Drive on Sunshine: Tesla to Introduce Clean Energy Charging

Rendering of what Tesla's new 'Drive on Sunshine' feature may look like

Not a Tesla App

Tesla is getting ready to introduce a new feature that allows owners to charge their cars using surplus solar energy. If your home is generating more energy than it's using, this excess energy can be directed automatically to your car.

For owners of solar panels, there have been limited options when your panels are generating more energy than you're using. The system tops off your Powerwalls if you have them, but once those are full, the system sends any excess energy back to the grid.

However, if you have a Tesla, you'll soon be able to automatically start charging your vehicle whenever excess energy is being generated. This is according to new text-based information found in the latest Tesla app, according to Twitter user Tesla App iOS. Tesla is calling this new feature "Drive on Sunshine," which focuses on providing the cleanest charge possible for Tesla vehicles.

Tesla has already started updating their app with some details regarding this new feature. The feature will instruct users to plug in at home during daytime hours, to take advantage of the surplus clean energy their solar system produces.

How It Will Work

The Tesla app allows you to set a charging limit for your vehicle. However, once this new feature is enabled, you'll gain access to two charging sliders. The first slider will control how much your vehicle is charged, regardless of where the energy is coming from. You'll be guaranteed to have this amount of charge every night. However, you'll have access to a new slider that lets you set the maximum charge level, but only using your solar system's clean energy.

This will allow you to set your charging limit to a minimum amount every day, such as 60%. You could then set your solar limit to something much higher, such as 90%. This will allow your vehicle will charge up to this limit when your solar system is producing excess energy.

By setting charge limits and specifying the desired charging times and locations, Tesla owners can ensure that their vehicles are being fully charged before excess energy is sent to the grid.

Apple Inspired?

Last September, we pondered if Tesla could develop something similar to Apple's Clean Energy Charging. Apple optimized iPhone charging times by prioritizing clean energy sources from the grid. This approach aligns with Tesla's mission to create zero-emission vehicles that can charge using clean, renewable energy.

The app also lets users charge their vehicle's battery using available energy sources for regular daily driving needs while reserving a portion of the battery to be charged exclusively when surplus solar energy is available.

Explains Recent Powerwall Announcement

This new functionality enables Tesla owners to charge their cars using renewable solar energy, reducing the reliance on fossil fuels throughout the charging and driving experience.

Tesla's goal is to make EV ownership as sustainable as possible by minimizing the use of fossil fuels and promoting clean charging options. When a household generates more solar energy than it can consume, this excess power can be directed toward charging the vehicle. Tesla again began offering the Powerwall as a standalone product, allowing customers to purchase the battery storage system without requiring a solar array.

The Drive on Sunshine feature is a major step forward in Tesla's mission to make electric vehicle ownership as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. With this update, Tesla continues demonstrating its commitment to creating a cleaner, greener future for all.

Tesla FSD V13 Makes Big Improvements Around Emergency Vehicles, School Buses and Speed Zones [VIDEO]

HABiBtheDWEEB / bilalsattar

Tesla’s FSD V13.2.2 continues its rollout to the HW4 fleet, now complete with holiday goodness that makes it available to all HW4 vehicles. While FSD V13 is capable of some incredible feats, such as three-point turns, there are some additional capabilities Tesla hasn’t talked about yet.

Emergency Vehicle Handling

First up, better handling for emergency vehicles. While Tesla works on gathering audio data to make emergency vehicle detection even better, Tesla improved how it handles emergency vehicles with FSD V13.

FSD previously had issues handling emergency vehicles - sometimes pulling over and stopping on V12, other times requiring driver intervention to do the job. This led to lots of user interventions when an emergency vehicle was detected. Ensuring you’re out of the way of an ambulance can save precious seconds - which is enough to save lives.

V13 now does a much better job of pulling overly safely to the side for emergency vehicles. Check out the video below of FSD pulling the vehicle over to the side of the road.

First time ever witnessing FSD pull over for an ambulance! @edgecase411 pic.twitter.com/pZlort36PF

— Bilal Sattar (@bilalsattar) December 21, 2024

School Buses

Another issue that FSD had trouble handling previously was school buses. Previously, FSD would ignore the stop sign and flashing lights and attempt to drive around the bus.

School buses often required driver intervention, but it seems Tesla has dedicated time to training FSD V13 to handle them properly now. Check out this post of FSD now successfully stopping and waiting for a school bus.

FSD v13 stopped for a school bus! Waited till the stop sign folded in and then proceeded forward! pic.twitter.com/ReU4enxnNB

— HAB!B (@HABiBtheDWEEB) December 19, 2024

Speed Zone Handling

Reduced speed zones, including school zones, have had mediocre handling by FSD in previous versions. Now, some initial speed zone handling has arrived in V13.2. However, while it does handle some speed zones with blinking signs, it doesn’t necessarily handle all speed zones. For now, while Supervising, drivers will need to make sure their vehicles don’t exceed the speed limit, especially in school zones. In the meantime, look at this speed video of the vehicle handling a speed zone with FSD V13.

Slightly better video of FSD V13 responding appropriately to flashing yellow lights indicating it’s temporarily a 20mph zone. It didn’t exceed 25 despite being set to a much higher max speed

Wish I had it engaged before the turn though, my brain wasn’t working pic.twitter.com/D091lqmROh

— Geoff Coffelt (@Skate_a_book) December 20, 2024

Camera Cleaning

As part of V13, Tesla included some interesting features addressing hardware - namely camera cleaning, The initial changelog was slightly vague: “Improved Camera Cleaning” and nothing else.

It turns out this actually refers to the camera heating elements around the vehicle, including those around the B-Pillar. According to FSD engineer Yun-Ta Tsai, this is far more complex than just heating the camera up.

The system integration team does a lot of energy and thermal optimization across the entire vehicle, to optimize autonomy.

This is just one example. The heating is actually more complex than just heating it up.

Yes, real world AI cares about these things, a lot!

Join us, if… https://t.co/EprJ805FYi

— Yun-Ta Tsai (@YunTaTsai1) December 21, 2024

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Tesla Addresses Cybertruck Tonneau Cover Leaks with New Rubber Seals

The new Rubber Seal on the Aero Flap

theMONK11/Reddit

The Cybertruck features an automatic tonneau that lets you lock in valuables. It rolls back and forth along a track and is somewhat water-resistant. Tesla never said that the tonneau would be waterproof, but many owners have encountered a lot of water flowing into their tonneau covers.

The place where the glass roof meets the plastic strip - the aero flap- seems to be the location where most of the water gets in, and this has been noted by many as a constant source of leaks - while the rest of the bed stays mostly dry.

Tesla has attempted to fix this by adding additional slats to the tonneau, which ensures that there are slats left over underneath the aero cover, thereby providing some additional water resistance. However, it looks like they’re doing more now to prevent these leaks. 

New Rubber Seals

Tesla intends to issue a service code - the term they use for service bulletins to fix common problems - for this particular issue. This service code will include the removal of the old aero flap and the installation of a new aero flap that has additional rubber seals - similar to the ones used on windows. Thanks to theMONK11 on Reddit for catching this and providing the photo.

The service code hasn’t gone live yet, so it looks like Tesla is only testing this new part for owners who have complained about excessive water intrusion. We’ll likely see this new flap, with the additional rubber seals, become a standard part on newly built trucks to resolve this issue.

For everyone else, you’ll need to put in a service ticket with Tesla, but we would recommend waiting a few weeks before doing so. That will give them time to finalize the process and have the new part sent around to service centers across North America. Given that this isn’t a critical issue to the functionality of the vehicle, Tesla likely will not issue a recall for this - so it’ll be up to owners to create a service ticket and have the new applique installed.

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