California Governor Gavin Newsom is currently visiting China to discuss climate initiatives, and one stop on Sunday included a visit to U.S. automaker Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.
Governor Newsom visited and toured the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai on Sunday, as detailed ahead of the trip by Cal Matters and reported by Elex Michaelson in a video on X. The visit to the world’s most productive electric vehicle (EV) plant underscores the unique relationship between the U.S. and China, as the latter country still controls much of the supply chain for EV battery materials.
The visit is intended to look at how China and California can cooperate on climate goals, and it included trips to Shenzen, where a fully electric 16,000-bus fleet is operational, an offshore wind facility in Jiangsu, and finally, the Shanghai facility. In addition, Newsom test-drove one of BYD’s hybrid vehicles and held a meeting in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the video shared by Michaelson, you can see Newsom and other officials watching as the Model Y production line is in action. Michaelson notes that the facility produces around 2,000 cars per day at Giga Shanghai.
.@GavinNewsom tours @Tesla’s gigafactory outside Shanghai, China.
They produce 2,000 new cars a day here. pic.twitter.com/DE62OyEWKL
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) October 29, 2023
In a separate video shared on X by WuWa on Sunday, Newsom was asked multiple questions outside of Giga Shanghai, including how he saw Tesla’s role in the cooperation between the U.S. and China.
“It’s demonstrable,” Newsom said. “I mean the jobs it’s created, the entrepreneurial spirit, the innovation. I’m happy to see the success of this facility.”
Newsom was also asked if he would talk to Tesla CEO Elon Musk when he returns to the U.S. about what he saw at Giga Shanghai, responding that he “imagines” they will, and noting that Tesla moved its engineering and R&D headquarters back to California earlier this year, as located in Palo Alto. Tesla also operates a large factory in Fremont, California.
Additionally, Newsom was spotted test-driving Tesla’s newly redesigned Model 3, which you can see below in a video shared by Sawyer Merritt.
California governor Gavin Newsom test drives the new Tesla Model 3pic.twitter.com/khN7Y7UTC6
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 29, 2023
During his time in Jiangsu, Governor Newsom also signed a memorandum of understanding on climate change work, with a particular focus on offshore wind development. The state of California hopes to be producing 25 gigawatts of offshore wind electricity by 2045, which could provide around 13 percent of the state’s power supply and could power roughly 25 million homes in the state.
California has particularly ambitious climate and EV adoption goals compared to many other U.S. states, including a ban on the sale of new gas cars starting in 2035. Although the state has been ahead of the U.S. on EV adoption thus far, China still remains the top miner and producer of EV battery materials.
According to U.K. firm TechInsights, China manages about 80 percent of the world’s cobalt processing, 76 percent of the world’s natural graphite processing, 56 percent of its synthetic graphite and 60 percent of the world’s processing capacity for lithium compounds. The country also produces 50 percent of the world’s sodium hydroxide.
President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) requires at least half of all EV battery components to be sourced in the U.S. or from a country with a free trade agreement.
California to disperse $40.5 million in funding for EV fast-chargers
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
