Category: Model Y

Tesla Model Y 2025 FSD review Launch Series Tesla Model Y test drive autonomous driving

Gail’s Tesla Podcast on 𝕏 Episode No. 115: New Tesla Model Y 2025 Review: Why I Rate It 10 Stars

Gail AlfarLeave a comment

Watch This Tesla Model Y Conquer the Road with FSD!

In episode 115 of my podcast, I dive into the freshly redesigned Tesla Model Y 2025 Launch Series—a car so impressive it earns a perfect 10 stars from me!

I got a rare chance to test drive and film this beauty, inside and out, showcasing why it’s a must-try for Tesla owners. From its jaw-dropping Full Self-Driving (FSD) performance to clever features like the frunk drain plug and emergency door release, this Model Y conquers the road like no other. Watch the full episode exclusively on X [here] and see why I’m urging everyone to activate FSD!

Standout Features That Wow: Emergency Release, Frunk, and More

Right out of the gate (00:12), I highlight the emergency door release—smartly tucked in the back door pocket for safety. Then at 00:18, there’s the frunk drain plug—a game-changer for party planners using ice that needs to drain. The Launch Series screen graphic (00:30) dazzles with its crisp visualization, while the “door thunk” (00:38 and 03:27) proves this car’s build quality with that satisfying, solid sound. Steering wheel control buttons and stalks (00:59) make driving intuitive, and the camera views (01:29) pop onto the screen effortlessly. Oh, and the automatic parking feature (01:47)? It’s like the car’s showing off—it nails tight spots with zero stress.

Tesla Model Y 2025 FSD review Launch Series Tesla Model Y test drive autonomous driving
Tesla Model Y 2025 Launch Series Tesla

FSD Steals the Show: Why I Say Always Use It

At 02:46, I explain why FSD is non-negotiable for Model Y owners. During my West Austin test drive, this car tackled tricky roads autonomously—think sharp turns and busy traffic—flawlessly. The middle console (02:08) and spacious interior (02:20) make every ride comfy, but it’s FSD that elevates it to 10-star territory. Whether it’s self-parking or navigating safely, I’ve never felt more confident behind the wheel—or rather, letting the car take it. Tesla owners, if you’ve got FSD and aren’t using it, episode 115 will change your mind. Activate it and feel the magic.

Stunning Design and Final Thoughts

The exterior shines too—those sleek rear lights (04:10) and Launch Series puddle lights (05:23) scream premium. The trunk’s open/close function (04:33) is smooth, and seat belts (05:03) pull just right. At 03:38, I share more thoughts: this Model Y doesn’t just drive; it redefines driving. It’s packed with upgrades—same price as the old Model Y—yet feels like a steal. Watch episode 115 on X [here] to see this amazing car in action. For media and credits, stick around ‘til 05:42. Tesla had built a road-conquering masterpiece!

The exterior shines too—those sleek rear lights (04:10) and Launch Series puddle lights (05:23) scream premium. The trunk’s open/close function (04:33) is smooth, and seat belts (05:03) pull just right. At 03:38, I share more thoughts: this Model Y doesn’t just drive; it redefines driving. It’s packed with upgrades—same price as the old Model Y—yet feels like a steal. Watch episode 115 on X [here](insert your link) to see this amazing car in action. For media and credits, stick around ‘til 05:42. Trust me, this Tesla’s a road-conquering masterpiece!FOR MEDIA USE ONLY News media is welcome to use my material in connection with a story or article. By downloading any content I create, you understand and hereby agree and represent that: (1) you are a member of the news media; (2) use of the content is in connection with a story or an article appearing in newspapers, periodicals, digital publications or television; (3) all images and rights thereto remain the property Gail Alfar.; and (4) use of the image is not for publication covers, advertising, promotion or otherwise for commercial purposes. Furthermore, use of any and all images and content appearing on this page must each include the notice “Courtesy of Gail Alfar” Use of materials copied from this website is at your own risk. You must obtain prior written consent from Gail Alfar for uses that exceed the above parameters.

Steps to Buying a Tesla

Gail Alfar10 Comments
Tesla Model Y
Tesla Model Y. Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.

There’s a lot of talk about whether someone should make their next car a Tesla. I’m like you in that I work hard for my paycheck, and there are few products I have purchased that truly give me Joy! 

My Tesla is one of them! 

I’m sharing my experience of buying a Tesla with you and walking with you through the steps.

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FIRST DRIVE

The deciding factor for me was the demo drive. Tesla gave me a demo car on a Saturday morning after a nightfall of rain. The roads were sparkling and the car was pristine and I accelerated up a steep hill and around curves while the car held onto the road like rails. I had to adjust back to my combustion car after that and I missed the Tesla so much.

REASONS A TESLA MAKES SENSE

I wanted a Tesla, and I had to sell my husband on it because he wanted to wait.

I emphasized to him how Tesla rates #1 in Safety and Aces all the crash tests. 

I told him how little we would pay to power the Tesla – about $6 – $12 at the Tesla Superchargers and only about $30 a month to charge at night at home.  

I also let him know about destination charging for when we travel. Destination chargers let you slow charge for free at many hotels overnight.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOUR TESLA?

Tesla Model Y 7 Seater
Tesla Model Y 7 Seater, Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.

I suggest you order your Tesla on the premise that you will take delivery in one week. When I got my finances in order (I used a credit union, and Tesla also has a finance option), I went ahead and placed a new order for a Model Y.  Ours was delivered a month later.  I have heard that ordering a Model Y 7-Seater SUV may take longer (see image above) but is well worth the wait!

My friend recently ordered a Model 3 and Tesla scheduled delivery for the next week.  Delivery times vary, and the important part is that you are ready with your financing, and trade-in and have planned out your charging routine ahead of time.  

TESLA WILL LET YOU TRADE IN YOUR OLD GAS CAR

Tesla will take your old gas car off your hands.

When you place your order for your Tesla, they will ask you if you have a vehicle to trade in. 

My best advice is for you to compare Tesla’s offer to another car buyer’s offer.  You can go with the highest bidder. 

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TESLA’S EASY TASK LIST IS MADE FOR YOU

When I ordered my Tesla, I received “tasks” from Tesla to complete in stages.  

Tesla does their best to make this painless and it is worth having 1) finances prepared ahead of time and 2) how you’ll insure the vehicle planned out.  I recommend Tesla insurance as you can opt into it right from the Tesla App and their rates are usually lower.  It activates right away and you can change out of it later if you have to. 

RECEIVING THE BEAUTIFUL VEHICLE, FINAL STEPS

As a Texas resident, I went to the County Tax office to pay the taxes on the vehicle. The Tax Office held the license plate for the Tesla until I was paid up (this was in Oct. 2022 and may change).

It is hard to explain how awesome it feels to own a Tesla!  It seems almost too good to be true!

In a future article, I’ll write about getting to know your Tesla. It took me a while to get fully comfortable with my Tesla because it is very different from a combustion car!

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𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘈𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘭𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘌𝘖 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘭𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐𝘚 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘺. 𝘐 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝕏 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝕏 𝘣𝘪𝘰. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘭𝘢, 𝘐𝘯𝘤.

Model Y: Two Big Road Trip Advantages

Gail Alfar6 Comments

I met up with Tesla owner and founder of Scentwedge Arash Malek who returned from a road trip in a Model Y.  He and his family toured some remote areas in Iceland and he is sharing some awesome pictures with us! Our conversation includes,

  • Two big advantages of traveling in a Y
  • Charging on the road
  • Superchargers for other EVs
Reynivellir, Iceland, near glacier lagoon, credit Arash Malek

Two Big Advantages of Traveling in a Y: 12-Volt Ports and Larger Size

All Tesla vehicles are great for road trips and the Y stands out as the best!

If you must have access to a medical device like a sleep apnea machine, the Y can be a lifesaver! You can plug a converter into the 12-volt port and run your Resmed, Phillips Respironics, or any other sleep machine all night long. Arash had a load of camera gear that needed to stay powered up while on the road, “the fact that there is a 12-volt charger in the trunk was just so handy because I was running an inverter in the trunk charging up all my gear while we were driving and it was just amazing having that port there.” There are two 12-volt ports in the Model Y, one under the armrest, and one in the rear of the vehicle.

Gail: Thank you for sharing some of your beautiful Model Y road trip pictures in Iceland. What else besides the 12-volt ports did you and your family find useful about traveling in the Y? 

Arash: The storage space was amazing!  My parents took turns sitting in the front and the back seat, and I was the primary driver.  My mom would note how much legroom she had in the back, how spacious it is and we all appreciated how high we were sitting. 

Arash said the Y felt like being in a glass bubble, with a panoramic view of beautiful Iceland all around! “And then of course I appreciated the fact that I could use Autopilot and it just made admiring the views much safer and that much more comfortable because I could briefly take my eyes off the road and just experience the landscape, you know there’s barely any cars on the roads there, but they are narrow and windey so it was really nice.”

Charging on the road

G: I often hear this question: “Can you travel in your Tesla?” I think there is a misunderstood concept that combustion cars are better suited for road trips. I see there are 8 Superchargers in Iceland, 2 are “coming soon.”  Were you able to travel where you wanted or were you restricted because of charging?

A: I was able to travel where I wanted to, I never experienced range anxiety, there are a ton of 3rd party charging stations in Iceland.

When Arash found it convenient to use a Tesla Supercharger en route to his destination, he would use one.  In the planning phase, he booked hotels based on them offering destination charging.  Some had Tesla destination chargers and some had 3rd party chargers nearby. Every night he would have the Model Y plugged in and then have it charged for the morning. 

If you decide to car camp, the Y is designed to sleep two people in comfort. I wrote about Tesla car camping in my article, Tesla Summer Travel Trip.

Supercharging in Höfn í Hornafirði, Iceland credit Arash Malek

Superchargers for other EVs

Tesla has opened up supercharging to non-Tesla vehicles in Europe and now in Iceland.  This pilot program is part of Tesla’s mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy and will move to the USA. I asked Arash if he had any experiences in Iceland with this new pilot. He explained, “I noticed that on the Tesla app when I was logging in, it asked if I was trying to log in for the supercharging network access in Iceland.  It is interesting that Tesla would do that, there are not a lot of chargers out there but there’s a lot of Teslas there.  There are also a lot of other electric cars and hybrids in Iceland.  I guess it makes sense to open it to other people.”

G: Did you see any non-Teslas charging at Tesla Superchargers while you were there?

A: No, in fact every time I supercharged it was pretty much empty. I ran into one other Model Y at the Supercharging station while we were charging once.

G: I guess that’s very different from what you see in the Bay Area! Regarding Tesla opening Superchargers to non-Teslas, I’m curious how you feel about this, living in the Bay Area, where there are more people driving EVs?

A: I’m not too concerned about an overcrowdedness issue, I think Tesla is very data-driven and when they see that there’s a lot of congestion somewhere, a Supercharger pops up fast. I think the net positive is much greater because I think it does offer a slight marketing opportunity when non-Tesla EVs are charging next to Tesla EVs.

Arash explained that he thinks opening Superchargers for all EVs is a form of organic growth potential that can be huge for Tesla and its mission. 

Moss Road on Lómagnúpur mountain, Iceland credit Arash Malek

If Arash could improve the Y, he would love to see Tesla create an electrochromatic window or something where you can change the tint dynamically on the windows of the Tesla.  He was unable to capture some stunning shots of the aurora borealis through the glass roof of the Y due to the tinting. The tinted roof is amazing for maintaining temperature on a sunny day and it was “pretty much impossible to capture the aurora from the inside.”

CONCLUSION

Any Tesla is great to take on a road trip because Autopilot makes the journey much easier. The two big advantages to a road trip in the Y are,

  • Two 12-volt adapters. For people with a medical condition requiring a sleep apnea machine, for example, the Y can be a lifesaver!
  • The size! The big glass windows and higher ride allow for a great view of the scenery. The Y sleeps two people comfortably!

The tinted roof and windows in all Tesla vehicles may not allow for great night photography, but they will keep you comfortable as they block sun glare and heat.

Tesla has opened up Supercharging to non-Teslas in Iceland and most of Europe, and this pilot program will open in the USA, and Tesla is data-driven, so congestion will not be an issue.

Austin, Texas downtown and Boardwalk at Ladybird Lake credit Christopher Sherman

Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – October 16, 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. Thanks to Arash Malek for his valuable insight for this article, please check out his amazing all-natural scents exclusively for the 3 and Y.

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Tesla Battery Life

Gail Alfar24 Comments

Welcome back to my blog, I truly hope your summer is great.  If you like learning about Tesla, you’ll love reading about how much care Tesla puts into making sure you feel confident that your vehicle’s battery will serve your needs. Find a cool spot and cold drink and enjoy! I’m sipping some cold Boba milk tea with pearls as I write this.  If you have never tried Boba tea, it’s great!

Tesla Model Y (photo credit to 吃不胖的胖小雷 and Tesla China)

Your Tesla Battery is Guaranteed

Your Tesla battery comes with a warranty.  Here are the details, taken today from the Tesla website,

Credit above:  Tesla new vehicle limited warranty page.

FACT: The existing warranty on any Tesla is transferred to the new owner if you purchase the vehicle from Tesla.

Tesla says in the 2021 Impact Report,

“Our batteries are designed to function for the entire life of the vehicle.  Tesla’s battery packs are designed to outlast the vehicle. We estimate that a vehicle gets scrapped after approximately 200,000 miles of usage in the U.S. and roughly 150,000 miles in Europe.  Creating a battery that could last for 1,000,000 miles (4,000 charging cycles) would dramatically reduce the emissions per mile driven for high-mileage vehicles such as taxis, delivery vans, or trucks.”

If you own a Model Y that was bought with a range of ~318 miles on the battery.  You should expect your Model Y will retain a range of over 222 miles by the time you reach 120,000 miles.  In the rare case that your Y does not then know that Tesla will replace the battery for free.  Tesla may also decide to replace your battery if it has a defect or problem like the inability to charge. 

The Average EV will never need a battery replacement

It is a myth to assume that the average EV needs a battery replacement at some point in its life, according to Tesla, 

“Extending the life of a battery pack is a superior option to recycling for both environmental and business reasons. For those reasons, before decommissioning a consumer battery pack and sending it for recycling, Tesla does everything it can to extend the useful life of each battery pack. 
Any battery that is no longer meeting a customer’s needs can be serviced by Tesla at one of our service centers around the world. None of our scrapped lithium-ion batteries go to landfill, and 100% are recycled.”

Tesla Batteries are Recycled

Tesla says in their 2021 Impact Report,

“Every battery used in R&D or returned from the field that cannot be remanufactured is recycled.  Tesla batteries, including the battery packs in our vehicles and our energy storage products, are made to last many years, and therefore, we have received a limited number of them back from the field. Most batteries that Tesla recycles today are pre-consumer, coming to us through R&D and quality control. None of our scrapped lithium-ion batteries go to landfills and 100% are recycled. Furthermore, Tesla has an established internal ecosystem to re-manufacture batteries coming from the field to our Service Centers. We actively implement circular economy principles and consider all other options before opting for battery recycling."
Battery materials are refined at Tesla and put into a cell and will remain in the cell at the end of their life when they can be recycled to recover valuable materials for reuse, repeatedly, pg 95-96 Tesla Impact Report 2021 

My Thoughts, Enjoy your Tesla, Do Not Worry 

I am very happy with my Tesla, a 2020 Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive that was bought with a range of 250 miles on the battery.  I just hit 69,420 miles. My battery currently retains 86% of its original range of 216 miles. I expect my Model 3 will retain a range of over 175 miles by the time I reach 100,000 miles.   

The timeless design of Tesla vehicles continues to amaze me.  A 2018 Model 3 is just as beautiful as a new 2022 one.  The body design is so classically elegant that it needs no changes from year to year. 

For this reason, I expect most Tesla owners will feel zero need to update their vehicle from year to year as was common with the old combustion cars. Therefore, I think many people will reach 120,000 miles and beyond in their Tesla.  Tesla estimates that most cars will be scrapped after reaching 200,000 miles. I think we will see many Teslas make it to 250,000 miles before they are scrapped.

I was inspired to write this article by Sofiaan Fraval who recently had his Model 3’s battery replaced under Tesla’s warranty, “Although it’s not new info, it’s often forgotten about or overlooked over time. I just got a pack replacement for my 3 under warranty and cost me $0. It actually bumped my range up by 11 miles and the car charges quicker. Super happy about it.” Sofiaan advises, “Tesla owners needn’t worry about battery packs, and should fully enjoy their Teslas!”

Photo of Austin, Texas by Jeremy Banks on Unsplash

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Gail Alfar, with special thanks to Sofiaan Fraval for his valuable insight.  [Edited by Sarah Alfar] Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – This blogpost was created utilizing STARLINK satellite services. All Rights Reserved. June 18, 2022

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