How To Turn Off and Power Down Your Tesla

How to power off your Tesla completely

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We have all been accustomed to turning cars on and turning them off when we’re done driving. However, with Tesla there is no need to turn off your car in the traditional sense. There is no engine to start or stop.

If you have access to put the car into drive, by having an authenticated phone, a key card or key fob, then power is supplied to the electric motor and you can start driving. If you ask someone who has had a Tesla for a while, you may find that they sometimes get so used to not having to turn a car off that they’ll leave gasoline powered cars running after leaving the vehicle.

Even though Teslas do not need to be turned off, there are HVAC and electric systems that turn on and off, but the car controls these systems automatically. The systems come on if a door is opened or if there is someone in the car.

Under normal operations, all you have to do is put your car into Park and close the door behind you. The car will turn off the screen and HVAC system immediately if there is no one in the car. The rest of the systems will power down after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Force a Tesla to Turn Off

However, if you’d like to turn off all systems to preserve battery life, restart the car's computer or for emergency reasons, you can do so by tapping on the Car icon on the lower-left of the touchscreen, then going to Safety & Security. There you’ll see an option to “Power Off,” which will force all systems to power down. Whenever you'd like the car to turn back on, you can simply open a door or tap the brake pedal. There are also other ways to restart your car.

Be sure to check out our How To section and Tesla Tips for more information about Tesla.

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Tesla’s Referral Program Launches in Europe

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Following its recent launch in the United States and Canada, Tesla has launched their referral program in several European countries as well.

The program is available in Germany, Norway, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and possibly others. The program is almost the same as the one available today in North America, with rewards for each referral and a discount for those referred. The cap in Europe is also ten per year.

This program comes right on the heels of a 0% financing offer for the Model Y in Sweden and France. While referrals aren't currently available in Sweden, the 0% financing still is.

European Referrals

The European Referral program accounts for country and local currency, where applicable.

The referral reward program is comparable to the one available in North America. After exchange rates, there is only an approximately 10% difference between the available rewards in the US and EU.

Other Countries

We expect this program to start rolling out to other European countries over the next few days or weeks, as Tesla continues to expand its referral program.

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Tesla's Android App Lags Behind Apple's: The Missing Features

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Tesla has confirmed that they submit app updates for Android and iOS apps at the same time, but we often see the iOS app updates released first possibly due to a quicker app review process at Apple.

However, we often see features implemented on the Apple version weeks or months before they’re implemented on Android. Today, the Android app is missing several key features, and the gap is starting to become a bit glaring.

Delayed App Updates

The Android app just received update 4.36.6 last night, while the Apple update was available as of September 1st.

That might not seem like a big deal, but in order to use the updated Actually Smart Summon, you’ll need app version 4.36.6, so any Andriod users that received update 2024.27.20 with the new Summon, couldn’t use it until yesterday.

We’re sure Tesla is on it, but it’s disappointing to see that key feature updates take days or a week longer to receive on Android. Apple and Google both offer the ability to set a release date for an app update, so Tesla could coordinate releasing the apps at the same time.

Ultra Wideband Support

Unfortunately, there’s no Ultra Wide Band (UWB) support on Android yet, which is an interesting omission since it’s such a great feature. Most Android phones, flagships, and cheaper phones alike, all support UWB.

Without UWB support Android phones can’t use Tesla’s newest phone key, which is only available for devices that support UWB. The new phone key improves reliability for unlocking the vehicle and setting the correct Tesla driver profile. To support the new phone key, you need a compatible phone (iPhone 11 or newer) and a newer vehicle that supports ultra wideband.

Hands-Free Trunk

Tesla’s new hands-free trunk feature, which allows you to automatically open your trunk by simply standing behind it for a couple of seconds, also isn’t available on Android devices. Tesla’s Hands-Free Trunk requires UWB support too, and Tesla originally mentioned it was coming to Android in May 2024.

For now, those are the features we know of that don’t work on Android today, and we’re hoping that Tesla brings both UWB support, as well as simultaneous app updates to the Google Play and Apple App Store by leveraging each store’s publish date feature.

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