The inside of a car can get extremely hot in summer months. It doesn’t take much before the temperature inside of a vehicle becomes dangerous. For you, your loved ones or your little furry friends.
Tesla's Dog Mode screen
Not a Tesla App
Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you have a pet with you, but you need to run to a store. Even with your windows cracked, it’s a bad idea to leave your pet in the car on warmer or cold days.
Introducing Dog Mode
Tesla solves this problem with Dog Mode. Since Teslas are electric, there’s no engine that needs to run, meaning you can run any system in the car without needing the car to remain on. This includes the heater and air conditioner.
Dog Mode allows you to set the temperature in the car, just like you’d set it at home, and the car will keep the interior of the vehicle at that temperature until you return. It doesn’t matter whether the cabin needs to be heated or cooled, the car will control the HVAC to keep the vehicle at the selected temperature.
Letting Others Know Your Pet is Safe
Since leaving your pet alone in a vehicle isn’t normally a good idea and people may not be familiar with Tesla’s Dog Mode, Tesla also displays a message on the screen.
Tesla does a great job at letting bystanders know that your pet is safe inside of the car. Once Dog Mode is activated, a message will display on the car’s large center screen letting people know your pet is safe.
The screen will show a cute picture of a dog and display a message that states, “My driver will be back soon.” It will furthermore let them know to not worry, and that the heater or AC is on and it will display the current temperature inside of the car.
What Happens If the Battery Gets Low
The car will only let you activate Dog Mode if your charge level is above 20%. This is to be sure that there’s enough of a charge to keep your pet cool or warm and a buffer for you to get home.
If you have enabled Dog Mode and the battery reaches 20%, Tesla will send you a notification on your phone letting you know that the battery is getting low and that you should return to your car.
Dog Mode will remain on as long as possible until the car runs out of battery.
How Long Can You Leave Dog Mode On
The heater or air conditioner is getting power directly from your car’s battery. Besides driving, climate control is one of the largest draws of power. The amount of power actually consumed, or the amount of time your car can remain in Dog Mode is entirely dependent on the outdoor temperature and how much energy the car needs to use to keep the cabin at the selected temperature.
A rough estimate is that your car will use about 4 miles of range per hour in which the climate system is on. This will differ based on whether you’re using the heater or AC, your Tesla model and the outside temperature.
Which Models have Dog Mode
Dog Mode is a standard feature available in Tesla Model Y, Model 3, Model S and Model X. You do not need to have Tesla’s Premium Connectivity in order to receive notifications from your Tesla or to control your Tesla from the Tesla app.
How to Turn On Dog Mode
To activate Dog Mode you’ll need to be inside of the vehicle. Tap on the fan icon along the bottom navigation bar and you should see the HVAC screen come up. Toward the top right corner, you’ll see different modes, such as On, Dog and Camp.
Touching Dog Mode will activate it as soon as you leave the car. Just set your temperature and you’re all set.
How to Turn Off Dog Mode
Once you get back in the car and start driving, Dog Mode will automatically turn off. If you come back for just a minute and leave again, Dog Mode will remain on.
Dog Mode is a fantastic feature and shows a clear benefit of electric cars, where you don’t need to have the engine on in order to power the HVAC system. Please use it with caution and don’t leave your dog or pet unattended for long periods of time.
There’s a new Kickstarter campaign aimed at Tesla owners, and this one adds a feature many owners have long hoped for — Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) support.
V2L is a system where an EV can supply power to external devices, appliances, or even homes by allowing the energy stored in its battery to flow out through outlets or adapters. Essentially, the EV acts as a power source for devices or the home.
While Tesla only recently added support for V2L with the Cybertruck, most of their vehicles don’t support the new feature. This appears to include the newly designed Model Y. And that’s where this new device comes in.
The VortiPower PowerShare VP20 provides the ability to use your Tesla’s battery as a portable power station - which means you can run other devices right off it.
Tesla doesn’t officially support this capacity, but it is part of the NACS and CCS standards, which means it is technically possible for every Tesla vehicle, not just the Cybertruck. The Vortipower VP20 serves to bridge that technical gap, providing the ability to provide power locally to the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y.
VortiPower is a new company that is kickstarting support for its vehicle-to-load Tesla adapter and aiming to provide additional adapters with more functionality—including for other CCS vehicles—in the future.
Power Station
You can use this V2L Power Station to power your devices that would normally run off of 120V, 12A wall sockets, which means you’ll be able to run corded power tools, electric stovetops, camping equipment, lights, or just about anything your heart desires.
The VortiPower has two 120V outlets, providing up to 3,500W - that’s 120V at 15A x 2 - across its outlets. While it’s not enough to power a home, it could provide you with much-needed power in desperate situations.
The VP20 can also output 240V from one of its ports - enabling the use of high-power devices that are 240V capable.
While it can’t fully replace a standalone generator, the VP20 does allow you to do some normal tasks that you wouldn’t be able to accomplish without a power source, all while using your Tesla’s massive battery. For reference, a typical portable generator provides about 4,000 to 10,000+ watts of power. However, depending on your needs, it could be a good alternative.
Power Usage
One of the best parts is that EVs include massive batteries. This device will have a fairly minimal hit to your battery per hour - just 3.5kWh. The Model Y Long Range’s battery is 75kWh, so you could run two devices at peak power loads for 10 hours and only use half your vehicle’s battery. Realistically - you’d use this for an hour or two at a time, which means the actual range hit is fairly small.
Pricing / Buy
VortiPower is offering its VP20 at $749 USD as part of its Early Bird Special - with about 130 units left at that price. The price after that will be $899 USD, and VortiPower expects to sell the product regularly after the Kickstarter at $1,700 USD.
They’re also offering some combo packs if you’re interested in multiple devices - and you can check out their pricing on their Kickstarter page. Shipping is included if you’re in the continental United States, but $49 USD anywhere else in the globe.
All the uses of the VP20
Not a Tesla App
Specs & Details
The VP20 has an overage output voltage of 110V to 220V - switchable from 120V to 240V modes, with a peak output power of 3,500W. Overall, it's a moderately sized package, coming in at 5x13x9 inches, with a total weight of 15 pounds. You could fit this in the sub-frunk of any Tesla, with its nearly 6-foot-long cable wrapped comfortably around it.
The Spec Sheet.
Not a Tesla App
The VP20 has passed the UL458 certification, which means it passes the standards for power conversion equipment for portable applications and recreational vehicles. That means that VortiPower has put some real effort into getting its product vetted and approved, which means it should be safe, stable, and reliable.
V2V Charging
You can also use the Vortishare for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) charging. While it would be fairly slow even at 120V/30A - it’d still be helpful in an emergency. It could serve to get a vehicle that’s low or out of battery enough additional charge to limp its way home or to a Supercharger.
Global Support
VortiPower offers both NACS and CCS2 headers. They send out the correct version based on your order region, so you won’t have to worry about getting the correct port for those in Europe or North America. For now, VortiPower is not offering a model for the Chinese market - but they could in the future if their Kickstarter goes well.
Delivery & Kickstarter
VortiPower expects to start production of its units at the end of February, with its first batch shipping in early-to-mid April of this year.
As a reminder, this is a Kickstarter - so there isn’t a guarantee that you’ll receive a product once you pay them - but VortiPower has already met and achieved their original goal over 10x over, and has kept in continual contact with their backers over the last several months. That said, they seem to have a product that has grabbed a lot of interest.
Tesla’s Stance on V2L
Tesla doesn’t have a positive stance on V2L projects and activities like this - at least unofficial ones that aren’t Tesla’s official PowerShare feature - which is still locked to the Cybertruck. If you’re interested in getting portable battery power outside of your Tesla, you’d be looking at buying a portable battery bank instead - and charging that at home, or using your Tesla’s 120V socket, if it has one.
We’re not sure whether Tesla will be pointing to the use of V2L devices like the VP20 in warranty claims - the VP20 itself uses a negligible amount of power compared to regular driving - and VortiPower claims that they’re working within Tesla’s established parameters to draw power from the High Voltage battery without any hi-jinks or unauthorized modifications.
VortiPower is also offering OTA updates to the device itself via an app - to ensure that it remains compatible with future Tesla Software updates. You can find out more information on their Kickstarter page.
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Tesla’s Q4 earnings call is coming up, and just like Tesla has done in the past, they’ll be answering popular investor questions during their Q&A session.
The earnings call itself opens up at 5:30 PM EST on January 29, 2025 - and Travis Axelrod, Head of Investor Relations at Tesla, will be heading the event, as usual. Tesla Investor Relations will livestream the event, and we’ll have links available for you once they’re posted.
Q4 2024 Top Questions
Tesla is once again accepting questions for their Q&A portion of the call through Say Technologies. While the Say Q&A question voting isn’t over, some of the most popular questions will likely stick at this point. The current batch of questions is interesting and should provide additional clarity on what Tesla hopes to accomplish in 2025.
Here are the current top 10 questions:
Is unsupervised FSD still planned to be released in Texas and California this year? What hurdles must be overcome to make this happen?
Is Optimus now mostly design locked for 2025 production?
When will Tesla start selling Optimus and price?
Elon has said publicly that long-term shareholders of Tesla will have the ability to invest in his other companies. Could you provide some clarity/color as to what that looks like? Brokerage firms use FIFO, so anyone who trades won’t have the true length of time as an investor.
Are there any discussions with other auto companies about licensing FSD?
Is it expected that Tesla will need to upgrade HW3 vehicles and if so, what is the timeline and expected impact to Tesla's CapEx?
What is the status on mass production of the Tesla Semi? How do you project it will affect revenue at scale?
Is there a new affordable Tesla model coming soon?
What technical breakthroughs will define "v14" of FSD, given then v13 is photon-to-control?
Is the Roadster still launching this year?
Note: We’ve made some grammatical corrections to the above questions to improve readability.
Interesting Questions
There are several other interesting questions that aren’t in the top 10, but making it into the top 10 isn’t a guarantee that Tesla will answer the question during their investor call, but they’ll at least be aware of what’s on investors’ minds.
Here are some of the more interesting questions investors have submitted:
Can you please tie purchased FSD to our owner accounts vs. locked to the car? This will help us enjoy it in any Tesla we drive/buy and reward us for hanging in so long, some of us since 2017.
Full voice control of the car, via Grok, will be a huge improvement. Can you elaborate on that functionality and when we will see it in cars?
When are we going to get the extended battery pack for the Cybertruck, and what is the range?
When will we see additional states added to Tesla insurance? Can you provide any additional info about the projects status?
How will Tesla manage having a part-time CEO, with Elon being busy with DOGE, SpaceX, X and others? Is a strong COO, ala Gwynn Shotwell, being considered?
Can you tell us some of the safety statistics for FSD v13.2 so far? How close is Tesla to achieving 1000 miles per intervention? 10,000 miles? Can Tesla make any safety data/metrics available to investors so we can more accurately track the rate of autonomy progress?
Can you share the latest developments regarding the integration of dry cathode cells in the Cybertruck?
When will the lower-cost model launch? And at what price point?
Is there a supply continuity plan for LFP cell supply in the US pending tariffs or potential Chinese export restrictions - this includes both Megapacks and vehicles.
Has Tesla given up on ramping up its solar roof?
What is the status on mass production of the Tesla Semi? How do you project it will affect revenue at scale?
We’ve submitted our own question regarding FSD below:
Tesla frequently highlights the number of miles between critical interventions as a key safety metric for FSD. Could Tesla consider publishing these figures quarterly to provide investors with greater clarity on FSD's progress?
If you’re interested in seeing everything people have asked or would like to submit your own question, you can do that here. You must be logged into Say, the 3rd party shareholder verification site, with an account, with your Tesla shares linked in order to vote or propose questions. Question submission and voting closes on January 29, at 4:00 PM EST, right before the event.
It does take anywhere from 24-72 hours for your shares to be verified, depending on which institution holds them, so make sure you do that soon.
Once your ownership is validated, you can vote up questions you’re interested in hearing the answer to. Your vote weight is equivalent to the number of shares you have. If you choose to submit a question, your question will have an initial number of votes equivalent to your number of shares.
If you’re not able to join Tesla’s live call, we’ll have a highlight of the earnings call and the Q&A session soon afterward.
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