April Fool’s Day has come another year, and with it, a handful of fake headlines and statements ready to make fools of us all. Whether it took you a while to remember to watch for trolls today or you’ve become hardened and on-guard for the holiday, we’re looking back at some times when Tesla and others were, perhaps, a little too convincing for their own good.
Tesla has had a long history of making April Fool’s jokes, not unlike many before it in the tech automotive industries. As electric vehicles (EVs) from Tesla and others have become more popular, so too have the cultures of trolling, memes, and general online silliness continued to grow.
Elon Musk turns “Teslaquila” April Fools’ booze into the real thing
Below are six times Tesla and others (*cough* Volkswagen) rode the delicate line between April Fool’s joke and misleading the public.
2015: Tesla Model S ‘ticket-avoidance-mode’
At this point, Tesla’s Model S “ticket-avoidance-mode” video is a straight-up classic. Back in 2015, Tesla announced in a video that Model S owners would no longer need to worry about parking tickets with the use of the mode. Eight years and 22.2 million views later, the 84-second video is still pretty funny.
2018: Tesla’s fake brush with ‘bankwuptcy’
Perhaps one of the most high-profile of Tesla’s April Fool’s jokes was surrounding the release of Tesla Tequila, then called Teslaquila—before the company was required to change the name by authorities in Mexico.
On his own Twitter profile in 2018, CEO Elon Musk posted that Tesla had gone bankrupt, detailing a “last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs. The thread continued, saying that Musk had been found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, with “Teslaquilla” bottles all around him.
This one stung just a little bit, as it was clearly a joke. However, Tesla’s multiple real brushes with bankruptcy in periods of “production hell” during the Model S and Model 3 ramp probably made this one hit home for some employees and shareholders at the time.
“There are many chapters of bankruptcy and, as critics so rightly pointed out, Tesla has them *all*, including Chapter 14 and a half (the worst one),” Musk wrote in the post.
Tesla Goes Bankrupt
Palo Alto, California, April 1, 2018 — Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt, you can't believe it.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2018
Elon was found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by "Teslaquilla" bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks.
This is not a forward-looking statement, because, obviously, what's the point?
Happy New Month! pic.twitter.com/YcouvFz6Y1
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2018
2019: Tesla Pittsburgh store ‘downsizes’ Model S
This one is perhaps a lesser-known event than some of the company’s more public April Fool’s announcements, but it was pretty funny when the Tesla store at Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, “downsized” its stock, instead displaying a tiny Radio Flyer Model S for the day.
2021: Volkswagen basically changes its name to ‘Voltswagen’
This one simply needed to be included on this list: Does anyone else remember when Volkswagen highlighted its transition to EVs by issuing an April Fool’s press release to formally change its name to ‘Voltswagen’?
I do, because it was so convincing that the automaker later had to issue a wave of apologies for misleading consumers and shareholders. Volkswagen also said it published the release “accidentally,” coming out just a couple of days prior to April 1. Said to begin in May 2021, the release also coincided with the deployment of early ID.4 units, apparently intended to be “a public declaration of the company’s future-forward investment in e-mobility.”
“We might be changing out our K for a T, but what we aren’t changing is this brand’s commitment to making best-in-class vehicles for drivers and people everywhere,” wrote Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Voltswagen of America, in the fake release.
In a follow-up, Volkswagen issued an apology statement before April Fool’s Day even began:
“What began as an April Fool’s effort got the whole world buzzing,” the automaker wrote. “Turns out people are as passionate about our heritage as they are about our electric future. So whether it’s Voltswagen or Volkswagen, people talking about electric driving and our ID.4 can only be a good thing.”
Really, this is the only one on this list that was probably too convincing. This might be a bit of a hot take, but personally, I kind of liked the fake name.
2023: Tesla Cybertruck’s highly anticipated “crash test”
This one was only a little cruel: Prior to its release in November, Tesla last April posted a short, repeating teaser of the highly anticipated Cybertruck crash test, edited to offer zero crash, zero details, and thus, zero resolve for those awaiting the real results. Many had requested details on crash testing for the Cybertruck over the years, so the unsatisfying clip got a lot of people hyped up, only to later realize the date.
This one was verifiably pretty convincing.
Cybertruck crash test pic.twitter.com/MIhJbxLXuP
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 1, 2023
Tesla did eventually go on to release the actual crash testing footage for the Cybertruck.
Elon Musk on April Fool’s this year
Lastly, I’ll let the big man himself speak for what’s worth trolling people on in 2024, but as a short preamble, it’s not auto- or energy-related, and it’s really just his latest in speaking out against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives:
Excited to join @Disney as their Chief DEI Officer.
Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke!
Even the linguini.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2024
What are your thoughts? Did I miss any April Fool’s jokes that made companies, consumers or shareholders look like fools? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
A new Tesla patent that has been granted to the company this week has revealed a potential strategy for solving a major issue that could impact both the Full Self-Driving suite and Optimus.
The patent, which is No. 12,636,684, describes a “Lens Cleaning System,” and was submitted by Tesla in May 2025.
The language in the patent details a lens cleaning system that can dispense fluid and wipe it away with a wiper assembly.
Optimus can see you now… 🤖👁️
The patent for @Tesla_Optimus‘s eye structure just dropped. $TSLA pic.twitter.com/Jac4VhDmKH
— SETI Park (@seti_park) May 26, 2026
This would effectively clean any debris that would potentially impact the visibility of the cameras on Tesla automobiles or Optimus’s camera eyes. Perhaps the most pertinent example is through the Full Self-Driving suite, as debris that can accumulate on the vehicle’s exterior cameras can impact the suite’s ability to operate effectively.
This requires a remedy through manual cleaning, but this patent hints that Tesla could be planning to implement this new technology on its upcoming vehicles.
Interestingly, we have started to see it on some Robotaxi vehicles, and it will likely be included in the Cybercab, especially as that vehicle will enable full autonomy.
Back in January, the first Model Y Robotaxi units were spotted with camera washers on the side repeaters, as the video below shows fluid squirting and rinsing off any debris that is limiting visibility.
🚨 Tesla looks to have installed Camera Washers on the side repeater cameras on Robotaxis in Austin
pic.twitter.com/xemRtDtlRR— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 23, 2026
This hardware patent does bring up an interesting question for those of us who own Teslas with AI4 and have been told that our cars will one day be capable of full autonomy: Will this washer be available as a retrofit on already-built cars?
Perhaps the “Lens Cleaning System” patent is a good look at one way Tesla plans to combat one of the most obvious issues of autonomy that utilizes a camera-based system. For Optimus, it could be less needed as it could be manually cleaned by owners. For cars, it seems like a bigger necessity, especially as autonomy nears and Tesla gets close to launching a feature-complete FSD suite.
SpaceX’s Starlink product has just gotten its latest airline adoptee, and the move marks the successful partnership of three of the “Big Four” U.S. airlines.
American Airlines announced on Tuesday that it would utilize Starlink in more than 500 narrowbody aircraft beginning in the first quarter of 2027. These include the Airbus aircraft in its fleet, including the new A321XLR and A321neo.
With the new partnership with American Airlines, Starlink is now present on three of the largest airlines in the country: American, United, and Southwest.
Starlink gets its latest airline adoptee for stable and reliable internet access
Starlink’s VP of Enterprise Sales, Jason Fritch, said:
“We are proud to bring Starlink on board American Airlines, delivering fast and reliable internet to passengers and crew. Whether traveling for leisure or business, Starlink enables a fully connected experience gate to gate, making every flight smoother and more enjoyable.”
Additionally, American Airlines Chief Customer Officer, Heather Garboden, said:
“As a premium global airline, we are continuously seeking out world-class partners like Starlink to deliver what our customers need and want. The addition of Starlink solidifies American as a leading airline in keeping passengers connected in flight.”
Starlink has been on a tear over the past year, as it has continued to be adopted by a wide variety of airlines as a more consistent and reliable way to provide WiFi to its passengers. It has already gained a great reputation among residential users, but its biggest commercial application appears to be how it is being used in the air.
American Airlines will adopt Starlink on more than 500 of its narrowbody aircraft beginning in Q1 2027
“As a premium global airline, we are continuously seeking out world-class partners like Starlink to deliver what our customers need and want,” said American Airlines Chief… pic.twitter.com/XY2wflycc0
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 26, 2026
The only airline of the Big Four not to adopt Starlink thus far is Delta, which chose to opt for the alternative, which is Amazon Leo. CEO Ed Bastian said to Bloomberg that Delta chose Amazon’s product over Starlink’s because “the opportunities, in terms of the improved bandwidth with a much lower price point than what we’ve ever seen from Starlink, will make a big difference.”
Delta will not start installing Amazon Leo until 2028.
“Of course, we expect Starlink will be warning people that we’re going to go with an inferior product,” Bastian said. “But I’m not too worried about partnering with Amazon.”
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
Tesla patent reveals strategy for solving major Full Self-Driving, Optimus issue
