Tesla factory tour – help me get on one

The prospect of a fully autonomous driving has always held a fascination for me. The thought of finishing work on Friday evening, jumping into the car with the family, setting a distant target destination for the weekend, and then letting the car drive itself overnight whilst we relax and sleep, waking up in the morning at our weekend venue has been a dream of mine. Once we get to this stage, then I’d expect that the interior of cars would be re-imagined, allowing for comfortable chairs that recline fully and double as a bed, and maybe a centralized table from which you can sit around to work, eat and socialize.

I have longed for a Tesla vehicle for a long time now, and my dream came true earlier this year, when my Hyundai Santa Cruz (gas powered car), although relatively new, was proving to be unreliable (ie: new front axle after only 3K miles, amongst other things!) and the timing felt right to trade it in before I took too much more of a financial hit on it due to depreciation. This coincided with Tesla dropping their prices significantly on their Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles, and a $7,500 federal tax and Massachusetts $3,500 rebate ($12,000 in total).

The planets felt in alignment, so I decided to go for it, and ordered a long range Tesla Model Y. I have now owned my new Tesla for a couple of months, have already clocked up a couple of thousand miles, and am loving it! I’m enjoying the prospect of lower ongoing maintenance, since electric vehicles typically have less moving parts, so no more oil changes for me, and cheaper running costs to get from A to B! Even brake pads don’t need replacing as much due to regenerative braking, where the electric motors help slow the car up when you take your foot off of the accelerator.

One of the most enjoyable and exciting things for me, is how my Tesla feels more like a software platform, since new features and updates are enabled through Tesla pushing out live software updates to the car, so over time there are improvements and new capabilities added. For someone that lives and works in the tech space, this is exciting! I even find the manufacturing process fascinating, particularly with the large ‘giga press’ Tesla have designed and started using on some of their models.

Anyway… recently Tesla has started offering factory tours of both their Californian, Fremont and Austin factories, which for someone like me (and my son, mini-TechHead) would be off-the-scale amazing!

One of the few ways you can get on one of these newly announced Tesla factory tours is via the ‘Refer and Earn’ program, where you can spend referral credits towards getting on a factory tour. For this I need to achieve a lofty 15,000 credits!

You can earn credits through people using your referral code when purchasing a new Tesla. The great news is that you also get something out of it as well, for free! At the time of writing this post, you would get $500 cash back and 3 months of full self driving (FSD) – which is fun to try out, and gives you a taste of where FSD is heading.

Anyway, if you, family or friends are thinking of buying a Tesla, please consider clicking on my referral code link here (it doesn’t cost you anything), as it will help you get some cash back on your purchase, and also me, in getting a step closer to taking mini-TechHead and myself on a Tesla factory tour. Refer and Earn link: https://ts.la/simon395845

Thanks for taking the time to read this more casual post, and if you already own a Tesla, have just ordered one or are thinking about it, then drop a comment and let me know what excites you most about the Tesla technology and driving experience. Also, will be ever see full hands-off the steering wheel type self driving anytime soon or will it continue to be just a dream?