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Ride the Lightning: Tesla Motors Unofficial Podcast

Episode 499: Special Guest: Tesla Engineering VP Lars Moravy

Ride the Lightning: Tesla Motors Unofficial Podcast

Ryan McCaffrey

Elon, Leisure, Teslaroadster, Ev, Teslamodels, Roadster, Model3, Teslamodel3, Teslamodeliii, Tesla, Automotive, Bev, Gigafactory, Business News, Cars, Teslamotors, Modely, Cybertruck, Modelx, Electric, Elonmusk, Models, News, Electriccars, Teslamodelx, Semi

4.8988 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tesla’s Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy joins me for a candid conversation spanning a wide-ranging number of topics, from the new Model Y to his memories of pivotal moments in Tesla history to the next-gen Roadster and even the upcoming more-affordable cars. Enjoy!

Timecodes:

6:39 Interview begins

7:36 Lars on when he first got into cars

9:42 Remembering his first job in the auto industry, at Honda, and what led him to Tesla

14:01 Early days at Tesla

15:19 He knew the Model S was going to be a special car

17:22 Engineering the falcon-wing doors of the Model X

19:34 The charger snake prototype and its “hubris”

20:21 The Cybercab will be road trip capable

23:26 The most satisfying vehicle project he’s worked on

26:07 Why Tesla doesn’t have any plans to build any more HFS vehicles

26:43 The Cybercab isn’t “painted” in the traditional sense

28:44 Remembering Model 3’s “production hell”

31:20 Tesla fully expected the Model Y to become the world’s best-selling vehicle

33:50 Building the next-gen Roadster prototype

35:36 Status update on the next-gen Roadster

40:55 Learnings from the Model 3 refresh that have been applied to the new Model Y

43:25 Balancing between pushing the envelope and playing it safe on the new Model Y

45:42 The reason the new Model Y doesn’t have steer by wire

47:25 Why the new Model Y doesn’t have a 48v architecture

48:54 The status of the Model S and Model X

50:45 What Lars daily drives

51:50 Why the new Model 3 doesn’t use gigacastings

52:38 Lars’s favorite piece of engineering on any of the cars

54:58 Will the front bumper camera come to the S, X, and 3?

55:09 Will the turn signal stalk return to any of the other vehicles besides Model Y?

55:38 A teaser for the upcoming more-affordable vehicles

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support my efforts, please check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/teslapodcast and consider a monthly pledge. Every little bit helps and there are stacking bonuses in it for you at each pledge level, like early access to each episode at the $5 tier and the weekly Lightning Round bonus mini-episode (AND the early access!) at the $10 tier! And NO ADS at every tier!

FOR FIRST-TIME TESLA BUYERS: The referral program is back and it's the best one in a while! You can get $2500 off of your Model 3 or $500 off your classic Model Y purchase (or $1000 off of Cybertruck, Model S, or Model X) by ordering through my referral link. Clicking this will take you to the Tesla website where you can order with the discount applied: https://ts.la/ryan73014 

And don't forget to leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline anytime with a question, comment, or discussion topic for next week's show! The toll-free number to call or Skype is 1-888-989-8752.

LAST CALL: Win the custom-configured Tesla of your dreams in the 9th annual Climate XChange raffle! The taxes are paid if you win, and either way, the money goes to a great nonprofit cause. To get your tickets, go to https://carbonraffle.org/RTL 

Engineering innovation doesn’t just build great electric cars. It builds the foundation for an entire automotive ecosystem. And being a part of that means ensuring your Tesla is protected long after its original warranty expires. Get XCare, the first extended warranty built exclusively for EVs. Last chance to use our special anniversary code RTLOVE for $200 off our “One-time Payment” option! Go to www.xcelerateauto.com/xcare to find the extended warranty policy that's right for you and your Tesla.

P.S. Get 15% off your first order of awesome aftermarket Tesla accessories at AbstractOcean.com by using the code RTLpodcast at checkout. Grab the SnapPlate front license plate bracket for any Tesla at https://everyamp.com/RTL/ (don't forget the coupon code RTL too!). 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

On this week's episode of Ride the Lightning, the Tesla unofficial podcast,

0:04.5

Tesla's vice president of engineering Lars Moravy joins me for a candid conversation spanning

0:10.4

a wide-ranging number of topics.

0:13.2

From the new Model Y to his memories of pivotal moments in Tesla history, to the next-gen

0:18.1

roadster and even the upcoming more affordable cars. Enjoy. What's happening, friends, I'm Ryan McCaffrey, and welcome to Ride the Lightning.

0:47.0

It is your weekly Tesla unofficial podcast.

0:49.5

This is episode number 499.

0:53.7

It is a special one. This one's publishing on February 23rd, 2025.

1:00.0

And you know, most weeks I report on and give analysis of each week's Tesla news, but this week

1:07.7

is a very, very special week. This week, I'm the one making the Tesla news here on Ride the Lightning.

1:14.6

I am so extremely thrilled to check a bucket list item off of my Tesla podcast wish list.

1:22.6

Tesla's vice president of engineering, Lars Moravy, is my special guest this week. I went down to Tesla's

1:30.3

engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, about 35 minutes or so south of me. That was about a week

1:36.2

and a half ago. I sat down with him on Thursday, February 13th, and that interview is coming up in

1:43.7

just a few minutes.

1:44.5

But first, a couple of housekeeping items.

1:46.7

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who voted in last week's Patreon poll about whether or not, as I approach episode 500 and start to think about the next 500 episodes, whether or not you want to hear about other EVs besides

2:03.3

Tesla's on this podcast.

2:05.4

And it turns out an overwhelming majority of you do want to hear about other stuff.

2:10.8

So we will talk about that more in the near future.

2:14.7

I'd also like to thank those of you who voted in this week's Patreon poll,

2:19.1

which asks you, what topic are you most excited to hear Lars talk about on this podcast right

...

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