Tesla’s Robotaxi: A Look at Batteries, Range, and Pack Size

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Tesla’s Robotaxi - called the Cybercab - took to the streets at the We, Robot event - Tesla’s latest event covering autonomy for vehicles and humanoid robots.

Tesla was pretty light on the specifications and details behind the vehicles, but there was some information that made its way out to the open in the following days. We’ve gathered up all that juicy information, so leave your Supercharger cable behind, and let’s take a look at some Cybercab battery and range details.

In addition to Tesla Vision, Optimus leverages many of our vehicles' hardware components, like batteries, cameras & computers

This greatly helps accelerate its development pic.twitter.com/JcMS35yHpY

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) October 15, 2024

Robotaxi Batteries

Tesla released this excellent animation on X recently, which looked at the similarities between Optimus - Tesla’s humanoid robot - and the Cybercab. The key note is that the Cybercab and Optimus share the same batteries, same computer, and same cameras, all based on AI5. So, assuming the video is accurate, we can roughly determine how many batteries are inside the Robotaxi, and then extrapolate the range as well. We’ve also got a second method to take estimate the vehicle’s battery size, based on the video where Tesla showed off the Cybercab’s wireless charging capabilities.

Method 1: Counting Batteries

Based on the animation, the grid of cells is 27 wide by 30 tall. If the video accurately depicts the Cybercab’s battery pack, that gives us 810 cells. We already know the 4680 battery pack in the Cybertruck has 1,344 cells, with a capacity of 123 kWh.That’s about 0.09kWh per cell, which works out to 74.685kWh in the Cybercab.

However, we feel that this number is far too large, especially given that Tesla is already intending to use the new NC05 battery format in the Cybercab. We expect the Cybercab to launch with a battery smaller than the Model 3 Standard Range (54 kWh). Therefore, we can try a different method to determine the pack size.

Method 2: Charging Math

Rafael Levy on X helped out with this calculation - it's possible to extrapolate the battery size in the Cybercab by looking at the charge rate, time remaining, and battery max charge level in Tesla’s wireless charging video. In the video, the car starts charging at 35% and is being charged at about 25 kW. The video shows the charger starting at 19 kW and going up to 25 kW of power. The video also shows that the vehicle is charged for 56 minutes. Near the end of the video the vehicle finishes charging at 80% - likely suggesting a non-LFP battery. 

When you calculate it out - 25 kW for 56 minutes, you get 23.3 kWh, which is 45% of the battery pack (35% to 80%). Calculating for the full pack, it sounds like the Cybercab’s battery pack is approximately 51kWh, a much more reasonable number.

We expect the Cybercab to launch with the new NC05 cells that Tesla has been working on, which will likely be a smaller, more efficient cell than the Cybercells in today’s Cybertruck. Those smaller cells will also have less energy per cell while also taking up less space and being easier to warm or cool due to overall thermal mass. 

The Cybercab doesn’t need to solve every travel case, just the most popular, which would be shorter distances. Tesla’s goal with the Cybercab is efficient and cost-effective, and a smaller battery pack definitely fits into that motive. We expect the Cybercab to include between a 40 kWh and 50 kWh battery pack.

Being autonomous, the Cybercab will have more opportunities to charge and clean itself without inconveniencing the consumer since it could go to a nearby hub after dropping off a customer.

Cybercab / Robotaxi Range

Yesterday, Tesla shared its Q3 earnings call deck, which revealed some new information about the Cybercab. In it, Tesla stated that the Cybercab will include a new powertrain and will achieve an estimated 5.5 miles per kWh. For reference, the Model 3 Long Range gets about 3.9 miles per kWh, so this is a massive improvement. Some of the improvements likely lie in the Cybercab's lighter weight and improved aerodynamics, but the new powertrain likely also brings some increased efficiency.

If the Cybercab achieves 5.5 miles per kWh, we can speculate that, depending on the battery pack size, it’ll have a range between 220 and 270 miles.

Top Gear also attended the Robotaxi event and was told by an employee that Tesla is aiming for a vehicle with 200 miles of range, which matches the lower end of our calculations above. Top Gear also stated at the time that the Cybercab would achieve 5.5 miles per kWh, which Tesla revealed yesterday.

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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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