesla Model X cargo carrier: lightweight aluminum and custom fit for the trunk
Tesla Model X is arguably the gold standard in automotive technology and innovation, but its flashy upswing Falcon Wing door eliminates any possibility of a roof rack and roof-mounted cargo. Activities involving any sort of large luggage or hauling of gear can be a logistical challenge, especially if the excursion involves the use of Model X’s third-row seating, be it for passengers, cargo, or the family pet.
Tesla Model X owner, Nick Deninno, with his family of six, knows that all too well.
As an active New York-based Dad to four young children, the trunk area and folding third-row seats of Nick’s Tesla Model X gets plenty of use. But it has its limitations.
“I found quickly that once you have the 3rd-row seat up, all cargo space is all but lost. For a few years, I left one rear seat down on the third row and filled cargo next to my children that would eventually fall on them,” Nick tells Teslarati.
During the day, this Tesla owner runs a successful engineering and design firm. Putting his expertise in action, Nick devised a way to increase the storage capacity of his Tesla Model X, but without compromising battery range, rear-visibility, or parking in tighter locations, including Supercharging.
He called it X-Rack.
X-Rack Tesla Model X Cargo Carrier
Photo: Teslarati
Made in the USA and specifically for the Tesla Model X, the X-Rack incorporates the unique shape of the vehicle’s trunk deck into the cargo carrier’s overall shape. This design enables the rack to be at-the-ready without interfering with rear space when not in use.
X-Rack is manufactured out of lightweight aluminum as opposed to range-robbing steel and engineered to withstand cargo up to 500 lbs (227 kg).
Give Me Range
Teslarati testing the X-Rack on a Tesla Model X P100D in San Francisco
Weighing only 16.5 lbs for the ultra-light X-Lite Cargo Carrier and 21 lbs for the heavier-duty XHD carrier, both versions are extremely lightweight, corrosion-resistant due to the aluminum construction, and has a powder-coated finish.
The X-Rack was designed with efficiency in mind, both to maximum battery range and for ease of use. Unlike other steel racks on the market that are often bulky and cumbersome to use, Teslarati found the X-Rack to be relatively simple in use and can be installed or detached in roughly 90 seconds. Most of the time is spent loosening the bolt and pin that secures X-Rack to Model X’s receiver.
There’s also a sliding receiver tube that stores flush in the rack and enables Model X to return to its factory look when not in use.
Put it Away
X-Rack lightweight aluminum cargo carrier designed specifically for the Tesla Model X (Photo: Teslarati)
“The problem with hitch cargo carriers is that most are very large, heavy, and poor quality. But also you had to find a place to put it once you made it to your destination, or forced to drive around with it attached to the car for the entire trip.” – Nick, on why he decided to create X-Rack
The X-Lite and XHD Cargo Carrier can act as a replacement for Model X’s carpeted trunk floor cover or stow beneath it on a lower tier. The X-Rack can also tilt up and mimic the exact function as the factory trunk deck.
Photo: Teslarati
The frame of the X-Rack cargo carrier is powder-coated in either black or white, while the deck is offered in black or silver.
Along with color options, the X-Rack frame has a rear receiver port for additional attachments like a fishing rod carrier, a swing-out bike rack, and other lifestyle accessories. There are also mounting points on the frame for the relocation of the license plate bracket. Nick tells us that a snowboard carrier adapter and X-Rack’s snow accessory mounts are on the way, along with a variety of other solutions for nearly any cargo need.
As avid Tesla drivers, we’re all well aware of the perks offered by driving electric, especially when combined with Tesla’s extensive Supercharger network. Now, with the added convenience and flexibility of cargo transportation offered by X-Rack, that experience can be made even better.
Learn more about the X-Rack, including specifications and pricing.
Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”
In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.
Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer https://t.co/bVHzUmY9WN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2026
When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”
The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”
Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.
Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026
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