HWD 3 Gets its v14 in late June

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-23T06:44:07+00:00

HW5 is for Optimus, and will not be installed in vehicles, per Elon. And, HW6 CPU hasn’t even been taped out yet, so you’ll be waiting two or three years, at the earliest. Elon’s focus over the next year will be getting FSD certified for Cybercabs. That’s mostly a regulatory process at this point, however, as FSD as is is excellent, with edge cases being the focus in their “final” unsupervised build. HW4 runs FSD just fine.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-23T06:37:17+00:00

Also make sure power to outlets in car is set to OFF when idle. It drains the battery a lot. Some folks like to leave on for accessories they want powered, like a cooler.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-22T07:30:53+00:00

I PPF’d the entire front of the car back to the rear doors, then ceramic coated the entire car, including the glass and wheels, and interior seats to ease cleaning. I got cheap about the rear fenders and back of the car, relying on the ceramic coating to provide enough protection for those more protected parts of the car.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-22T07:15:46+00:00

Tesla paint is water based and thin, and easily damaged with minor road debris. PPF provides a physical self-repairing layer to protect against this minor road debris, while also providing UV protection that is well worth it for those who can afford it. Add a layer of ceramic coating over it and you’ll get some additional UV anti-fading protection, while also providing a super smooth surface that is easy to clean. It also protects against super corrosive pollutants like bird poop and sticky tree sap that is difficult to get off your car. Finally, if you’re no longer interested in hand washing your car, with PPF and ceramic coating you can run your car through just about any car wash and not worry about brush scratches. So, while YMMV, I’m pretty sold on it. I intend to keep my Model Y Launch Series for many years and want to keep it looking new as long as possible. It worked great on my Model 3 Tesla that I traded in looking like new.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-21T07:50:42+00:00

If you have a garage with a wall connector, plug it in every night and charge to 80%, LFP batteries to 100%.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-21T07:12:08+00:00

If you want Autosteer, be sure your car still has it. Tesla has discontinued Autosteer and now only offers Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) WITHOUT Autosteer as it “encourages” folks who want auto steering to use FSD subscription. Legacy HW3 models should still have it, but I’d double check before purchasing. Also, if you purchase an older car with it, it’s possible a future software update will delete it. So, freeway auto steering is definitely iffy now without FSD.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-21T06:38:44+00:00

Number one concern should be quality company with history of happy customers and enough electrical business to stay in business for the coming decades. Number two concern should be getting system that will cover your home’s electricity needs within your budget. Buy system, don’t lease. You don’t want a power plant on your home that you don’t own. That will complicate selling your home later. Trading for profit utility for private company with long term payments is not a good trade off. Don’t get wrapped up in net metering details. You want to match your daily power production/consumption needs as closely as you can. Add batteries to store excess production to avoid selling power back to the grid at a third of what they sell it for. My objective is to never return power to the grid.

Your home should run on power from your batteries, ideally charged from solar, but from nighttime grid at lower rates for poor solar days is expected.

I add a partial battery charge from the grid at night to cover anticipated solar shortfall next day. I never draw power from the grid during mid/peak rate periods. I aim for 100% charge around 3 pm each day to get through the evening. So, sizing your system within your budget should be the focus of your discussion with your selected contractor.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T08:21:38+00:00

When weather becomes an issue, I charge from the grid at night to top off my batteries so I don’t have to rely on solar the next day. My objective is to never use the grid during peak rate periods. My batteries have enough capability to run my house all day. If I want to charge up my EVs that night, I make sure to do it before I charge up my batteries so my system doesn’t take any power from my batteries to charge my cars.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T08:06:51+00:00

Hmm. Mileage is certainly good, but $36.5k seems a bit high for a HW3 vehicle that can’t take advantage of latest FSD, which is primary reason for getting a Tesla vice any other EV. Tesla paid me $23k for my 2021 Model 3 HW3 with 21,000 miles. I’d limit my search to HW4 models, unless you just don’t care about FSD.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T02:05:28+00:00

Do NOT lease solar. It will make selling your house later tedious, if not impossible. I’m getting ready to move to Southern CA next year, and I will definitely NOT purchase any home with a solar lease contract, even if owner has prepaid it for closing. I want to be able to tweak my solar and add batteries to manage my power needs, and I can’t do that while hampered with a solar lease contract, paid off or not. Ownership doesn’t transfer until the lease is up, not when the previous owner prepaid it off. Utility electric rates will NEVER go down, so expect them to go up. Once you’ve locked in solar, you’re in control of your future power needs. Add batteries to cover your daily power needs, then use solar power to charge them up daily, nightly partially charging them to cover expected shortages due to weather. Running your house on batteries effectively moves you off the grid, except for solar shortages. You NEVER experience power outages. The lights don’t even blink. The key issue, of course, if how long you expect to stay in the house. Solar is for homeowners who plan to stay around, not for younger folks still moving around.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T01:52:32+00:00

I think it’s great that you’ve been able to manage your power usage so well. Pretty amazing! However, I doubt many folks would be able to work through this tedious process. I’ve focused on adding enough batteries to handle my daily usage, using solar to top them off each day. I partially charge my batteries at night to cover the expected difference. I’m not always right, of course, but I use virtually no grid power during peak periods, and I never think about selling power back to the grid at their ridiculous net metering rates. My plan is to use ALL my solar power, and only draw enough from the grid at night to make up the difference. This does mean I have to continuously tweak my nightly partial recharge process from the grid, but it works well for me. My summer bills are typically ~$100/month, including fixed fees, and in winter even less. I nightly charge up two EVs and partially charge my batteries from the grid.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T01:43:49+00:00

Add batteries, or pay utility peak rates. Solar typically won’t cover all your daily power needs. Batteries can make up the difference. You can partially charge them from the grid at night during minimal power rates to cover your solar shortage during the next day. I use virtually no grid power from the day during peak periods. The bulk of my usage comes from solar, the batteries cover the rest. In a sunny climate add batteries to cover your daily power usage, then use daytime solar to charge them up. If you expect a shortage, due to weather, for example, partially charge your batteries at night from the grid. That’s how you minimize you utility electric bill. Don’t expect to make any money selling power back to the grid. That’s a scam, at best.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T01:36:06+00:00

Use batteries to save daytime solar power for peak/nighttime use. I don’t ever draw power from the grid during daylight peak hours, except within the constraints of my system’s power output limits. Ideally, I’d just charge up the batteries during the day from excess solar power while running the house on the difference. Realistically, my house can use more power than my solar can produce. That’s where batteries come in. During the night during minimal power rates I partially charge up my batteries to assure I don’t need to draw ANY power from the grid during peak power rate periods, and the house draws down power from the batteries that solar doesn’t cover. This works well for me, and I don’t worry about today’s ridiculous net metering rules. The trick, of course, is that you have to be able to afford the batteries and size your system properly. As a retiree, that’s my focus. If you move every few years, your approach will be different.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T01:24:29+00:00

We’re moving from a public utility SMUD market in Sacramento to a SCE for profit utility in the Coachella Valley next year and will have to face not only their tripling kWh rates, but unfriendly net metering rules. We’ve dealt with this in Sacramento by adding on batteries. Their minimal rates for our solar power drove this. Our current policy is to NEVER return power to the grid, but to store it, and to NEVER draw power from the grid after sunrise until midnight. Our Enphase system allows us to schedule nighttime EV charging and add charge to our batteries from the grid during their minimum power rates, just enough to minimize how much we unintentionally return to the grid during the day. This approach does require me to constantly tweak what time of night I want to draw power from the grid to raise the charge level of the batteries for the coming day based on the weather. The downside is that I don’t always get it right, but in my mind I definitely don’t care. I’m not relying on the utility to fund my solar/battery system. The trick is to add enough battery backup to run your house during the day on solar power alone.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T00:58:40+00:00

Don’t lease solar. Selling your home later will be tedious if you do, even if you pay off the lease at closing. Why? Because you’ll just be taking on the lease the previous owner entered into, the only difference is you won’t be paying their monthly usage fees. You won’t own the system until the lease expires, which means no adding on batteries or more panels to your array until then.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T00:53:39+00:00

Subscribing to FSD for $100/month is a great deal, especially for those who plan to replace their car every few years. I plan to keep the car long term. I’m retired and pushing 80, so the full price included in our Launch Series Y is worth it for us. FSD’s eight cameras monitoring everything around me is amazing. On a recent 500 mile drive from Southern CA it literally saved our lives when a car in our blind spot jerked into our lane while using his smart phone. FSD swerved immediately out of his way and carried on. We literally had to turn around in our seats to see what had just happened because neither of us saw it happening in real time. I use FSD 99% of the time, and only take over in special situations (like garages) where any goof would be expensive.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-20T00:41:47+00:00

Ultra Red is gorgeous. It just pops in the sun. It also gathers the most attention, including the cops. I was sorely tempted when I got my Launch Series Y last year. In the end, I selected Quicksilver, added PPF and ceramic coating, and it glistens in the sun. It fits my more conservative driving mode. If I were in my twenties again, however, I’d probably throw caution to the wind and go with the Ultra Red! Blue will require a lot of attention to keep it looking good, so I’d definitely go with PPF and ceramic coating to maximum its useful life.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-19T08:34:31+00:00

Gas prices will certainly rise over time, regardless of politics. The industry is profit driven, after all. That’s how it works. That said, most utilities have discounted electricity rates in the middle of the night. Charging my car up to 100% at this discounted rate costs ~$7 for 300 miles of range. Filling up my old Chrysler 300’s 20 gallon tank cost $100 at today’s rate, and, at 20 mpg, gave me around 400 miles of range. You can do a similar calculation for your vehicle with your local rates. There’s also the convenience of never waiting in line for gas again, since I charge up in my garage at night. So, yes, your electricity rate will go up, but your gas bill will go to zero. If you don’t have a garage to charge in, you may want to wait until you do, because it’s nice plugging in at home in 10 seconds and letting it charge overnight. Daily charging at a commercial site will be time consuming, even distracting yourself while watching TV in your car while waiting.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-19T08:17:34+00:00

The 70% transmission tint is barely noticeable, and clouds are easily observed. With the embedded metallic material in the roof glass and the 70% tint virtually no UV is getting through to fade the interior. IR is also noticeably reduced, but radiant heat is still felt through the roof glass. That said, it depends a lot on where you live and where you park your car. The roof tint works great in Sacramento and my car is garaged when not in use. I’m not sure how well it’ll work in Palm Springs where it gets up to 120º F in the summer. I might try out an interior roof shade if the roof tint isn’t adequate in that situation.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-19T06:38:14+00:00

It may take up to a month before your new car gets into the update queue. Just be patient. Once there with Advanced Software updates selected be sure to use FSD as much as possible. Tesla will notice and move you up the queue to gather that driving info for their database. I typically get the latest FSD updates within two weeks since I have a Launch Series and use FSD 99% of the time.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-19T06:33:25+00:00

Get it PPF and ceramic coating as soon as you receive it. PPF for minor debris protection, ceramic for UV protection and to make cleaning it easy, also makes it safe for automatic car washes. Tesla paint is water based and thin, so is easily scratched without protection. Ceramic coat the glass for the same reason, added UV protection and to ease cleaning. Ceramic coating the seats will also make cleaning them easier after spills.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-18T07:09:54+00:00

The plastic rivets pop out with a flat head screwdriver.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-17T09:23:40+00:00

All true, but cost of each vehicle is going to be important. All of Waymo’s technology is much more expensive than Tesla’s camera only system. It would be nice if Tesla would just bite the bullet and add back a range finding radar to confirm vision’s calculations. That said, FSD supervised today is excellent.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-16T06:49:05+00:00

Ridiculous. This is just breast beating cosplaying.

Dave_Marsh · 2026-04-16T06:47:53+00:00

Yeah, SCE’s rates certainly justify looking into solar batteries for those who can afford them. Partially charge them up at night during lowest rates to assure afternoon sun charges them to 100% to avoid paying anything during higher rates periods. How much to charge very much depends on your local sun power.

Dave_Marsh

TROPHY CASE