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I rent EVs on a two week or 21 day cycle. More than 25 times since 2022. Later this year I will be getting a Tesla Model 3 RWD with FSD when I come off contract and am in DFW for the last 6 months of the year.

As for fire the Model 3 uses lithium Iron Phosphate cells not Nickel Manganese Cobalt. LFP cells cannot thermal runaway nor is the electrolyte very flammable. The Tesla cells are the same cells used by BYD in their Bladepacks. There is a great video showing BYD driving a steel spike right through the heart of a full charged bladepack it doesn’t catch fire not even exceed 400 degrees it simply vents a little and sits there after. LFP cells are so safe the FAA let’s you fly with them checked in the cargo hold and shipped bulk as cargo you can’t do that with NMC or Li-Ion. So no I am not worried about fire with LFP cells they won’t burn on their own. If you soaked them in diesel and set them alight you might get them to pop off.

I have driven Tesla S of various flavors my best buddy and one of my lawyer’s Tesla plaid is scary fast. Two of my other friends have a Model 3 both love it. I have also driven for weeks at a time model Y, and model 3s. Model S is a status symbol every one I know who owns one traded a $80,000 plus car for it. Large BMWs or Benzs. The model 3 is one fourth the cost and a near perfect commuter car for anyone who has free charging at work or has 50/60 amp plugs in a garage for the mobile connect cord.

The FSD tech and the ability to be grid free with my panels is why I will have one. The gov can and probably will turn of gasoline sales at some point same for the gas grid they cannot turn off the sun my home will always have more power than it uses if the grid is down then they lose the power not me since I sell my surplus too the grid.

Tesla is a tech company first, car company second the car is just a mobile supercomputer. Soon to be integrated with Starlink global broadband network. They already are 5G connected with AT&T , people have put gen 3 Starlink flat panels under the glass sunroofs of Teslas and driven them out to far from cell phone service works flawlessly. Exciting tech to say the least.

This is important to my needs as I can do geological analytics wherever I have at least 2 mbps Wi-Fi I rarely am on a rig only if they are super small time and don’t have telemetry data to 4/5G or Vsat. I spend time in Houston networking plus I like the 170+ differ nationalities food and second to none nightlife, same for Austin or New Orleans time well spent.T&E is deductible so try to stay 50+ miles from my “home” zipcode I can do my 14/21 from anywhere with a internet connection as long as the rig/rigs have telemetry.

Starlink V3 is mobile you open the little feet under the flat panel set the dish at an angle pointed North and in seconds it’s 200+ mbps anywhere on the planet with global roam turned on. Really the feet and the point North is to appease the Geosat/ FCC guys the flat panel works laying flat and in motion as long as you are under 200 knots speed tried in motion in a Cessna it cuts out above 200kn.

Tesla starlink is a paradigm shift for digital nomads. Having 5G or Starlink in the same location means as long as I am a few hundred feet away and in Wi-Fi range of either router the whole planet is now profit generating space. Add some portable solar panels to run the Starlink hardware and you can stay deep off grid for weeks at a time camping on a beach or forest while charging by the day for it.

I have kayak,flyfish and camped with a my cohort Evan’s Model Y and solar panels plus we took my 15,000w trifuel generator on a hitch mounted shelf. It made me wonder why Tesla doesn’t offer a RangeX module that is just a 40kw two cyl running a 480v three phase commercial alternator, feed that directly to SiC diodes and rectify it to 480V DC feed that via a dedicated plug on the battery bus you could charge on the move and not stop for 600+ miles plus having three phase AC off grid in spades. A little 2cyl would easily fit on a class two trailer hitch mounted shelf behind a Tesla.

Turns out that you can plug a Tesla into a generator’s 50amp 240v plug if you ground the forth pin to the earth with a metal tent stake and some insulated wire other wise the mobile connect cord sees a floating ground and won’t energize. A model Y will take up to 45 amps off that plug and fully charge over an 8 hour period from 20% to 80% if one wanted to do this while camping far from a Suoercharger or L2 plug. Since we ran the generator for led lights, music system speakers, amps, guitars we set the Y to take 30 amps leaving 20 more for camp use.

The Y went from 50% to 80% the first night and validated the experiment. It was my idea the engineer,trumpet and base player of the group. We were running the generator anyways and it runs most efficient at 75% load point. Measuring the gas we burnt vs how much range was added it worked out to 28 mpg equivalent but that included the camp loads too so it would have been higher just charging the Y. For occasional far off the beaten path use it is a perfect set up and begs for Tesla to make a real RangeX rentable module. For those twice a year guys trips too the boonies.