Tesla's new Austin-built Model Y with 4680 battery is already seeing impressive charging rates

By Lennon Cihak
Tesla's v3 Superchargers can charge at more than 1000 miles per hour
Tesla's v3 Superchargers can charge at more than 1000 miles per hour

The newly built Model Y 4680 battery packs are seeing an impressive and positive (pun intended) charging speed.

According to Twitter user The Kilowatts, they were able to charge their new Model Y from 0% to 97% in just 52 minutes.

The Kilowatts’s Ryan Levenson took delivery of an Austin, Texas-made dual-motor Model Y, which is built with Tesla’s highly anticipated 4680 battery pack.

Levenson rents out electric vehicles he owns on Turo and maintains them. Levenson shared on Twitter that he drove the new Model Y three miles past its 0% state of charge. He noted that there was no effect on the vehicle’s acceleration.

“0% -> 97% in 52 minutes for our MIT (made in Texas) Dual Motor Model Y,” Levenson writes on Twitter.

“Plugged in at 12:25 am with 0 miles of range remaining (actually drove 3 miles beyond 0 with seemingly no impact on acceleration). Unplugged at 1:17 am with 270 miles of range.”

Levenson noticed that by plugging into a V3 supercharger, the vehicle almost immediately ramped up to the 250kW charging rate, which is much different than Tesla’s current battery packs that take time to ramp up to the 250kW rate.

“For anyone trying to analyze the charge curve here, it seems quick but what I find most interesting is the almost immediate jump to ~250kW unlike the ramp up to 250kW we’re used to and from there it slowly tapers down throughout the charge cycle.”

Tesla’s currently listing the Model Y dual motor configuration to have a total of 279 miles of EPA-rated range.

Being able to drive past 0% state of charge is interesting. Tesla purposely builds in a little buffer to err on the side of caution when estimating the remaining range.

Tesla does software lock the range on its vehicles to prevent them from losing all of their charge and damaging the battery.

In order to meet manufacturing efficiencies, Tesla has previously shipped vehicles with larger batteries and software-locked them if an owner bought a model with a shorter range.

Although the owner can only access the portion of the battery that they paid for, they actually receive a couple of hidden benefits.

The car can be charged to "100%" every day without any ill effects since the battery itself is not charged to 100%, only the portion the owner paid for.

Another advantage of such models is that the owner can buy and unlock the additional range at a later date if they choose to.

In 2019, during Hurricane Dorian in Florida, Tesla remotely extended the ranges on such vehicles so they could escape Dorian’s path.

They also provided Tesla drivers with free supercharger access and force-charged the Powerwall batteries to full power so they would be ready in case of a severe power outage.

Tesla’s battery day event back in September 2020 unveiled some pretty impressive technologies coming, but Tesla has yet to share in-depth data on what we can expect in real-world scenarios.

Tesla's Battery Day

Tesla FSD V12.4.2 Expected To Go to Employees Today – What To Expect

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

FSD v12.4 has been in the works for quite a while now, with Elon Musk previously suggesting that it would arrive near the end of May.

Musk has now given us an update on the state of v12.4, saying that FSD v12.4.2 will start rolling out to employees today.

FSD V12.4.2

FSD V12.4 initially launched with V12.4.1 to select customers on build 2024.15.5, bringing the much anticipated no-nag update alongside it. V12.4.1 had some issues according to Tesla’s early access customers who received the update in early June, with lane drifting and lane selection still being issues. On the flipside, V12.4 tends to be more assertive and less hesitant in intersections and parking lots.

Elon also mentioned that FSD 12.4.2 is much smoother, but the challenge is “keeping safety high, while also increasing ride comfort.”

Although v12.4 didn’t come with Banish Autopark and Park Seek, it did include the new vison monitoring that lets the vehicle not nag you under certain conditions.

Expected Release

We just need to confirm there are no safety regressions

-Elon Musk

So, now with the new confirmation that 12.4.2 is going to roll out to internal testers and employees soon, how far away is it for customers? It looks like it may be at least a few days away at the earliest for customers that are on FSD v12.4.1, and probably at least a week away from adding additional owners, assuming that testing goes well with this upcoming build.

When asked if V12.4.2 would come to customers on the July 1st weekend, Musk said “we just need to confirm there are no safety regressions”, which means it could be closer than we expect for ordinary customers.

FSD V12.5

So, with V12.4.2 on the horizon, what in the world is happening with V12.5? And what features will it bring with it?

In terms of features, Elon previously mentioned that V12.5 is supposed to bring Actually Smart Summon, along with fleet-based vehicle communications, and further reduce the likelihood of driver interventions. It’s also supposed to be the first iteration of Autopilot and FSD that the Cybertruck will be receiving.

It was previously supposed to arrive in early July, but that estimate is clearly out of the window given how delayed V12.4 has become. We could honestly expect FSD V12.5 to arrive alongside the 8/8 Robotaxi announcement, which would be fairly fitting.

Tesla Launches New Vision-based Autopark in Europe - Requirements and Features

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Today, alongside update 2024.20.6, Tesla has launched its new vision-based Autopark feature to vehicles with and without USS (Ultrasonic Sensors), outside of North America.

Availability

This is the first time that the vision Autopark update has come to countries outside North America, and we have confirmed that it is currently available in European countries including Spain, Germany, France, and Italy, amongst others.

It could also be available outside of Europe, but we haven’t had confirmation yet. The specific hardware of your vehicle doesn’t matter much. It’s being made available on vehicles with HW3 or higher, Intel and AMD-based vehicles and for vehicles with and without ultrasonic sensors.

However, it does require Enhanced Autopilot or Tesla’s Full Self-Driving package on your vehicle.

Vision Autopark Features

This newest iteration of vision Autopark is quite unique and comes alongside new visuals. However, High-Fidelity Park Assist is unique to AMD processors – which displays a 3D reconstruction of your surroundings. On Intel vehicles, a top-down 2D view will be displayed instead (differences between Intel and AMD Autopark visuals).

Vision Autopark is much faster than the old USS-based Autopark, and far more accurate. It can also park in tighter spots than before, being just slightly wider than the maximum width of the vehicle you’re driving.

Keep in mind that the new vision-based Autopark still functions for backing into parking spots, and for parallel parking. It does not support driving face-in to parking spots nor diagonal parking spots at this time.

This marks the first time that Autopark is available on vehicles without ultrasonic sensors outside of North America. Looking forward, given that vision Autopark has arrived for vehicles outside of North America, there is a good chance that Smarter Summon, Park Seek, and Banish Autopark will likely also come to these vehicles when it rolls presumably in an upcoming FSD release soon.

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