As part of update 2024.26.1, Tesla is bringing some oft-requested user features, including two of the biggest ones — the ability to schedule climate and charge cycles.
Although both of these options were available before, they were very limited in features, for example, if you wanted to precondition your cabin, you could only choose between weekdays or weekends, not anything in between. Scheduled charging was better, but you couldn’t pick the days of the week to charge, or choose a stop time. For owners with a time-of-day electrical plan, where the price goes up after a certain time, the ability to stop charging before the price increases is beneficial.
For now, this update is in a very limited release with only about 0.1% of the fleet having access to it, but it’s expected to go out to more vehicles soon.
In settings, there’s a new tab called Schedule, right after Navigation. There’s also a shortcut in the climate menu that will take you to the same location.
Schedule Location
Schedules for preconditioning or charging your vehicle are location-dependent, so your vehicle will only precondition at the selected time if it’s at the location you picked.
With the new scheduling options, you’ll be able to pick the location from a drop-down menu of saved locations, including your current location, Home, Work, and labeled Favorites. You can set a different schedule for each location. You can now set a schedule for any location even if you’re not physically there. Previously, setting a preconditioning or charging schedule only applied to the vehicle’s current location.
Start Times, End Times & Days of the Week
In the precondition or charging sections, you’ll be able to see any schedules that were already created for the selected location. Tapping on the + button will reveal additional options to create a new schedule.
From here you’ll be able to select a start time, end time, which days of the week the schedule should apply to, and whether this is a one-time occurrence or if the schedule should repeat.
These new options let you quickly set up temporary preconditioning or charging schedules when traveling.
You can set climate and charge schedules
@greggertruck/X (Edited by NATA)
You’ll be able to add multiple schedules, for example, you can have the vehicle precondition the cabin at 8 am during the week, but then create a second schedule for it to also precondition when you leave work at 5 pm, or create a completely different schedule for Saturdays, etc. Likewise, you can have different charging schedules during the week versus the weekend when electricity is sometimes cheaper.
Tesla App
In addition to setting schedules up through the vehicle, you’ll also be able to create them through the Tesla app once your vehicle receives update 2024.26.
Those with Tesla Solar and Tesla Powerwalls will find that this new interface is already compatible with Charge on Solar. Charge on Solar overrides the schedule settings when excess energy is available but will fall back to these settings if energy isn’t available.
These are two very welcomed features that will save some owners some money, while also reducing electrical loads on the grid by letting them set charge stop times.
If you have a consistent schedule, the preconditioning options are a huge improvement as you won’t have to remember to manually precondition anymore.
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Rendering of what Tesla's license plate feature could look like
Not a Tesla App
Tesla update 2024.38 has started rolling out to several regions and vehicles. Thanks to Tesla hacker Greentheonly, we have a behind-the-scenes look at some new features coming to Teslas.
License Plate Display
According to Greentheonly, it looks like Tesla may soon let you display your actual license plate in the vehicle’s visualization on the screen. In our article, The Most Request Tesla Features, several readers suggested displaying the vehicle’s license plate in the visualization instead of a blank, white plate.
It looks like Tesla will be doing just that, at least in China. Green found references that appear to conclude that you’ll be able to display your vehicle’s plate on screen. This will likely be user input, so you could have it say anything you’d like, and it doesn’t have to be your actual license plate.
For many owners, who may find it difficult to remember their license plate, this could serve a practical purpose in addition to adding to the visualization's realism.
While Green was only able to say it’ll be available in China, we expect this is due to China’s software development team working on it and that it’ll eventually be released worldwide.
While code for this feature was found in update 2024.38, we may not be turned on in China yet. We suspect this feature may be a strong candidate for Tesla’s upcoming holiday update.
FSD Hardware Version Display
As part of the 2024.38 update, Tesla has now made it easy to determine whether your vehicle includes Hardware 3 or Hardware 4. You can now simply navigate to Controls > Software and tap Additional Vehicle Information. In addition to other hardware information about your vehicle, your Autopilot hardware version will now be listed as well.
You can see whether your vehicle has HW2.5, HW3, or AI4. This in-car display is useful, but if you don’t have access to the vehicle, you can always use our guide on how to determine the hardware version of a Tesla.
New Battery Health Test & Service Mode Improvements
Green found some additional things as well. There’s a new and improved Battery Health Test. The new test will show you how your car scores compared to similar vehicles in the Tesla fleet.
In addition, maintenance records can now be permanently stored “in the car.” It doesn’t appear that this feature is activated yet, but it’s likely in active development with some parts leaking out in the 2024.38 update.
Tesla has included various Service Mode improvements and new visualizations in this update.
Mr Li on X came across some covered-up Project Juniper vehicles recently and he managed to get various shots of the vehicle.
Juniper Images
This front image reveals what looks like two rows of lights, possibly confirming the front light bar for the Model Y refresh — similar to the one on the Cybercab.
The rear side has a lot of lights on it!
Mr Li on X
The rear side shows a ton of brake lights, but it’s not clear why. While it looks like the Model Y refresh will also feature a rear light bar similar to the Cybertruck, there isn’t strong evidence of that in this photo.
Mr Li on X
There's an obvious set of lights at the bottom, so it looks like the Model Y refresh will be similar to the new Model 3 where the bottom lights can operate as brake lights when the one-piece tail lights and trunk are up.
Mr Li on X
In the last photo, we see that the overall form factor of the refreshed Model Y will remain unchanged, and Tesla is focusing the changes on the front and rear ends of the vehicle, much like the Model 3 refresh. However, in this one shot, we can also see what appears to be red light leaking out of the rear camera cover opening, possibly due to the rear light bar.
The Model Y is not only Tesla’s best-selling vehicle but also the world’s best-selling car in 2023. This year, it’s expected to be the best-selling vehicle in the United States and again in the world, so this refresh will be huge for Tesla.
@DominicBRNKMN made another fantastic set of concepts based on these new images. Given he had the most accurate Model 3 Highland concept before the official launch, we’re pretty sure his latest work be close here as well.
@DominicBRNKMN
We’re super excited to see the eventual reveal of Project Juniper, which is expected in the first half of 2025. However, expect to see a few more leaks before production kicks off at Giga Shanghai.