Tesla will benefit from opening up its Supercharger network to all EVs
Tesla
Tesla's Supercharging network has been exclusive to Tesla owners partly due to the proprietary plug that's used in the U.S. and Canada. However, the company may have to make changes to access billions of dollars the U.S. government will spend to build more charging stations across the country.
Opening Up to Competition
Tesla's Supercharging network in the United States will have to become available to competitors due to a new requirement from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Reuters reports that the final provision will be announced next week, which will pressure Tesla to expand beyond its proprietary charging plug and include the CCS1 charging standard used by many of its competitors. Otherwise, Tesla will lose the chance to receive $7.5 billion in subsidies, which is part of President Joe Biden's plan to construct 500,000 electric vehicle chargers in the coming years.
Tesla's U.S. Supercharger network, with more than 40,000 chargers worldwide, is often regarded as the benchmark because of its reliability, speed, and availability. However, the network's exclusivity has led to non-Tesla owners being unable to use it. For example, Tesla drivers can buy an adapter to connect to CCS1 chargers, but non-Tesla owners cannot do the same with Superchargers.
Competition Among Companies
Chargers seeking to become part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program will need to use the CCS standard, the U.S. charging system standard used in nearly all charging stations except Tesla's Superchargers. Companies such as ChargePoint Holdings and EVgo Inc are expected to compete for funding under the NEVI program.
Unfortunately, this move ends the idea that Tesla's charging system, which offers the most reliable hardware, will be the choice for North America charging stations. Tesla opened up its connector design for any competitor to use, but it appears EVs will be stuck with the bulky CCS system.
Tesla's Response
Tesla has already opened up some of its Superchargers in Europe and Australia to non-Tesla EVs, however, Teslas and Superchargers in those regions already use the CCS charging standard (CCS2 is used in Europe and Australia), making it easier.
Tesla has previously stated that it plans to allow other EVs to access their Superchargers in the U.S. as well, but that is still in progress. Tesla is expected to reveal updated Superchargers that will offer the CCS1 plug alongside Tesla's NACS plug.
Elon Musk met with the Biden administration a few weeks ago to discuss several topics, including the charging network. Last year, Tesla wrote the Federal Highway Administration, offering the Biden administration suggestions on how to shape the charging program. The company has also responded to a recent request from Ohio officials that companies submit charging proposals. In addition, in Arizona, Tesla said it was open to upgrading its chargers or building new ones to meet federal requirements, although a final decision was not made.
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Tesla maintains two primary software branches: the main feature branch and the FSD branch. In general, the FSD branch lags behind on new features pushed to the main branch but provides a more recent FSD version.
However, now Tesla is updating the main branch to a much more recent version of FSD.
Current FSD Build & Shadow Mode
Nowadays, the main branch always includes an older but stable build of FSD. It’s been on FSD V12.3.6 since July 2024. So, if you subscribe to FSD in North America, this is the FSD version you’ll receive until you get added to the FSD track.
Even if you don’t subscribe to or have purchased FSD, your vehicle has v12.3.6 on it. That includes vehicles in regions where FSD isn’t available for general use, such as Europe and China. In those cases, FSD runs in Shadow Mode, providing training data to Tesla if you’ve agreed to their data privacy policies. So Tesla is always analyzing what the vehicle would do compared to what the driver does. When there are contradictions, these are the clips and data Tesla will want to analyze.
FSD V12.5.4.2 on Main Branch
For the first time in five months, Tesla has now updated the baseline version of FSD in the main branch. The new version included with 2024.44 updates is FSD v12.5.4.2. This Tesla is updating the baseline FSD version to FSD V12.5.4.2
FSD 12.5 includes many features for a much smoother experience compared to FSD 12.3.6. Many users will appreciate that it gets rid of the steering wheel nag and instead relies on the cabin camera to provide real-time driver monitoring. This version also includes support for sunglasses with driver monitoring. It’ll be a big upgrade for anyone coming from FSD 12.3.6.
It's always a good thing when Tesla updates the baseline FSD version—that means that Tesla is confident that this new baseline is considerably safer and will continue to train the fleet against it.
What Update Am I Getting?
If you’re already on FSD V12.5.4.2, you’ll likely remain on that FSD build unless V13.3 manages to make its way to the public as Tesla originally planned, but that’s unlikely to happen before the Thanksgiving holiday. In all likelihood, you’ll be getting update 2024.44, which will give you some additional Tesla features while keeping you on the same FSD version.
For those who are already on 2024.44 - if you subscribe now, you’ll have V12.5.4.2 enabled on your vehicle.
If you have a Cybertruck, then you’ll receive update 2024.39.5 with FSD V12.5.5.3. They’re on a unique build for the moment, and this will likely be the case until Tesla acquires enough training data from the Cybertruck fleet.
The Cybertruck is having an eventful November. Just last week, we shared the news that Tesla isn’t offering their in-house wrap service for the Cybertruck anymore; the Foundation Series is now available in inventory in select US locations, Crossbars have arrived, and faster charging is around the corner. Now there’s even more to discuss about the stainless steel beast.
Projection Puddle Lights
Like the recently launched puddle lights for the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla has introduced a set of add-on Projector Puddle Lights for the Cybertruck. These Cybertruck-specific ones go for $75 USD, or $105 CAD and are available in both the Canadian and US Tesla stores.
However, these don’t have the Tesla wordmark - instead, they feature the iconic Cybertruck symbol and, in our opinion, look even nicer. Here’s to hoping Tesla also introduces a set with the graffiti-style Cybertruck wordmark.
Powershare in Canada
While the Foundation Series Cybertruck has been getting delivered in Canada since November 7th, there was no news on Powershare being supported due to regulatory constraints. On the 20th, Foundation Series owners in Canada began to receive emails to get their Powershare installs started through Tesla’s official installer - Qmerit.
More to follow on pricing and the process as we receive our Canadian quote from Qmerit soon.
FSD in Canada
The Cybertruck Program Manager, Siddhant Awasthi, confirmed that with Powershare now becoming available, FSD for the Cybertruck in Canada will also become available soon. Canadian trucks shipped with a factory software build that didn’t include FSD, but did include TACC and stoplight/traffic control.
Early this morning Tesla began rolling out a new version of FSD 12.5.5.3 for the Cybertruck, which is update 2024.39.5. Will this be the version that rolls out in Canada?
Update: Yesterday, Tesla started rolling out FSD on the Cybertruck in Canada for the first time. The update being rolled out is update 2024.39.5, which not only features the latest FSD available on the Cybertruck, version 12.5.5.3, but it also includes all the features update 2024.38, which includes the huge Sentry Mode improvements that reduce power consumption by about 40%.
Following Integrated Flight Test 6 for SpaceX’s Starship, Elon Musk confirmed that uncrewed Starships are likely to begin making their way to Mars in about 2 years. You’re probably going to ask what’s going to be in those Starships - that’s what Brett Winston on X asked as well. Elon confirmed that Cybertrucks and Optimus robots will be among some of the first items landing on Mars.
That’s a ton of awesome news for Cybertruck, and there’s absolutely going to be more around the corner, especially as we await the big Tesla Holiday Update. While you wait, why not take a look at our Holiday Update Wishlists?
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