Tesla Launches New Extended Warranty Option for Some Vehicles

By Kevin Armstrong
Tesla now offers an extended warranty in some regions
Tesla now offers an extended warranty in some regions
Not a Tesla App

Tesla has begun offering an extended warranty called Extended Service Agreement (ESA) in the U.S. The service provides further coverage for eligible vehicles following an accidental leak last year on their mobile app.

You may recall Tesla unintentionally revealed a new extended warranties program when version 4.11.0 of the mobile app went live in July 2022. A new item appeared in the Upgrades section titled Tesla ESA, priced at $7,700.

The description was unclear, with several grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and poor formatting, suggesting that it was not ready for public consumption. It was unknown whether the ESA was being prepared for all models or if the price was a placeholder.

Fast forward to today, Tesla's Vehicle Extended Service Agreement (Vehicle ESA) is now officially available for eligible Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y owners. The Vehicle ESA commences when the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires and ends upon reaching the selected time or mileage threshold, whichever comes first.

Eligibility and Coverage

To be eligible, the new vehicle must be purchased directly from Tesla, and the Vehicle ESA must be purchased no later than when the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires.

Pricing

The pricing for the Vehicle Extended Service Agreement (in USD) is:

Model S (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $3,100.00

Model X (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $3,500.00

Model 3 (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $1,800.00

Model Y (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $2,000.00

These prices are notably lower than the previously leaked $7,700 price tag. The Vehicle ESA purchase price does not include applicable state and local taxes.

The new ESA covers Model S built between 2012 and 2020, and Model X built between 2015 and 2020. There are no similar production date limitations for Model 3 and Model Y.

Unfortunately, there is no grace period. The ESA must be purchased before the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires (4 years or 50,000 miles). This means 2018 and some early 2019 Model 3 sedans are not eligible.

Exclusions and Deductible

The ESA covers the repair or replacement necessary to correct defects in the materials or workmanship of most parts manufactured or supplied by Tesla during the coverage period. However, it does not include the high-voltage battery or drive unit, which have their own standard 8-year warranty.

Tesla clarifies that the ESA is not a Maintenance Plan and will not cover wear and tear items like brake pad replacements.

The deductible for Model 3 and Model Y is $100 per visit, and it's believed it will be $200 for Model S and Model X.

How to Get ESA

To purchase the ESA, open the Tesla mobile app, go to the 'Upgrades' tab, and select the 'Extended Service Agreement' option. Follow the prompts to complete the purchase, and the ESA will be added to your account. It's important to note that the ESA only takes effect after your Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires. It can be transferred to the next owner, which the company says can improve aftermarket value.

Tesla's Vehicle Extended Service Agreement has evolved from last year's accidental leak to its current official offering. This additional protection aims to provide greater peace of mind and an improved ownership experience for Tesla customers.

Tesla Plans CyberCanopy Supercharger with RGB Lighting and UFO-Inspired Design

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Back in 2023, Tesla put together a rather unique Supercharger site idea - one with a CyberCanopy. This canopy is intended to provide solar power for Supercharging, helping to reduce the impact on the local grid while also providing a futuristic and Cybertruck-themed location that would set it apart.

Unfortunately, the plans never moved beyond the filing stage. Instead, Tesla opened a standard-looking Supercharger at the same Canton, Massachusetts location. However, the site is still well-situated just off the highway and benefits from natural tree cover in the parking area.

However, Tesla is at it again with a concept for another CyberCanopy with RGB lighting. Thanks to MarkoRP for spotting this. No April Fool’s this time.

We want to build a few Superchargers cool enough to be worthy of the trip itself. - Max de Zegher

CyberCanopy 2

This second Supercharger with CyberCanopy is set for Roswell, New Mexico, at the Whataburger in town. Featuring just eight stalls, this will be one of Tesla’s smaller Supercharger sites, but for what it lacks in size, it makes up for it in uniqueness. The charging stalls are covered from the rain by a futuristic, Cybertruck-themed canopy, which will have solar panels installed on the top of it.

According to the plans, the CyberCanopy boasts 20.88kW of solar panels on its roof, providing shelter from the elements while also providing some power back to the grid.

RGB Lighting

At nighttime, the Supercharger will make a big statement. Tesla intends to light the long edges of the canopy, which will not only look amazing, but it’ll actually make finding the Supercharger easier in a large parking lot.

The lighting coming off the edge of the canopy reminds us a lot of the lightbar on the Cybertruck and now the new Model Y. It’s definitely the direction Tesla is moving for all their models, so expect all future models to have it, including the new Roadster and the next-gen model.

Tesla’s Max de Zegher also took to X after the plans for the new Supercharger were found and shared the image above. He stated that Tesla wants to build a few cool Superchargers that will be worth stopping at, even if they’re out of the way a little bit. So it seems like this isn’t just a concept, but an idea that Tesla wants to expand to several areas around the country or world.

Sending Energy to the Grid

This particular site doesn't have a Megapack or other form of energy storage, unlike the upcoming Harris Ranch Supercharger site in California. That means that Tesla won’t be storing the solar energy gained from this site, but instead will be either offsetting the immediate grid impact or serving energy back to the grid when the site isn’t actively charging.

Tesla will likely be incorporating V4 Superchargers, including both V4 posts and the new, more powerful V4 Cabinets, as the permit states that Tesla will be redesigning the site internally before beginning construction. For Cybertruck owners, 500kW charging may be around the corner.

We’re hoping Tesla continues to deploy these kinds of Supercharger sites around the world - they make a stylistic statement about Tesla’s futurism, like the Shell gas station that was upcycled into a Supercharger site earlier this year in Spain.

They also make a big impact for ownership because it is a far more comfortable charging experience when you stop at a site that’s shaded from the elements - and one that’s better for the environment with offset emissions.

Imagining Tesla’s Robotaxi Network Charging Stations

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

It was a rainy April 1st when a news-searching author went on a delve into the depths of April Fools to find fact from falsehood. And while we found a lot of fantastic jokes, we also found some good ideas.

So, with a shoutout to MarcoRP on X, whose April Fool’s Joke gave us a good run for our money for a couple of minutes, we thought to ourselves - what would a Cybercab Charging Station / Cleaning Hub really look like?

Cybercab Wireless Charging Sites

Now, before continuing, we’d like to point out that the image up top is a joke from Marco - it isn’t an accurate or real site map submission from Tesla. However, it gave us the impetus to think critically about what is required for a Robotaxi fleet, based primarily on the Cybercab, to be able to service a city.

Requirements

Tesla will likely need to charge a small fleet of Cybercabs at a single time and in a single place. That means that the site needs to be large enough to cover a major metro area while also still being compact enough to not cost too much money to build out.

In addition, we need to factor in charge times. The Cybercab is likely to launch with a battery around 50 kWh, which will result in a range of approximately 300 miles. With that much range, the average Cybercab may not need to charge more than once or at all during daytime shifts, so instead, most of the vehicles will charge overnight.

MarcoRP

Math and Charge Times

The overnight charging means that most of these vehicles could be charged slowly. When we did some back-of-the-napkin math last year, we determined that Tesla’s wireless charger will likely peak around 17 kW (for comparison, Tesla’s Wall Connector at 32 amps charges at about 7 kW). If we scale Tesla’s wireless charger down slightly to 10 kW, accounting for some energy loss and the potential size of the site, that means a Cybercab will be able to charge in about 5 hours.

Tesla’s upcoming V4 Supercharger unit can currently handle 1.5MW per cabinet, but this slower-speed charging is A/C, not DC, which means there is a step-down loss of about 3-5%. Let’s make that a comfortable 10% for any other overages, but we can estimate around 1.35MW of power. That 1.3MW will easily handle charging up to 100 Cybercabs at once - all wirelessly, using Tesla’s unique beam-forming and beam-steering technology to keep efficiency high at every single stall.

Within about 5 hours, a whole fleet of 100 Cybercabs could be charged overnight when electricity rates are cheaper and still be out in time for the morning commute.

While this is all just hypothetical, it really does make sense that Tesla will be establishing these sites that won’t require much space or a ton of energy.

Tesla recently curtained off a large section of the parking garage at Giga Texas, as well as some of their chargers on the eastern end of the facility, leading us to believe they may just be testing this at scale internally.

There’s a lot to look forward to with Tesla’s V4 Supercharger deployment coming this year and with Robotaxi launching in just a couple of months.

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