Tesla adds nifty climate control feature to complement phone calls

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Tesla is adding a nifty new climate control feature to complement a driver’s ability to hear who is on the other side of a phone call.

It is not groundbreaking as many other automakers have already made use of it, but Tesla drivers will now get what they are calling “Lower HVAC Fan Speed While on a Call.”

The feature is pretty self-explanatory: the HVAC system will automatically lower the speed of climate fans to reduce ambient noise while a phone call is in progress.

Loud air conditioning or heat fans can drown out noise on both ends of a call. While it only takes a second to do it manually, the car will now do it automatically to make for a higher-quality call between people.

Tesla’s Smartphone App set to improve as new features are on the horizon

Many other automakers have a similar feature in their vehicles, including Ford and General Motors.

Tesla writes in its updated Owner’s Manual (via Not a Tesla App):

“When in Auto, the fan speed may automatically lower to reduce the sound of ambient noise while on a call.”

The feature was added to vehicles in the 2023.26 update, which also includes Backup Camera Repositioning and Pedestrian Warning System pause.

Backup Camera Repositioning allows drivers to draft the camera feed to different positions using the touchscreen. And while Tesla added it to the Owner’s Manual, it is not available in the 2023.26 update.

Finally, the Pedestrian Warning System Pause allows drives to halt the activation of the warning noise that plays when the vehicle is traveling at less than 19 MPH or in reverse, which is useful for dense traffic situations.

The noisemaker was required on all EVs as a part of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141, which was passed in 2018.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla adds nifty climate control feature to complement phone calls

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Tesla China sees 10,600 insurance registrations in July’s 4th week

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Despite Tesla China likely focusing its efforts on vehicle exports for now, the electric vehicle maker appears to be selling its cars in the domestic market at a steady pace. Estimates from industry watchers suggest that Tesla saw a 37% improvement in its domestic sales figures last week compared to the week prior. 

Tesla China’s weekly sales figures are not released by the company, though the general trends in the country’s vehicle sales per week could be inferred through insurance registrations. These insurance registrations are thus tracked by industry watchers online. Even automakers such as Li Auto have taken it upon themselves to share insurance registration data on a regular basis. 

As per Li Auto’s recent report, which was posted by the automaker on Weibo, Tesla China saw 10,600 registrations in the week ending July 30. Such numbers represent a 37.66% improvement from the 7,700 units that were registered in the previous week. With its most recent estimates, Tesla China appears to have sold about 31,300 vehicles domestically from July 1 to July 30, as tracked by CNEV Post. 

That’s not a bad number at all considering that Tesla China typically allots the majority of its resources to exports during the first half of a quarter. Considering that July is the first month of Q3, expectations were high that Gigafactory Shanghai would be producing vehicles that are mostly for exports. And when Giga Shanghai is focused on exports, domestic sales typically drop by a notable degree. 

This does not seem to be happening as much this quarter, as Tesla China still seems to be seeing a pretty healthy number of insurance registrations per week. This bodes well for the electric vehicle maker, especially considering that some buyers of the Model 3 sedan, which is produced locally, are probably holding off on their vehicle purchase due to the impending rollout of the vehicle’s “Project Highland” update. 

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.

Tesla China sees 10,600 insurance registrations in July’s 4th week

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Tesla resumes filing building permits at Fremont Factory

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Tesla has resumed filing building permits at the Fremont Factory after a one-week hiatus, which is indicative of the unconfirmed production stoppage that occurred last week at the Northern California facility.

Last week, we reported that Tesla had evidently paused production at the Fremont Factory as spotted by a drone operator.

Tesla’s first EV plant stoppage begins at Fremont Factory

The production lot was relatively empty, haulers were not present, and there was very little movement inside Tesla’s California vehicle production plant, and the stoppage was in line with things that CEO Elon Musk said during the most recent Earnings Call.

Production seemed to resume just a few days later, and based on permits filed by Tesla with the City of Fremont, there was definitely a small break in production to perhaps finalize tooling upgrades and other improvements.

Tesla has started filing permits once again, with the most recent being a Tool Installation and a Fire Monitoring system, according to the permits.

These were filed by the automaker on July 28.

The tool installation filing states:

“Demolition of existing equipment and installation of new equipment.”

Tesla has been rumored to be building a new Model 3, known as Highland, in California and could be set to begin production of the vehicle soon. The project was started in Fremont last Summer, according to filings seen by Teslarati.

The automaker will make improvements at other plants as well during this quarter, which Musk said may affect production as Tesla could report slightly lower numbers than expected due to the upgrades.

Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla resumes filing building permits at Fremont Factory

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