Tesla Shows Off V4 Supercharger With Space For Screen and Payment Terminal

July 16, 2023

By Lennon Cihak

Tesla shows off Superchargers that appear to have space for a screen and contactless payment terminal

@TeslaOwnersUK

Tesla’s highly anticipated V4 Superchargers have made an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK with an interesting twist.

The two images show a close-up of the charging handle, but most interestingly, they also include a space for a screen, and a contactless payment terminal. The images were shared on Twitter by Tesla Owners UK.

Tesla Superchargers are known for thier fast speeds, ease of use and reliability, thanks to Tesla's Supercharger monitoring system.

Superchargers communicate directly with the vehicle and the owner's Tesla account to start, end and pay for the charging session.

This allows for a completely seamless operation that is almost exactly the same as charging at home. However, when Tesla opened up Superchargers to non-Teslas, it needed to allow non-Tesla owners to start and pay for charging sessions.

Tesla implemented this through the Tesla app, requiring non-Tesla owners to create a Tesla account and use the Tesla app to start, end and pay for their charging sessions. However, by adding a screen and terminal to Superchargers, Tesla may offer the ability to charge at Superchargers without a Tesla account at all. This could allow owners to start and pay for their charging session directly from the Supercharger's screen.

Twitter user Nacho Gonzalez pointed out that the payment terminal in the V4 Supercharger is the Payter Apollo, which is the same terminal used by IONITY in Europe, per Twitter user Felix Hamer’s reply.

We originally reported on Tesla’s V4 Supercharging last year when the automotive company revealed its full design in architectural drawings for a station in Danvers, Massachusetts. The first V4 charger officially opened earlier this year in Harderwijk, Netherlands.

These drawings revealed the height of V4 stations to be six feet, four-and-a-quarter inches tall, which is almost one foot taller than V3 Superchargers. They also come with a longer cable to allow charging non-Teslas without blocking other chargers.

Charging Speeds for V4 Superchargers

Tesla’s V4 Superchargers appear to be capable of charging speeds up to 350kW, an increase of 100kW from their 250kW V3 stations.

Tesla Reveals Number of Cybertrucks Sold in Trim Replacement Recall

March 24, 2025

By Karan Singh

@TeslaTruckClub on X

Tesla has issued a voluntary recall for all Cybertrucks built to date, for an issue with the Cant Rail - the upper trim piece on the sides of the vehicle that sits above the window glass. This is a pretty big deal that it reveals some key information - in fact, it is the Cybertruck’s first full-blown recall that will impact all vehicles.

The Issue

The Cant Rail, being a thin piece of metal attached to a narrow portion of the vehicle, is currently held down by a single bolt and automotive-grade adhesives. Tesla has noted that the adhesives are becoming brittle due to heat and cold cycles over time, resulting in some vehicles having the trim pieces either break or fall off.

This has been an ongoing issue with the Cybertruck - but was previously considered resolved as the issue mostly went away as Tesla improved their adhesive application.

As of March 20th, Tesla issued a voluntary recall to address the problem after conducting an engineering survey to determine a fix.

Tesla Reveals Number of Cybertrucks Sold

Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck sales on their earnings report, instead lumping it into an “Other Models” category that includes Model S, Model X, and Semi sales in addition to the Cybertruck. Since Tesla needs to reveal how many Cybertrucks are affected by this issue, this is our first official glimpse into how many Cybertrucks Tesla has sold.

The recall shows that Tesla has sold 46,096 Cybertrucks to date, which is the number of vehicles recalled. An estimated 1% of vehicles (approximately 460) have the defect, and Tesla has had 151 warranty claims to date in relation to the Cant Rail issue, which have already been remedied. As usual, no fatalities, collisions, or other injuries are related to this issue have been noted.

You can review the recall notice here if you’re interested.

The Fix

The fix to this issue is to fully replace the Cant Rail. That means that Tesla will be removing the existing Cant Rail from the vehicle - which is attached with adhesives - and then replacing it with a new part that uses a new structural adhesive that will not face environmental embrittlement, alongside being reinforced with a nut that will clamp the panel to the vehicle’s structure. Tesla will also weld the panel with an interior stud, solidifying the whole assembly.

Overall, it doesn’t sound like it’ll be a quick and easy fix, but it will be a very solid fix that should make sure that no more of these trim pieces fly off.

Wraps and Coatings

Those who have wrapped, coated, or otherwise treated the surface of their Cybertrucks will be in for a bit of a problem with this particular recall. The existing Cant Rail will be entirely removed from the vehicle, and replaced with a new piece, as mentioned above.

Because of this, the old Cant Rail exterior will no longer be on your vehicle - which includes your wrap or coating. When you go in for this recall, you will need to get the Cant Rails on your vehicle re-wrapped or re-coated, at your own expense.

Tesla is not providing reimbursement at this time for wraps or coatings done by third parties. If Tesla has installed your wrap due to a wrap promotion or through the in-house Tesla Wrap Program, you’ll want to confirm with your local service department if they can source and replace the wrap.

At this time, there’s been no official guidance from Tesla on in-house wraps, but we expect that because this is a recall and the wrap is a service from Tesla. Hopefully, we’ll hear something officially soon.

Tesla Activates Sentry Mode on Vehicles at Service Centers and Showrooms to Deter Vandalism

March 23, 2025

By Not a Tesla App Staff

Not a Tesla App

Following the recent spate of misguided violence against Tesla - which has targetted both private owners, as well as Tesla’s showrooms, service centers, and Supercharger sites, owners have been requesting Tesla to improve Sentry Mode and enable the B-pillar cameras. Tesla is now also looking to Sentry Mode to help protect their showrooms and service centers.

Service Mode Sentry Mode

In response to violence being directed at customer vehicles awaiting repairs at collision centers or awaiting delivery at showrooms, Tesla will now enable Sentry Mode on any vehicles that are parked at a Tesla service or Tesla collision location. They will also enable Sentry Mode on vehicles that are being prepared for delivery or are in delivery holding lots.

This change was announced by Elon Musk, following requests from many owners and followers on X for improvements to Sentry Mode following increased Tesla-focused vandalism.

This could put some additional stress on Tesla employees since Sentry Mode uses additional energy when active, meaning that employees will be required to plug in each vehicle about once per week, based on the amount of energy Sentry Mode uses. Tesla is still planning on improving the power efficiency of Sentry Mode in a future update.

While enabling Sentry Mode won’t directly prevent vandalism, such as vehicles honking or playing music when a threat is detected by Sentry Mode, this could help reduce the continued violence by making it easier for Tesla and Tesla owners to get video footage of the vandals.

By doing so, Tesla can ensure that they’re able to press charges against vandals, which will help to dissuade this misguided behavior. Hopefully, just the news that these cars are always recording - even when parked and awaiting repair or delivery - will give these would-be vandals a second thought before committing a crime.

While Elon didn’t mention whether this change would be limited to the United States, we expect that, at the very minimum, it will also include Canada, where 80 cars were recently damaged by vandals overnight at a service center while awaiting repairs. Ideally, this change will be rolled out globally and will help improve security at Tesla’s locations throughout the world.