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  • Your Tesla doesn’t come with a spare tire, and the repair kit isn’t included either

    Your Tesla doesn’t come with a spare tire, and the repair kit isn’t included either

    New owners often assume there’s a spare tire tucked under the trunk floor. There isn’t — and unlike a lot of other automakers, Tesla doesn’t include a tire repair kit standard, either. Here’s what’s actually available, and what to do if you get a flat.

    Tesla sells the repair kit separately

    Tesla’s Air Compressor + Tire Repair Kit is a $110 accessory, not something that comes with a new car. It includes an air compressor, a bottle of sealant, and a storage bag; Model Y versions add an extension cable. You have to be signed in with a verified Tesla account tied to an owned vehicle just to buy one.

    Per Tesla’s support page, the kit only handles punctures up to 6 mm (about a quarter inch) in the tread — not the sidewall — and it’s a temporary fix. Tesla says not to drive more than 62 miles on a repaired tire before getting it inspected by a specialist.

    What Roadside Assistance actually covers

    If you don’t have a kit and get a flat, Tesla’s roadside assistance policy covers flat-tire service — repair or replacement completed through Tesla — for up to 50 miles from where you’re stranded. Request it from the Roadside button in the Tesla app. In some regions, Tesla’s contracted providers carry a limited number of loaner wheels for a quick swap; mounting a replacement tire on your original wheel at a service center costs extra. If nobody nearby can help on the spot, the car gets towed to the closest Tesla Service Center.

    What that means for you

    Most owners end up in one of two camps: buy Tesla’s kit (or a comparable third-party sealant-and-compressor kit) and keep it in the trunk, or rely entirely on Roadside Assistance and hope help is within range. Given that Tesla’s own kit can’t touch a sidewall puncture or anything larger than 6 mm, it’s worth knowing its limits before you count on it — for anything bigger than that, you’re calling for a tow either way.

    Photo by Erik Mclean.

  • Tesla now sells an $80 adapter that turns your Model Y Premium into a power outlet

    Tesla now sells an $80 adapter that turns your Model Y Premium into a power outlet

    Tesla has started selling an $80 accessory that turns some Model Y Premium vehicles into a portable power source, according to Electrek’s reporting on August 15, 2026.

    What the adapter does

    The V2L (vehicle-to-load) Outlet Adapter clips onto the end of Tesla’s Gen 3 Mobile Connector cable. Plug the connector into the car’s charge port, clip on the adapter, and it exposes two household-style outlets that draw from the car’s battery. Tesla rates it at 2.4 kW, delivered at 120 volts and up to 20 amps — enough for power tools, small appliances, or camping gear, per Not a Tesla App.

    Not every Model Y Premium qualifies

    The adapter only works on vehicles built with hardware that supports two-way power flow through the charge port, and Tesla hasn’t published a clean cutoff date. Not a Tesla App reports that owners of cars built as recently as June 2026 are seeing mixed results, suggesting Tesla changed the underlying part around that time. Electrek adds that Model Y Performance and Cybertruck already support the feature, while the Model Y Standard and every current Model 3 do not — so this is a staged rollout tied to specific hardware, not a universal feature update.

    Tesla checks eligibility by VIN at the point of purchase. The most reliable way to find out if your car qualifies is to open the Tesla Shop inside the Tesla app, search for the outlet adapter, and see whether it’s offered for your vehicle — Tesla won’t let you buy it otherwise.

    How to get it

    The adapter is available now for $80 through the Tesla Shop, or as an add-on when configuring a new Model Y Premium, in the US and Puerto Rico.

    Tesla is still behind some competitors on V2L output: Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 has offered 3.6 kW since 2021, and Ford’s F-150 Lightning can reach 9.6 kW. Whole-home backup power (Powershare) remains exclusive to Cybertruck.

    Photo by Kindel Media.

  • Is the six-seat Model Y L worth $61,990 over a regular Model Y?

    Is the six-seat Model Y L worth $61,990 over a regular Model Y?

    Tesla’s six-seat Model Y L costs $61,990 in its launch configuration — about $8,000 more than early market estimates and roughly $15,000 more than a standard Model Y Long Range, according to Electrek’s coverage of the US launch. Here’s what that extra money actually buys.

    What’s physically different

    Tesla stretched the wheelbase by 150 mm (5.9 inches) and added about 180 mm (7 inches) to overall length, making the Model Y L the second-longest vehicle in Tesla’s lineup after the Cybertruck, per Electrek. That extra length goes almost entirely into a real third row: 33.2 inches of third-row legroom in a 2+2+2 layout, rather than the cramped bench some three-row crossovers use.

    What else comes with it

    The Launch Series also adds 89 cubic feet of total cargo space, adaptive damping, staggered tires, upgraded acoustic glass, a 19-speaker sound system, a second-row 8-inch touchscreen, and 50W cooled wireless charging pads, according to Electrek. Range is rated at 325 miles, with a claimed 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds for the dual-motor Launch Series. US deliveries for early orders are expected to begin in October or November 2026.

    How it stacks up

    At $61,990, the Model Y L lands in the same three-row family SUV segment as the Kia EV9 (from $54,900, up to 304 miles of range) and the Hyundai Ioniq 9 (from $58,955, up to 335 miles), per Electrek’s reporting — so the extra row and length come at a real premium over both competitors and Tesla’s own five-seat Model Y.

    Kim Java took an early look at the Model Y L on her channel:

    Her video shows one owner’s hands-on first impressions; the pricing, dimensions, and delivery timeline above come from Tesla’s US launch details as reported above, not from the video itself.

    Photo: Chenxi Yan via Pexels.

    Photo by Chenxi Yan.

  • EVgo is adding Superchargers to its network. Here’s what that means for your road trip.

    EVgo is adding Superchargers to its network. Here’s what that means for your road trip.

    EVgo announced on August 5 that it’s deploying its own branded “EVgo Superchargers” — Tesla V4 hardware capable of up to 500 kW — across its metro charging network, according to EVgo’s press release. The stations use Tesla’s Magic Dock, so NACS (Tesla-plug) and CCS-equipped EVs can both plug in without an adapter.

    What changes for your trip planning

    EVgo says the new stations will show up in your Tesla’s in-car navigation, and Trip Planner will be able to route you to them automatically, the same way it already routes you to Tesla-operated Superchargers. EVgo puts the charging speed at up to 200 miles of range added in about 15 minutes under ideal conditions. Deployment starts this fall, with the first sites expected online in the second half of 2026 — EVgo hasn’t published specific station addresses yet, so you won’t see them on a map until they’re closer to opening.

    These aren’t Tesla-operated stations

    It’s worth keeping the distinction straight: EVgo Superchargers are owned and operated by EVgo, not Tesla, even though they run on Tesla’s V4 charging hardware and Magic Dock technology. EVgo expects more than 35 NACS-equipped EV models on the road by the end of 2026, on top of the more than 3 million Tesla vehicles already in the U.S., all of which will be able to use these stations.

    What to do in the meantime

    Until EVgo publishes real locations, there’s nothing to change about how you plan a trip today — keep using your Tesla’s Trip Planner and Tesla’s own Supercharger network as your primary route. Treat EVgo Superchargers as an additional network to watch for, not a replacement, especially in metro areas where Tesla’s own stations can get crowded.

    Photo: Reinhard Bruckner via Pexels.

    Photo by Reinhard Bruckner.

  • Tesla files plans for a $10.1 billion solar factory in Texas.

    Tesla files plans for a $10.1 billion solar factory in Texas.

    Tesla has filed plans for a $10.1 billion solar manufacturing plant in Fort Bend County, Texas, according to Electrek’s review of the state filing. The project, internally named “Project Crystal Sun,” would sit on roughly 3,050 acres near Richmond, just outside Houston.

    What the filing describes

    Unlike most U.S. solar manufacturing today, which assembles modules from cells imported from Asia, the plant would handle production start to finish: ingot manufacturing, wafer manufacturing, coating, metallization and printing lines, cell testing, and cleanrooms, per Electrek’s reporting. Tesla filed for a Texas state tax incentive tied to the project, a standard step for a facility this size, according to pv magazine USA. Construction is planned for 2026 through 2028, with commercial production targeted for the first quarter of 2029. The filing estimates 9,712 permanent jobs at full buildout.

    Why it matters if you own a Tesla

    Tesla’s business isn’t only cars. Its Energy division sells the Powerwall home battery and Solar Roof, and plenty of Tesla owners pair one of those with home charging. A domestic, vertically integrated cell plant would let Tesla source solar cells for those products without relying on imports — but the filing doesn’t specify pricing, output targets, or which products the cells would supply, and commercial production is still roughly three years out.

    Worth keeping in perspective

    A state filing is not a groundbreaking. It’s an early, if serious, step: Tesla has revised or delayed large projects before, and permitting, financing, and construction all have to happen before Project Crystal Sun produces anything. Treat this as a plan to watch, not a done deal.

    Photo: Nova lv via Pexels.

    Photo by Nova lv.

  • Tesla is using its cameras to start deploying airbags earlier

    Tesla is using its cameras to start deploying airbags earlier

    Tesla has started using the cameras it already fits to every car for something other than driving: giving the airbag system a head start.

    What changed

    Tesla published a short explainer on its own channel describing how Tesla Vision, its camera-based perception system, watches the road ahead and passes a warning to the restraint controller when it judges a collision unavoidable. InsideEVs reported on June 25, 2026 that this lets airbags and seatbelt pretensioners begin deploying up to 70 milliseconds earlier than a system waiting on impact sensors alone.

    Seventy milliseconds is less than a blink. At highway speed it is also several feet of travel, which is the point — restraints that are already moving when the impact arrives are doing more of their job.

    What did not change

    The cameras do not fire the airbags. InsideEVs is explicit that “impact sensors still make the final call on airbag deployment; cameras alone won’t deploy them.” The camera side is a prediction that prepares the system; the physical sensors still decide. That distinction matters, because it means the change is additive to the crash-detection hardware rather than a replacement for it.

    Whether your car has it

    This arrives by software update, and as of InsideEVs’ reporting Tesla had not published a list of which models and software versions are included. So treat it the way you’d treat any staged Tesla rollout: it is not a feature you can assume is active in your car because you read about it. Check your release notes under Controls > Software for what your vehicle has actually received.

    Nothing here changes how you should drive. It is a passive system that acts in the last fraction of a second before a crash you were already trying to avoid.

    Tesla’s own explanation

    Tesla published this on June 22, 2026 on its official channel:

    That video is Tesla describing its own system, so read it as the company’s account of what it built — the independent reporting linked above is where the 70-millisecond figure and the sensor caveat are laid out.

    Photo by Nikky Almon.

  • Is the cheaper Model Y the one to buy?

    Is the cheaper Model Y the one to buy?

    The Model Y now starts a good deal lower than it used to, which turns the first question of the order page into a real decision rather than a formality.

    The gap, in dollars

    Edmunds’ Model Y page, updated August 8, 2026, lists the Standard at $39,990 excluding the destination fee, the Long Range at $46,380 and the Performance at $57,490. It puts EPA-estimated range for the base trim at 321 miles. So the step from Standard to Long Range is roughly $6,400 — real money, and the single biggest lever on the configurator.

    Those figures exclude destination, taxes, title and registration. For how the total assembles, see what Tesla’s destination and order fees actually cover.

    Who the Standard is right for

    If your driving is the ordinary kind — commuting, errands, the occasional weekend trip — the cheaper trim is not a compromised car. A 321-mile rating covers roughly a week of average driving between charges, as we worked through in how many days one charge actually covers, and home charging makes the difference between trims mostly invisible day to day.

    Who should spend the extra

    Range matters more the further you routinely drive in one go, and more in cold climates where real range drops below the rating. If you road-trip often, the longer-range trim buys fewer stops rather than a different car. Our Model Y trim comparison goes feature by feature.

    One rule holds regardless: buy the range you need on your ordinary week, not the range you’d want on your two biggest trips of the year. Supercharging exists for those.

    A walkthrough of the cheaper car

    Kim Java went through the lower-priced Model Y and what it does and doesn’t include:

    Trim contents and prices both move — her walkthrough is a snapshot, and the current configurator is the authority on what a given trim includes on the day you order.

    Photo by Saksham Vikram.

  • Running a fridge in your Tesla: what the 12V socket will and won’t do

    Running a fridge in your Tesla: what the 12V socket will and won’t do

    A 12V fridge in the sub-trunk is one of the more genuinely useful Tesla accessories — road trips, groceries, tailgates. The catch has never been the fridge. It’s whether the car keeps the socket alive after you walk away.

    The setting that decides it

    For a stretch, keeping 12V power on in a parked car meant leaving Camp Mode or Sentry Mode running, both of which burn energy doing other things. Tesla addressed that with a dedicated option. Per Not a Tesla App’s April 7, 2025 report, a “Keep Accessory Power On” setting under Controls > Charging restores power to the 12V sockets and USB ports while parked, covering the rear 12V plug at a maximum of 16A where the car has one.

    The limit worth knowing: that report states accessory power stays on “only while the option is on and the vehicle’s battery remains above 20%, at which point, it’ll be turned off.” So the car will protect itself before your groceries. Note the date on that source — check the setting’s current behavior in your car’s software rather than assuming it’s unchanged.

    Camp Mode is the other route

    Camp Mode still exists and still keeps things powered, but it also runs climate control, which is a much larger draw than a fridge. If you’re sleeping in the car, that’s the point; if you just want a cooler running while you’re at dinner, it’s the expensive way to do it. Our Camp Mode guide covers when it earns its energy.

    Before you buy a fridge

    Measure the sub-trunk, not the trunk. Fit is the thing people get wrong — compressor fridges sized for a pickup bed will not drop into a Model Y well. And check the draw in amps against the 16A ceiling above; most 12V compressor coolers sit far below it, but powered inverters are a different question, and Tesla advises against plugging non-Tesla inverters into the low-voltage socket.

    Dirty Tesla found one built for the space and tried it on July 21, 2026:

    That’s one product in one car, not a recommendation from us — the numbers above are the part to check any fridge against.

    Photo by Matheus Bertelli.

  • What the charging stops look like on a 2,600-mile road trip

    What the charging stops look like on a 2,600-mile road trip

    The first long trip is where new owners find out that EV road-tripping isn’t gas-station driving with extra waiting. It’s a different rhythm: more stops, each one shorter, and almost none of them taken to full.

    Why the stops are short

    Supercharging is fastest when the battery is fairly empty. Tesla’s Supercharger page puts the peak in concrete terms — up to 162 miles of range in 15 minutes for Model Y, up to 175 for Model 3 and Model X, and up to 200 for Model S. Those are best-case numbers from a low state of charge on a fast stall, but they explain the pattern: a 15-to-20-minute stop is doing most of the useful work.

    Charging past roughly 80% is where it slows down, which is why the car’s own routing rarely asks you to. We explain that curve in why your Tesla charges fast to 80% and crawls to 100%.

    Why you stop more often than the range suggests

    A 320-mile rating does not mean 320-mile legs. Sustained highway speed, heat or cold, a loaded car and a roof box all pull real range below the rated figure — see rated range versus actual range. Combine that with stopping at 10–20% and leaving at 70–80%, and the practical leg on a long trip is often closer to two hours of driving than four.

    The upside is that the car does the planning. Tesla’s trip planner picks the stops and the charge levels for you, and it’s worth checking stall availability before you leave on a holiday weekend.

    The honest version, at length

    Dirty Tesla drove a 2026 Model Y about 2,600 miles earlier this year and reported back on what actually slowed him down:

    One trip on one route in one season isn’t a benchmark — his stop count reflects his speeds, his weather and his stalls. The charging behavior underneath it, though, is the same one Tesla documents above.

    Photo by Giant Asparagus.

  • The maintenance Tesla actually schedules

    The maintenance Tesla actually schedules

    Teslas don’t get oil changes, and Tesla doesn’t sell a scheduled service plan. That leads a lot of new owners to assume there is no maintenance at all. There is — it’s just short, and it’s published.

    Tires, on mileage

    This is the item most owners under-do. Tesla’s maintenance guidance recommends “rotating your tires every 6,250 miles or if the difference of tread depth between two of your tires is 2/32 inches or greater, whichever comes first.” That interval is shorter than the 7,500 miles many drivers carry over from a gas car, and heavy electric torque is exactly why.

    Cabin filter, on time

    The same page sets the cabin air filter at every 2 years for Model 3 and Model Y, and every 3 years for Model S and Model X. Cars fitted with HEPA filtration get the HEPA and carbon filters replaced every 3 years. Our guide on spotting a filter that’s due early covers the symptoms.

    Brakes, mostly by exception

    Tesla notes that brake pad replacements are rare, because regenerative braking does most of the slowing. Wheel balancing is listed as an as-needed item — schedule it when you feel a vibration, not on a calendar.

    What that adds up to

    A tire rotation on mileage, a filter every couple of years, and attention when something feels wrong. That’s the real list. What it costs is a separate question, and we’ve priced it out in what Tesla maintenance actually costs.

    Two habits fill the gap where a service appointment used to sit. Check tire pressures monthly, since the car will tell you about a low tire but not a slowly softening one, and top up washer fluid before you need it rather than during the first salted-road commute. Neither is on Tesla’s list because neither needs a shop — but they are the two things owners coming from a dealer-serviced car most often stop doing.

    Ryan Shaw ran through the same list on a Model Y earlier this year, with the parts in hand:

    His walkthrough is a useful visual for what each job involves; the intervals above come from Tesla’s own page, which is the one to check against for your specific model.

    Photo by Gustavo Fring.