Tesla
3 Ways to Easily Add a Heads Up Display to Your Tesla
The Tesla Model 3 is not only the electric car brand’s most mainstream product, yet– it’s also one of the most advanced cars on the road, period. I’m not just talking about its high-capacity battery, advanced and well-publicized autonomous vehicle technology, or comprehensive suite of safety features, either. I’m talking about the sleek, minimalist design language of the Model 3’s interior, too. The single, floating, 15-inch touchscreen in the Model 3 does a fantastic job of setting a premium “mood” in the car, and really makes you wonder why you’d ever need buttons in your next car. The Model 3 interior really does do more with less– which is what makes the Tesla’s lack of a functional Heads Up Display (HUD) so maddening...
High Power Wall Connector (HPWC) or NEMA 14-50 Direct Plug – Which is Better?
After reading about charging your Tesla with a NEMA 14-50 outlet at home you may wonder if it’s better than a HPWC. Tesla’s High Powered Wall Connector (HPWC), now referred to by Tesla simply as wall connector, does what the NEMA 14 50 set up can do: charge your car. However, the two differ slightly in their execution so allow me to compare to help you determine which is better. First for some background, it’s important to understand that the “C” in HPWC stands for connector, not charger. The same goes for the mobile connector that comes standard with the car. That’s because all Tesla vehicles are designed with the chargers on board. Per Tesla, when a HPWC or mobile connector plugs into the charge port it provides alternating current, also known as AC po...
Can You Buy a Tesla Golf Cart?
A short thread on the Tesla Motors Club forum got me thinking recently…can you buy a Tesla golf cart? Well, you definitely can’t from the company because they don’t make one. Ok, that was easy. Everyone go home. But seriously folks, would it be a decent business idea? Elon Musk is known to be a risk-taker, and there’s certainly no shortage of golfers who would be in the market for a Tesla golf cart. These users of the Tesla Forums website (this is the company’s official forum and is not to be confused with the Tesla Motors Club forum) seemed to think it’s a pretty lousy idea. When the question was posed asking if it were a good idea for Tesla to begin making golf carts, user reed_lewis made the following statement: “Seems like a solution in search ...
The 5 Best Tesla Mods 2019 | Performance Upgrades
Over the course of the last decade, the cars from Tesla have established themselves as serious performance machines. They’ve been tearing up drag strips from coast to coast for years and, more recently, have been setting some pretty competitive times at road courses during the TeslaCorsa events. As such, a number of companies have been trying to come up with aftermarket add-ons and baubles that promise to enhance the cars’ already stunning performance, thereby getting a piece of Tesla’s motorsporting glory (and, yes, “motorsporting” is a word now). With all these great products coming to market almost as fast as Teslas are making it to the track, we felt like it was high time to put together a definitive list of the best Tesla mods available in 2019. Keep in m...
Do Teslas Take Gas?
Believe it or not, there are people out there who are unfamiliar with Tesla Motors. There are people out there who have never heard of Elon Musk and his plan to take humans to space and put solar panels on the roof of every home. These people may ask questions that a lot of us may find kind of funny like, “do Teslas take gas?” Instead of making fun of these people, we are just going to answer their question clearly and concisely: ehh…sort of. There are no Teslas on the road today that run on gasoline. All Tesla models are all-electric vehicles (EVs) and not hybrid gas/electric cars. That being said, there are gases being used in Teslas such as the freon in the air conditioner. Several users on this form for Tesla owners complained that their insurance companies didn’...
The 5 Best Hybrid and Electric Cars for Dogs 2019
It may not always hold true, but I think it’s fair to say that most of the people I’ve met who love the planet also love animals, and many of those people also love their pets. Caring for those pets responsibly and sustainably is important, but so too is having the ability to easily and comfortably bring your pets along with you– whether that’s on a short trip across town to the vet or a longer trip across the country. That’s understandable. What’s less understandable (to me, anyway) is when someone looks me straight in the face and tries to justify their massive, gas-guzzling SUV purchase with the words, “I have dogs.” It’s maddening, but it’s something I’ve heard over and over– and as recently as yesterday! As such, ...
How to Change a Tesla Key Fob Battery
Included with Tesla Model S, Model X, and available as an option for Model 3, the Tesla key fob is a mini version of the vehicle it pairs with. The sleek, smooth fob has no rubber buttons and is powered by a type CR2032 battery. According to Tesla in the Model 3 owner’s manual, the fob battery should last 5 years “under normal use.” In my experience, that number is more like 3 years. If you start to notice a lag in opening your doors upon approach, have to press buttons more than once, or just plain see a warning that it’s time to replace the battery, you can do so yourself in under five minutes. No service appointment necessary. To replace the battery first be sure you have a replacement that is the required type CR2032. It’s not a bad idea to buy spares befo...
$200,000 Tesla Hearse for a Clean and Quiet Last Ride
Funeral processions are serious, somber moments and, for many people, are planned to represent and reflect something about the way they lived. Unfortunately for people who were passionate about nature, environmental activism, or just the latest in automotive technology, however, there’s hasn’t really been a way to reflect that passion in the hearse that took them on their last ride. That is, until now. Meet the all electric Tesla Hearse. No, Elon Musk isn’t getting into the hearse business– although, with all the digging equipment he has over at the Boring Company it might not be a bad idea– instead, this Tesla Model S based hearse was make by a vehicle upfitter in Norway named Jan Erik Naley. Naley’s been turning upscale luxury sedans into hearses and o...
Tesla Brings Back Free Supercharger Access to Boost Sales
There’s really no way to put a positive spin on the fact that sales of the Tesla Model S and Model X– the brand’s most profitable products– are down double-digit percentages this year. Maybe the long-term demand isn’t there or the Model 3 is scavenging sales– or maybe the people who bought the pricey Tesla models are waiting to see the new Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron electrics before pulling the trigger on a new one. It’s tough to say what’s driving the downturn, but it’s easy to see that Tesla, itself, is taking things seriously. Seriously enough, even, to reinstate free, unlimited Supercharger access to anyone who buys a new Model S or Model X! BREAKING: All new Model S and Model X orders now come with ⚡ free ⚡ unlimited ⚡ Supercha...
Tesla Pushes Software Update to Dog Mode
We recently told you about how Tesla released a software update to include a feature called Dog Mode just months after a tweet asking for feature that keeps the inside of the car at a comfortable temperature for pets and displays a message saying such. As if that turn around wasn’t impressive enough, what happened this week is beyond the comprehension of most large companies. Mere seconds after Twitter user Rahul Sood tweeted to Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk about a potential bug causing the feature to not work as expected if your AC was last set to a manual fan speed, Elon responded “Fixing …” But that isn’t all. The fix itself, pushed via software update, came through just two days later. In less than the time it takes to have a typical meeting, Elon sa...
Autonomous Cars, Level 0 to 5 Explained
Self-driving, autonomous cars occupy a weird space in the modern, American psyche. To some, they’re part of a futuristic, Utopian vision of safer, cleaner vehicles that could fundamentally change the nature of transportation ownership for the better. To others, they represent a bleak and soulless tomorrow that will see entire industries gutted, leaving millions unemployed. To others still, it seems like they’ve already been around a while, in some form or another, and nobody really seems to care– and that’s where things tend to get tricky and people start asking questions. As such, we’ve decided to answer a few of the most common questions that have come up about self-driving cars in our first “Enrg.io Explainer”. Enjoy! Level 0 | Zero Autom...
EVs and Electricity Bills
One of the most common questions I have gotten in 5 years as an EV owner is “how much did your electricity bill go up?” My short answer: it didn’t. When my husband and I moved into our single home with central air and an in-ground pool, we were shocked by the electricity bill. We came from a typical Philly row home (a block of brick houses all connected) where utility costs were low. In the first 3 years living there, we made several notable purchases: LED light bulbs, high efficiency washer/dryer, variable speed pool pump, a new 10 cubic ft. refrigerator to replace the 30 year old beast behind our bar, and a Tesla Model S 85. Comparing our first 6 months in this house (2012) with those same 6 months the first full year we had an electric vehicle (2015), we actually used ...