Tesla News

Tesla has announced pricing and features for its post-launch mainstream variants of the updated Model Y.

Tesla has secured its first permits required to make its future Cybercab autonomous hailing service real.According to Reuters, Tesla received a transportation charter party carrier permit from the California Public Utilities commission, which allows the brand to operate an app-based rideshare fleet service for pre-arranged trips.This is important, as it is the first step in the brand moving toward offering an autonomous rival to the likes of Uber, with Cybercab rides theoretically ordered via the Tesla app, with Tesla owning and operating the fleet.However, it is noted by multiple outlets that this permit doesn’t authorise the company to operate autonomous rides, and the version given to the brand only allows it to provide rides to employees and not the general public.The company will need to apply for multiple different permits which will allow it to run a public ride-hailing service like Uber, but also one to allow it to run autonomous vehicles like Waymo, which already operates several geofenced robotaxi services in multiple American cities.Controversial Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in January the company planned to have self-driving cars on the road in Texas as early as June of 2025, telling Tesla investors that 2025 will be “the most important year in Tesla’s history.”According to a separate Reuters report, there is nothing in Texas law that would stop Tesla from operating a robotaxi service in the state, so long as the vehicles are registered and insured.The Cybercab was revealed in October of 2024 at a Tesla event titled 'We Robot' with Musk saying the driverless vehicle would enter production “before 2027” alleging that the price will be lower than AU$45,000 for private buyers.Musk pitched the Cybercab as a form of “individualised mass transit” which he claimed would be more affordable per mile than a bus to run. He said buyers would be able to rent their vehicle out when they weren’t using it. Strangely, Musk also added that the powerful computers the Cybercab will need for its autonomous driving functions could also be used by the company to be a part of a cloud computing service while the vehicle is not in use.Strangely for a purpose-built rideshare vehicle, the Cybercab takes the form of a two-door two-seat coupe, the version shown even having supercar-like scissor doors.At the time, the brand also showed a Robovan mini bus which could “carry up to 20 people.”Musk also claimed the current Model 3 and Model Y will eventually be able to support robotic taxi functions via over-the-air updates “wherever regulators will approve it” but has since admitted the 'Hardware 3' computer in current vehicles is not capable of supporting the ‘Full Self Driving’ (FSD) software despite the brand continuing to sell it as a $10,100 option on Australian-delivered vehicles.Tesla sales are down a whopping 71.9 per cent compared to this time last year, a drop likely due to several factors, including a general retraction of the EV market in Australia as well as many buyers waiting for delivery of the updated version of its best-selling Model Y SUV. However, the brand’s chances of recovery to the point where it continues to dominate the EV market are questionable, as Musk’s political activities abroad have polarised potential buyers.In the meantime, the brand has also taken the previously-unprecedented step of releasing an even more basic version of the Model 3 in Mexico (swapping the leather seat trim for cloth, as well as removing the rear screen and heated seats). A recent report suggested Chinese-built Model Ys will undergo a similar de-specification as the brand chases further price-competitiveness with an increasing field of Chinese rivals.

Tesla will attempt to arrest or reverse sliding sales in Australia and across the globe by unveiling a new and cheaper Tesla Model Y that will bring Elon Musk's best selling vehicle closer to its Chinese competitors than ever before, according to new reports.

The debate around Australia's tough new emissions laws heats up, as manufacturers pick sides on the issue.

Australia’s electric car sales are catching up with Europe and the US, but not in a good way. After sales of EVs grew 4.6 per cent in 2024 and a whopping 161 per cent in 2023, registrations of the zero-emissions vehicles have dropped through the first two months of this year. This follows a decline in the US and Europe last year.

There are some surprising changes to Tesla's Model Y which reverse some controversial choices made on the Model 3.

It’s a chilly overcast day on the outskirts of Hangzhou and there’s a hum in the air. The ominous tone is generated by no less than 40 fast electric car chargers, which sprout from an otherwise empty field on the side of a freeway.This is the Shaoxing Service Area, a ‘Rest Stop’ on the freeway between two major Chinese east coast cities. It features three rows of fast chargers where in Australia you’d be lucky to find one, a two-storey shopping centre to keep you entertained, and one of Nio’s even more futuristic battery swapping stations hidden away at the back.If you wanted a look into the year 2030, when we’re all meant to be driving zero emissions vehicles, this is it. China is already living in what many consider to be an unattainable existence, where everyone has a free bay to charge and there’s plenty of things to do while you wait, whether it's an hour or just 15 minutes.To give you an idea of the scale of the problem Australia faces though, China already has over 1.8 million public DC chargers, whereas Australia only just cracked the 1000 mark by June of 2024. At one point last year, China built more AC and DC public charging than has ever been built in the USA in just a 73 day period.A better way to look at it is the ratio of chargers to the amount of electric vehicles currently on the road. Even with its astronomical EV sales compared to the rest of the world, China has kept pace with its infrastructure. It has roughly seven electric cars per public charging location.In Australia it is closer to 150 cars per charger, according to the EV Council's data.So if you’re an EV owner wondering why it’s so hard to find a station, or you’re a combustion car buyer wondering where all the chargers are, your answer is there’s nowhere near enough of them yet.The Shaoxing Rest Area, with its 40 plus chargers, isn’t even one of the biggest ones in China. The Xiawuji Battery Charging station on the outskirts of Beijing features no less than 70 fast charging bays offering similar facilities.Shell has opened what appears to be the largest fast charging facility in the world in Shenzhen, sporting an absurd 258 public DC fast chargers all in one location.Shell said the facility services over 3300 EVs a day and has rooftop solar capable of generating up to 300,000kWh of electricity a year to help at least subsidise what can only be an eye-watering energy cost.On the topic of facilities, the Shaoxing location I saw has a two storey shopping mall, mainly occupied by a range of dining outlets, whether it’s a local hotpot shop or a Starbucks. It also had enormous toilet facilities, complete with showers. There’s plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Interestingly the site still offered a Sinopec refuelling facility for non-EVS, but it consisted of a handful of bowsers taking up about a third of the space of the EV charging bays.It’s the utopia many EV owners are currently looking for, particularly on the great heavily-travelled expanses on Australia’s east coast, yet this little sample of the 2030 future doesn’t come without its own warnings of building up too quickly.According to multiple sources, the use rate of some of these larger sites are surprisingly low, showing what some are calling a “high seasonality” with strong demand in summer travel periods followed by steep declines in demand for charging in winter. It’s reflected at the Shaoxing site. I was there in December on a chilly winter's day and only a handful of the 40 sites were in use. Reuters has reported on a heavily fractured charging market, with the five biggest charging vendors making up only 65.2 per cent market share as of 2023. It reported estimates from Rystad energy, which indicate the pylons of even the largest player are earning less than US$10 a day.Australian charge providers who are yet to develop such large sites can learn from China before they fall into the same traps.For example, Australia’s EV charging networks started out with rapid fragmentation between brands, meaning a similar frustrating experience requiring an array of phone apps to activate and pay for them. Established networks have now become more dominant, with most public DC sites run by either Chargefox or Evie Networks, and most AC slow chargers now being able to be paid for via a single Exploren app.How far are we away from Chinese-style ‘Rest Stops’ as a harbinger for the 2030 future? Certainly a way off yet, but our first glimpse of it might come via Ampol’s redevelopment of the M1 Northbound site in Wyong, NSW, which has been approved by the NSW government for funding for ten DC charging bays. It won’t be the largest site in Australia, with that title already held by the Tesla charging station in Albury. It is hidden away in a public multi-story carpark featuring 16 pylons, but it most resembles a ‘rest-stop’ style location by the side of a highly-trafficked intercity route.While it comes with its own set of warnings to heed then, spots like the Shaoxing rest stop should come as proof that a 2030 future where the majority of us are driving electric cars is not only possible, it’s nothing to be afraid of after all.

Cheaper Tesla Model Ys are on the way.The company is anticipating non-Launch Editions of the updated Model Y to be available soon in Australia after revealing three Long Range All-Wheel Drive variants will be on display at the Everything Electric show in Sydney this weekend.Prices of the non-Launch Edition variants are expected to be more affordable than the current Rear-Wheel Drive and All-Wheel Drive Launch Edition grades, which have been priced at $63,400 and $73,400 (both at before on-road costs), respectively, ahead of deliveries in May.The previous entry-level Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive started at $55,900, before on-road costs, while the Long Range All-Wheel drive was priced at $69,900, before on-road costs.Non-Launch Edition variants are likely to carry less standard features than the Launch Edition variants in support of their reduced price tags.That means they will likely lose the power tailgate, puddle lights, doorsill plates, Launch Edition badging and complimentary premium paint, along with the acceleration boost feature on the Launch Edition AWD – which is typically a paid software upgrade.Customers will have the opportunity to get up close to the new model, which was imported into Australia specifically for the event. A Cybertruck will also be on display.The brand also confirmed allocations for the cheapest Rear-Wheel Drive Launch Edition variant in Australia have already been exhausted, as was previously speculated by CarsGuide following the removal of the car from its local website.Interest in the All-Wheel Drive Long Range Launch Edition variant is also said to be high.A boost in sales couldn’t come any sooner for Tesla, which has seen its sales fall 65.6 per cent in Australia this year to date, driven by a 71.9 per cent drop in sales last February compared to the previous year. Tesla sold 1592 vehicles last month compared to 5665 the year prior.Some have pointed the finger at the controversial politics of CEO Elon Musk, as the brand also registered a significant sales decline in Europe. Customers are also holding out for the updated Model Y – the brand’s best-selling model.Chinese EV rival BYD is nipping at its heels in the Australian and global markets, having registered a 38.4 per cent sales increase locally compared to last February, equivalent to 3956 sales.That said, sales were mostly attributable to its new Shark 6 Plug-in Hybrid ute, despite its Tesla Model Y competitor, the Sealion 7, showing strong early sales results.More information on the Tesla Model Y, including further pricing and specifications, is expected following its official unveiling at Everything Electric this weekend.

Chinese electric car giant BYD has declared its interest in working with Tesla to combat the sale of petrol and diesel cars.“Our common enemy is the internal combustion engine (ICE) car. We need to work together… to make the industry change,” said BYD’s Vice President, Stella Li, in an interview with the Financial Times.Speaking at a BYD Showroom in London, Li said the brand was willing to share crucial EV autonomous technologies with foreign car brands, despite the US placing a blanket 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made EVs that effectively bars them from the market.The European Union also imposes a 17 per cent tariff on BYD vehicles on top of a 10 per cent levy on all imported vehicles.“ Chinese government is more open, so maybe there is a lot of wrong perception here,” Li said.Last month, BYD announced it would make its new ‘God’s-Eye’ autonomous driving technology available on most of its global models over the next couple of years for no additional cost via an over-the-air update. The technology is already active on some of its Chinese models.Tesla’s supervised full self-driving system, known as Autopilot, is available in the US for an upfront price of USD$8000 ($12,360) or on a subscription basis for USD$99 ($156) per month.Li's comments came as BYD continues to challenge Tesla’s long-held supremacy on the Global EV market.BYD emerged in 2023 as Tesla's fiercest competitor to the title of the world’s best-selling EV brand, after usurping Tesla's global EV sales in the fourth quarter of December 2023.Tesla regained the title in quarter one of 2024, rounding out the year with 1.78 million sales. BYD wasn’t far behind, though, at approximately 1.7 million EV sales.In Australia, Tesla sales have taken a major hit in the first couple of months of 2025. The controversial politics of CEO Elon Musk have appeared to have an impact, and customers are also awaiting the updated Model Y, the brand’s best-selling model, with deliveries set to commence in Australia in May.As of February 2025, Tesla sales have fallen 65.6 per cent this year to date, driven by a 71.9 per cent drop in sales last February compared to the previous year. Tesla sold 1592 vehicles last month compared to 5665 the year prior.Meanwhile, BYD’s sales grew by 38.4 per cent in Australia last month to 3946 units compared to 2859 the previous February.BYD, which operates tariff-free in the Australian market, saw strong early sales of its plug-in hybrid ute, the Shark 6, and its Tesla Model Y competitor, the Sealion 7. Deliveries of both models commenced earlier this year.

Speculation that Tesla sales are tanking in Australia thanks to the controversial politics of CEO Elon Musk is rife, but is that really the full picture?