Lifestyle
Tesla urged by local residents to build bike path near proposed Portland Store
Residents of South Waterfront in Portland, OR urge Tesla to complete a bike path adjoining its proposed Showroom and Service Center
Tesla has reportedly volunteered to build a bike trail at the urge of local residents near the proposed site for its Showroom and Service Center in Portland, Oregon.
A riverfront area known as South Waterfront just 2 miles south of Downtown Portland has been the site for the city’s urban redevelopment project over the last decade. Nestled among luxury high-rise condominiums, sophisticated industrial-chic stores, and urban dining joints, is a relatively undeveloped area that was once the site for the now vacant 35,000 sqft. Benz Spring Company warehouse, a pre-WWII manufacturer of automotive leaf springs and coil springs.
According to NextPortland a site that keeps track of building developments in the city, Tesla has applied for a Design and Land Use review on its proposed Showroom and Service Center located at 4330 SW Macadam, the same location that houses the abandoned Benz Spring Co. warehouse.
![Flyer advertising the commercial lease of 4330 SW Macadam, future site of Tesla's Showroom / Service Center [Source: Canterbury Commercial LLC]](http://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Tesla-Store-location-4330-SW-Macadam-Portland.jpg)
Flyer advertising the commercial lease of 4330 SW Macadam, future site of Tesla’s Showroom / Service Center [Source: Canterbury Commercial LLC]
Photos from a flyer for a Canterbury Commercial real estate leasing company show the rectangular shaped building bisecting a popular riverfront walking and biking trail. Local residents of South Waterfront have urged Tesla to assist with building a bike path known as the Willamette Greenway Trail that would connect the existing path that ends directly south of the building with the area north of it. The request comes after budgetary constraints halted completion of the proposed project by the city’s Parks and Recreation division.
We’ve included a Google Street View image showing the current bike path coming to an end as it reaches the southern point of the proposed Tesla Showroom.
While Tesla’s Store seems generally welcomed based on positive comments from residents out of the South Waterfront Facebook Group, many locals have urged the company to consider completing “the gap” in the Willamette Greenway Trail or more commonly known as “the pathway to nowhere” by locals.
However, city zoning codes in South Waterfront exempt projects having to connect the Greenway Trail gap on their property unless they’re adding at least 50,000 square feet of new floor space. In essence Tesla was not required to build the bike path since their proposal for the store (see official filing here) was for a remodel of the existing warehouse which registers under 50,000 square feet.
According to BikePortland.org, South Waterfront local resident Bob Cronk took to the community’s Facebook group asking residents to write the city’s Land Use Services division and urge Tesla to “complete their share of the Willamette Greenway Trail!”
Bob writes on May 5 via Facebook’s South Waterfront – Portland Oregon group:
“Tesla is remodeling a warehouse in South Waterfront. Their plans do not include completing their portion of the river path also known as the Willamette Greenway Trail. If you would like to see this trail completed, email Jeff Mitchem at Land Use Services at jeffrey.mitchem@portlandoregon.gov (case file number LU 16-116605 DZ) by May 20th and let him know you want this gap in the trail completed! Each new project in the neighborhood needs to fill in their portion so we will someday have a continuous trail along the river.”
Well, Tesla obliged and volunteered to complete the long overdue bridging of the Greenway Trail gap. Last week, Bob took to Facebook again to announce that Tesla had agreed to complete the segment of the Greenway Trail adjoining their upcoming store.
“Good news, Tesla has agreed to pave the path on their property!”
In a city that’s stereotypically known for being green and flat-out hip, walking, biking, and soon driving a Tesla will hopefully be a common place item. We leave you with a closing comment from a happy reader of BikePortland.org. “Grandpa” writes:
“We don’t yet know why Tesla decided to build the trail …
Perhaps they did it because it is the right thing to do, and they are a company who’s business model is to do the right thing. Their product line would support that supposition. FWIW I emailed Tesla that I had a case of beer riding on their putting the trail section in. That may have been the deciding factor.”
And that’s why Portland is one of the hippest cities on earth.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
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India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
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The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
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