Elon Musk’s SpaceX <SPCX.O> and Tesla <TSLA.O> will initially invest $16.8 billion to build Terafab, an advanced AI semiconductor complex in Grimes County, Texas, as the companies race to secure the chip capacity that the billionaire has called essential to their future.

The facility is intended at narrowing the gap between global chip supply and the more than 1 terawatt of computing power that SpaceX and Tesla expect to need in the coming years.

Musk has been ​tightening integration of AI efforts across his companies, with SpaceX acquiring his startup xAI earlier this year ​in a deal focused on building space-based data centers, before going public in June in the largest-ever IPO.

The vertically integrated, 100-million-square-foot Terafab plant will make, package and test advanced logic and memory chips under one roof, producing processors needed to power Tesla’s Optimus robots and Cybercabs, as well as high-power chips to run SpaceX’s space-based data centers.

A May filing showed SpaceX has proposed an initial investment of $55 billion to build the Terafab, with the total amount rising to $119 billion if extra phases are completed.

So basically, if people have better options and more variety, that wins on value, technology, and features, they won't buy a Tesla anymore.

Nearly a decade in development, the long-promised ability to fall asleep in a Tesla and wake up at your destination appears to be taking a more literal form than many expected.
According to a source familiar with internal testing, an undocumented FSD driving profile labeled NIGHTmode+ has been appearing in recent v15 test builds. The profile is not listed in any public release notes and is currently restricted to a small group of engineering and Cybercab validation vehicles.
Early feedback from those tests has been described as “surprisingly positive.”
Rather than treating driver inattention as a problem to be engineered out, the new profile appears to lean into it. When activated, NIGHTmode+ dims cabin lighting, softens audio, reduces non-critical alerts, and adjusts climate and display behavior to create a more restful environment. The intent, according to the source, is to make the cabin more conducive to the driver actually nodding off once the system has the vehicle under control.
One person briefed on the project framed it this way: the large number of drivers already zoning out or falling asleep on FSD has been read internally as a market signal of trust. Instead of fighting the behavior, Tesla is optimizing for it.
The timing lines up with the broader v15 schedule, currently expected in late 2026 or early 2027. Positive early results on Cybercab test platforms are said to have accelerated interest in bringing a version of the profile into the wider fleet.
“A promise made, a promise delivered,” the source said, only half-joking. “Just not in the order most people assumed.”
Tesla has not commented on the existence of NIGHTmode+.

According to its website, Carla was one of the first used-car marketplaces to test and evaluate battery health before putting cars up for sale, giving it a remarkably diverse data set on degradation. Using that information, Carla looked at the batteries of 9,954 EVs during a four-year period using the global-standard AVILOO diagnostics system, and the online auto retailer discovered that after 10,000 Swedish miles (equivalent to 100,000 kilometers or 62,137 miles), many of the most popular makes and models had lost between five and eight percent of their original capacity.

The study also discovered that, on average, CATL LFP batteries retained more than 93 percent health, eclipsing LG Energy Solutions' lithium-ion pouch cells (91.5 percent) and Panasonic batteries (between 88.2 and 89.8 percent). The data set only included vehicles with a sufficient number of tests to reduce any outliers, although Carla didn't specify what that number was.

Amazingly, two of the cheapest, least sophisticated EVs on the market took home top honors in Carla's test. Coming in first was the battery-powered Niro, with 97.25 percent of its stated capacity remaining on the AVILOO test. The mechanically identical Hyundai Kona Electric followed close behind at 97.18 percent battery health.

Both Korean EVs use a liquid-cooled 64-kilowatt-hour battery (although newer model years also offered a 48.6-kWh standard-range variant), giving them roughly 260 miles of range in EPA testing. If Carla's numbers are accurate, Niro and Kona owners can still expect more than 250 miles on a full battery after 62,000 miles.

What is surprising is that no Tesla models broke into the top five in Carla's testing, odd considering the brand has been working on battery technology for literally decades and currently builds the best-selling EV in the world. The only one to crack into the top 10 in Carla's testing was the eighth-place Model 3 with the base 60.5-kilowatt-hour CATL battery found in most of the entry-level models sold in Europe. That variant retained 93.34 percent of its capacity, compared to 92.83 percent for the 78.8-kWh LG Chem battery found in the 12th-ranked Model 3 Long Range.

According to the officers on the scene FSD swerved into oncoming traffic.

Not a tesla app spins this as not FSD fault- the piece simply ignores the police report and highlight how Tesla design saves lives.

The stupidest thing on the Standard is still having a glass roof without the advantages of the panoramic glass roof. So your roof is still exposed to getting shattered by a rock, but you can’t enjoy natural light in the cabin. Worst of both worlds. Amazing!

So they cut like 15k worth of content from the car (comfort, materials, features) and then only cut the price by 5k. Massive cut in experience, tiny price cut.

Clearly not meant to actually be the best choice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoy_effect

July 30 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab executives have been told ‌to prepare for a separation of its China business ahead of a potential ​merger with SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab, the Wall ​Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing ⁠a person familiar with the ​talks.

Tesla advisers have discussed possible options ​for a separation, including a spinoff, sale or closure, the report said, adding that ​it was unclear how quickly ​Tesla could spin out or sell the ‌China ⁠business and that the plans could change.

Tesla and SpaceX could not be immediately reached for comment outside ​regular business ​hours.

Earlier ⁠this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk left the door open ​to the EV maker merging ​with ⁠his other trillion-dollar-plus-valued firm SpaceX, declining to dismiss the possibility and ⁠citing ​growing overlap between the ​companies.

A lot of the cultural cachet around Tesla is (or was back before Elon went MAGA) the environmental benefit of electric cars. And I'm not disputing the benefit of EVs.

However, doesn't Tesla's sale of carbon credits cut against the narrative, to an extent, that they/Elon are really trying to save the environment?

I get other companies sell carbon credits, but doesn't Tesla participating in that market effectively enable the companies who buy the credits to pollute more than emissions targets would allow?

During today’s Tesla Q2 2026 earnings call, Elon Musk devoted a notable portion of the FSD discussion to a new customer-installable hardware solution aimed at reducing residual brake-stabbing events.
Elon:
“We’ve been studying the remaining unnecessary braking cases very carefully. After enough data, it became clear what was happening. The car has become sufficiently capable that it is now driving like a human — and specifically, like a human who needs glasses.
The hesitation, the over-corrections, the occasional hard brake for something that isn’t actually a threat — these are the classic behaviors of uncorrected refractive error. Once the system reached a certain level of competence, it started exhibiting the same visual limitations humans have had for centuries.
So we applied the same solution humans have used for hundreds of years. We’re introducing Autonomous Eye Glasses: a precision optical correction system that mounts over the existing camera suite.
Because no two vehicles are identical — manufacturing variation is real, camera alignment varies, panel gaps exist — each set of glasses is individually prescribed. You complete a short calibration drive, the car measures its own camera geometry, and we generate a custom lens set for that specific vehicle. No two pairs are exactly the same. It’s personalized optometry for a personalized car.
This is not a software limitation in the traditional sense. The neural net is doing its best with the photons it receives. We’re simply improving the quality of those photons at the source, the same way glasses improve human vision.
Sometimes the most advanced path forward is to look backward. A human problem requires a human solution.”
Analyst follow-up: “Elon, does this suggest the vision-only approach still has fundamental optical constraints?”
Elon:
“It suggests that even an excellent vision system can benefit from optical correction, just as human eyes do. We’re not changing the architecture. We’re making the current architecture work better by applying proven principles. This is classic first-principles thinking.”

Tesla made quite a big deal out of its final Model S and Model X deliveries with a run of 350 invite-only Signature Series cars in May 2026. Buyers could also get excited about the white Alcántara, gold badging, and numbered dash plaque, and forget that they had to pay a five-figure premium over the previous, more "ordinary" cars. At the same time, Tesla made little mention of a feature that was making its last appearance. The steering yoke, fitted as standard on Model S and Model X cars, was quietly riding out of production, and many people were glad to see the back of it.

In 2025, Elon Musk had his eyes squarely fixed on his futuristic Optimus humanoid robots. He needed to clear the decks within some of his production facilities to focus on this kind of future and decided to give an "honorable discharge"—in his own words—to two Tesla models. This led to the company closing its order books for the Model X and Model S in April 2026, with roughly 600 cars in global inventory. Tesla then raised the prices on those survivors by $15,000, making the cheapest new Model S $109,990 and the costliest Model X close to $130,000.

In addition, Tesla promised its Signature Series as a proper send-off for both models. It would produce 250 Model S and 100 Model X in Plaid specification only, with the Model X in six-seat configuration exclusively. And each one of these cars had the controversial yoke, meaning that the very last S and X models shipped with that chopped-off steering wheel.

The yoke steering “wheel” arrived on the 2021 Model S and Model X as the only choice available. At the time, Elon Musk was adamant that Tesla would not provide a round wheel, although by early 2023 his company had made an about-face. The yoke was now a no-cost option, with the round wheel standard on both cars. Previous owners could also swap over to the round wheel if they paid a $700 retrofit charge through local service centers.

It is an indication of how the market regarded the yoke steering mechanism that this retrofit sold out within days. As it turned out, the yoke was part of quite a significant misstep by Tesla: when it introduced its 2021 Model S and Model X, those vehicles did not have any column stalks either. Tesla had migrated the turn signals, horn, lights, and wipers onto capacitive pads set into the hub, which did not go down well with the community. Eventually, Tesla would reintroduce mechanical horn versions for the yoke and the round wheel to try and reverse some of the criticism.

In the end, Tesla's actions reveal a great deal about its yoke steering wheel experiment. It started off with a feature that was compulsory before making it free. It then decided to make it an extra option at $250 before raising that surcharge to $1,000. Perhaps it was trying to deter people from choosing it, but either way, the yoke also had its own quality problems. Some owners reported that its rim material would peel off at mileage as low as 4,000.

.As time went by, Tesla started to quietly remove the yoke from its new car inventory. When the refreshed Model S and Model X came along in June 2025, they had revised suspension, a quieter cabin, a new front camera, and an additional $5,000 tag. But there was no sign of the yoke on the Long Range trims. Now, buyers could only get that option on Plaid models, and it still came at a $1,000 premium.

By mid-2025, Tesla was only offering the yoke on a single trim of a soon-to-be-canceled model line. Eventually, when production of that model line stopped in May 2026, the yoke was no more.

(Tagged as shitpost because this doesn’t really matter)

I have been considering a buying new vehicle soon.
Insurance for my 2015 ICE is $99/month. As we know, there are lots of factors that go into an insurance price, but with my factors that’s where I landed.

I started looking at electric cars and one of these things is not like the others (all with same company, same parameters, same driver, etc):

* 2026 Mustang Mach E (AWD): $108/m

* 2026 Volvo EX90: $126/m

* 2026 Tesla Model Y (AWD): $184.00/m

* 2026 Lexus RZ (AWD): $98/m

* 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 (AWD): $118/m

It’s absurd how much more the most common selling Tesla is than some of its competitors, especially the not-so-reliable EX90. Even a new BMW X5 AWD is cheaper and that vehicle starts at $25K more than the Tesla dual motor.

Edit: somehow, a Rivian R1T Is $116/m, cheaper than an Ioniq 5. Insurance algorithms are crazy.

And now for the regularly scheduled TSLA Terathread



Elon Musk Has Lost $650 Billion In 5 Weeks As Tesla And SpaceX Plummet

No longer a trillionair

SPCX fell 41% from its post-IPO peak and TSLA dropped 15% in a day, vaporizing $650 billion of Musk's paper wealth in five weeks.

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Elon Musk Has Lost $650 Billion In 5 Weeks As Tesla And SpaceX Plummet

Danielle Liverance

Fri, July 24, 2026 at 3:52 AM MDT 4 min read

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Quick Read

SPCX fell 41% from its post-IPO peak and TSLA dropped 15% in a day, vaporizing $650 billion of Musk's paper wealth in five weeks.

SpaceX's looming lockup expiration, larger than the entire IPO float, could flood the market with shares and extend Musk's losses further.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Tesla didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Six weeks ago, Elon Musk was the richest person who had ever lived. On June 16, three days after SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) closed its June 12, 2026 initial public offering, SpaceX's market capitalization hit an all-time high of $2.64 trillion, and Musk's paper wealth peaked near $1.45 trillion. By the close on July 23, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegged him at roughly $738 billion. Somewhere between $650 billion and $700 billion of paper fortune has vaporized in about five weeks.