Episode 498: Jay Leno Gets New Details on the New Model Y

Comedian and world-renowned car enthusiast Jay Leno – perhaps Tesla’s biggest celebrity fan – welcomed Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and VP of Engineering Lars Moravy to his garage this week to show off the new Model Y, and we learned a lot of fun things about the refreshed vehicle in the process. Plus: thieves who try to steal the copper out of Tesla Supercharging cables will soon be in for a not-so-fun surprise, an update on the timeline for the first 500kW Superchargers, and more!

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.

NEW: 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 

What’s sweeter than a box of chocolate truffles? Hard to beat… but when it comes to showing your Tesla a whole lotta love, there’s nothing like XCare’s extended warranty. I unwrapped a special code for you, too: use RTLOVE to get $200 off when you select the One-time Payment option, through February 28. 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!).