

News
LG Energy Solutions & Toyota sign battery supply deal for EVs made in the United States
LG Energy Solution (LGES) and Toyota signed a battery supply deal for electric vehicles produced in the United States. LGES will supply Toyota with NCMA Long Cell pouch-type batteries.
The agreement stipulates that LGES will supply Toyota with 20 GWh of high-nickel NCMA battery modules annually beginning in 2025. The South Korean battery supplier will produce Toyota’s NCMA battery modules at its new Michigan facility. The Japanese automaker plans to equip the LGES battery modules in electric vehicles built at the Toyota manufacturing facility in Kentucky.
“At Toyota, our goal is to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible, as fast as possible,” said the President and CEO of Toyota Motor North America, Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa.
“Having secure supplies of lithium-ion batteries at scale with a long-term relationship to support Toyota’s multi-pathway approach and growth plans for BEVs in North America is critical to achieving our manufacturing and carbon reduction plans. Working with LG Energy Solution, we are excited to be able to offer products that will provide the performance and quality our customers expect,” Ozawa added.
Last month, Toyota announced its aim to produce 600,000 battery electric vehicle units by 2025. The recent LGES supply deal is a step toward Toyota’s goal. As part of the agreement, LGES will invest $3 billion in its Michigan battery facility to establish cell and module production lines exclusively catering to Toyota’s needs. The new production lines are expected to be complete by 2025.
In May 2023, Toyota affirmed its commitment to electrification by unveiling a three-row battery electric SUV in Kentucky. The Japanese automaker announced that production of the new electric SUV would start by 2025 in Kentucky. It also shared that the batteries for the three-row all-electric SUV would come from Toyota’s battery manufacturing plant in North Carolina.
The legacy automaker planned to invest an additional $2.1 billion in the new battery facility in North Carolina called the Liberty plant—for the production of the three-row electric SUV. The Liberty plant is expected to start production by 2025 with six battery assembly lines, four dedicated to hybrid EVs and two focused on cells for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via X @Writer_01001101.
News
Tesla is testing a new way to eliminate a rare but concerning Supercharger issue
Tesla is testing a new way to end a rare issue at Superchargers, and its internal pilot program has already started.

Tesla is now testing a new way to eliminate a rare but concerning issue that can arise at Superchargers, especially as the company’s vehicles become more popular.
Tesla’s Supercharger Network is the most robust in the world, but the company has opened it up to other manufacturers, which makes the network even more congested than it already is.
Superchargers are continually being built, and existing stations are undergoing expansion in congested areas. However, there is one rare issue that still arises from time to time, and that’s the case of drivers cutting in line to charge before another vehicle that arrived before they did.
Tesla is rolling out a new ‘Supercharger queue’ in an effort to end one issue
A few months ago, Tesla said it would start testing a “virtual queuing” system that would tell cars what their position is in line. This would eliminate any instances of confusion between drivers and would also keep cutters from butting in front of those who arrived before them.
Now, Tesla is officially testing the program, according to Max de Zegher, the company’s North American charging head:
Pressure testing virtual queuing with the awesome @TeslaCharging teams, including for corner cases & bad actors. Public pilots next. If we get this right, it will be a big improvement for those rare cases with a wait. https://t.co/mxpFarYgJi pic.twitter.com/IgVVH2wiOe
— Max (@MdeZegher) June 26, 2025
Public pilots will begin soon at select sites after Tesla completes its internal testing. Admittedly, this is an incredibly rare issue, but it is something that is worth confronting because it will eliminate confrontations at Superchargers.
Elon Musk
Tesla still has two major milestones on track before end of Q2
Tesla still is on track to complete two monumental achievements as Q2 nears its end.

Tesla still has two major milestones it is on track to complete before the end of the second quarter, according to statements made by the automaker earlier this year.
With the launch of the Robotaxi platform in Austin on Sunday, Tesla has already completed perhaps its biggest milestone of 2025.
However, these are not the only things the company hopes to accomplish before we head into the latter half of the year, as there are two major things the company said it is aiming to complete before the third quarter starts next week.
Affordable Models
Tesla said earlier this year, on two separate occasions, that it is still on track to develop, build, and unveil the first affordable models that will be built on both the next-gen platform and also have aspects of the current vehicle platform.
Potential affordable Tesla “Model 2/Model Q” test car spotted anew in Giga Texas
In the Q4 2024 Earnings Call in January, the company said:
“Preparations are underway across our existing factories for the launch of new products in 2025, including more affordable models.”
The company continued:
“Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025. These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up.”
Although there are only a few days left, Tesla has yet to confirm that these affordable models are delayed, so we can expect that they’ll be arriving before the quarter ends.
The company might have been hinting toward one recently at the Fremont Factory, but it is more likely that the vehicle seen was the new Model Y Performance trim:
Tesla’s apparent affordable model zips around Fremont test track
Tesla delivers itself to customers
Back in late May, CEO Elon Musk said that the first Tesla to self-deliver would happen in June:
For the past several days, Tesla has been testing self-driving Model Y cars (no one in driver’s seat) on Austin public streets with no incidents.
A month ahead of schedule.
Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025
Tesla just launched its Robotaxi platform on Sunday, so this would be a tremendous step if it can, in fact, make this happen.
The customer would likely be extremely local to Gigafactory Texas. In the future, the company would load the vehicles onto haulers and then drive to customer homes from delivery centers, showrooms, and repair centers.
Teslas will self-deliver to customers, Elon Musk says: here’s when
Tesla has a few days left to complete both of these tasks, and then it will report delivery figures for the second quarter next week.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Omead Afshar, known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man, leaves company: reports
Tesla’s Head of North American sales and European ops, Omead Afshar, has reportedly left the company. He was widely-known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man.

Tesla’s Omead Afshar, who is widely known as CEO Elon Musk’s right-hand man, has reportedly left the company.
Several outlets are reporting that Afshar either left voluntarily or was potentially terminated on Thursday. His LinkedIn profile has not been updated to reflect this, and still states he presently works at Tesla in the “Office of the CEO.”
Afshar was promoted to Head of North American sales and European operations late last year. We reported on his promotion in October, as he was previously a Project Manager in the Office of the CEO before Musk and co. stepped up his responsibilities.
According to the initial report on Afshar’s departure from Bloomberg, the news has been circulating throughout the company in recent days. His name no longer appears in the company’s internal directory.
It is interesting to think about what could have caused this. Tesla has felt some pressure in Europe with struggling sales figures in some markets. It is the second-best-selling EV maker in the region, with Volkswagen performing slightly better for the year, according to EU-EVs.
Tesla’s Model Y is the best-selling EV in the region.
While the company has not directly confirmed the news, it appears to be true based on the reports.
Tesla is usually relatively quick to dispel any headlines that go out from mainstream media that are not factual. This has yet to be responded to by any executive, including Musk.
Afshar has been with Tesla for seven years and ten months, first joining in September 2017 as a Project Manager in the Office of the CEO.
He then became a Project Director, before his job title was updated to a Cowboy hat emoji in July 2020, around the time Tesla started moving some things to Texas.
Forbes is reporting that Afshar was terminated and did not leave voluntarily. This has yet to be confirmed.
-
Elon Musk2 weeks ago
Tesla sues former Optimus engineer for stealing trade secrets
-
News2 weeks ago
SpaceX produces its 10 millionth Starlink kit
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla Robotaxi just got a big benefit from the U.S. government
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla launches new Model S and Model X, and the changes are slim
-
News1 week ago
Tesla confirms massive hardware change for autonomy improvement
-
News1 day ago
Tesla Robotaxi’s biggest challenge seems to be this one thing
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla retires yoke steering wheel in base Model S and X
-
News1 week ago
Tesla features used to flunk 16-year-old’s driver license test