Issue 149 - Sandy Munro interviews Elon Musk

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Issue 149 - Sandy Munro interviews Elon Musk

Community

Grammy award-winning producer Diplo makes beats in his Tesla 📹
The artist Diplo recently shared on Twitter he makes music with TRAX in his Tesla and claimed "you don't need an expensive studio to make great music... just an expensive car". True! And Tesla is not just any expensive car, it's designed for it to offer the most fun that you can have in a car 😎

CANserver Development 📷
Madmolecule from Tesla Owners online was able to, by tapping into the CAN Bus of their Model 3, display some information in the small screens that he fitted in the vent opening. Really impressive stuff!

Sandy Munro interviews Elon Musk 📹
Elon and Sandy talk about Tesla production, mega-castings, Model 3 seats, structural battery packs, MBA’s, and short-sellers.

Model S/X

Model S/X - 8GB eMMC Tegra MCU recall
Better late than never. Tesla has decided to proactively recall the Model S and Model X vehicles to update software and to replace the 8GB embedded Multi Media Card (eMMC) in the media control unit (MCU). This applies only to Model S and Model X vehicles built before March 2018 which are equipped with an 8GB eMMC in the MCU that may experience a malfunction due to accumulated wear.

As you probably know, our 2017 Model S is in this boat but we are most likely going to trade it in and get a new Y (exciting!). If you have a Tesla affected by the voluntary recall, don't reach out to Tesla, they will reach out to you when your time to get the replacement arrives.

No gear stalk? No problem
I guess I wasn't the only one wondering how shifting gears was going to work in the new S and X with no stalk. In my opinion, having to use the screen all the time was going to be too out of the way. According to Elon, the car can guess the direction based on obstacles, maps, etc. and you can always override it using the touchscreen. I'm always impressed with how much Tesla keeps innovating and how bold some of its decisions are. I assume this is something other Teslas should be able to get via software updates.

The refreshed S and X, now with more storage

According to Elon, they now come with more storage and, more importantly, are easily upgradable. That has been a pet peeve, storage becomes cheaper every year, it makes a lot of sense to make it easy for the owner to upgrade the storage of the car.

Roadster, Semi, & Giga

The next gen Roadster will fly 'a little'

Or at least that is what Elon said on Twitter. The numbers of the new Model Plaid+ are so impressive that Ryan McCaffrey (from Ride the Lightning) was asking Elon if the new Roadster will 'time travel', to what Elon Musk responded that is part rocket, and when John (from TOSV) asked him if it can fly, Elon responded 'a little' 😱😱

Pictures of a new Tesla Semi prototype 📷
@klwtts spotted a new Tesla Semi in Sacramento a couple of days ago. Pictures or it didn't happen! Apart from introducing a new color, it does look like a new prototype compared to the previous ones that had been publicly shared.

Technology from China to arrive in Giga Berlin in a couple of months
According to @teslamag, 180 containers filled with manufacturing equipment are on its way to Giga Berlin from China. They might arrive between March and April. Meanwhile, Tesla is still waiting for the last approval to be able to install the technical building equipment (power lines, sprinkler system, lighting, etc.).

What the acronym

As a Tesla fan, I find myself sometimes having to remember what are all those acronyms, here is a list of the ones you can find in this issue.