Former U.S. President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced plans to hold a “major interview” with Elon Musk next week, as announced on Trump’s social media platform.
Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be holding the interview with Musk on Monday night, adding that more details of the discussion would be announced soon. The interview comes as the latest in a series of supportive statements exchanged between the two, and weeks after Musk officially endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Credit: Donald Trump | Truth Social
Musk announced his support for Trump following the former President’s assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania last month. Some within the electric vehicle (EV) community have noted Trump’s many anti-EV sentiments over the years despite his more-recent support of Musk.
“I’m a big fan of electric cars. I’m a fan of Elon,” Trump said at a rally in June. “I like Elon, I like him, and I think a lot of people are going to want to buy an electric car.”
Following reports that claimed Musk was donating $45 million per month to the pro-Trump super Political Action Committee (PAC) America First, the Tesla CEO denied pledging “anything to anyone,” noting that he did create his own PAC supporting candidates that value meritocracy and personal freedom.
This note is false. I have not pledged anything to anyone!
I did create a PAC that is focused on supporting candidates who favor a meritocracy and personal freedom, but funding to date has been far below that level.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2024
Days later, Musk went on to say that he is, in fact, making some donations to America PAC:
Yeah, it’s ridiculous.
I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level and the key values of the PAC are supporting a meritocracy & individual freedom.
Republicans are mostly, but not entirely, on the side of merit & freedom.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2024
Although Trump has been more supportive of Musk in recent months, and although he has made a few positive statements about EVs here and there, he has recently gone back to the same tune on the technology. At a rally over the weekend, Trump said that he wanted EVs to be a “small slice” of the market, going on to talk about how expensive charger installation costs are and saying that they “don’t go far, they cost too much, [and] they’re all made in China.”
“Other than that they’re fantastic, and I’m for electric cars,” Trump continued. “I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly, Elon. So I have no choice.”
On Monday, conservative Kick streamer Adin Ross gifted Trump a Cybertruck wrapped with his photo immediately following the assassination attempt, although the former President had just wrapped a conversation about how bad he thought EVs were compared to gas cars. During the conversation, he once again highlighted his respect for Musk.
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson also released a video reviewing a Cybertruck in rural Maine on Monday, noting that he had personally reached out to Musk to see if the Tesla CEO would send him one for the review.
Elon Musk responds to Trump’s promise to end “EV mandate” on Day One
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Elon Musk
Tesla Energy shines with substantial YoY growth in deployments

Tesla Energy shined in what was a weak delivery report for the first quarter, as the company’s frequently-forgotten battery storage products performed extraordinarily well.
Tesla reported its Q1 production, delivery, and deployment figures for the first quarter of the year, and while many were less-than-excited about the automotive side, the Energy division performed well with 10.4 GWh of energy storage products deployed during the first quarter.
This was a 156 percent increase year-over-year and the company’s second-best quarter in terms of energy deployments to date. Only Q4 2024 was better, as 11 GWh was recorded.
Tesla Energy is frequently forgotten and not talked about enough. The company has continued to deploy massive energy storage projects across the globe, and as it recorded 31.5 GWh of deployments last year, 2025 is already looking as if it will be a record-setting year if it continues at this pace.
Tesla Megapacks to back one of Europe’s largest energy storage sites
Although Energy performed well, many investors are privy to that of the automotive division’s performance, which is where some concern lies. Tesla had a weak quarter for deliveries, missing Wall Street estimates by a considerable margin.
There are two very likely reasons as to why this happened: the first is Tesla’s switchover to the new Model Y at its production facilities across the globe. Tesla said it lost “several weeks” of production due to the updating of manufacturing lines as it rolled out a new version of its all-electric crossover.
Secondly, Tesla could be facing some pressure from pushback against the brand, which is what many analysts will say. Despite the publicity of attacks on Tesla drivers and their vehicles, as well as the company’s showrooms, it would be safe to assume that we will have a better picture painted of what the issue is in Q2 after the company reports numbers in July.
If Tesla is still struggling with lackluster delivery figures in Q2 after the Model Y is ramped and deliveries are more predictable and consistent, we could see where the argument for brand damage is legitimate. However, we are more prone to believe the Model Y, which accounts for most of Tesla’s sales, and its production ramp is likely the cause for what happened in Q1.
In what was a relatively bleak quarter, Tesla Energy still shines as the bright spot for the quarter.
Elon Musk
Tesla bull Wedbush responds to Q1 deliveries: ‘A disaster on every metric’

Tesla bull Wedbush has responded to the company’s lackluster Q1 delivery figures, which were released on Wednesday morning in a new note from analyst Dan Ives.
Tesla reported deliveries of 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter of the year, a far cry from the Wall Street estimate of 352,000 and whisper numbers of roughly 350,000. At first glance, it seems to be a disaster, but Tesla said it lost “several weeks of production” in Q1 due to the ramp of the new Model Y at all four of its vehicle production factories.
This could be part of the reason that the company experienced a quarter of this performance, but there are also factors stemming from CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in the U.S. government, which has created some pushback in various markets.
It’s tough to say how much of each issue caused this type of quarter, but Ives wrote in a note to investors that Wedbush could not look at this “with rose-colored glasses,” as the performance “was a disaster on every metric.”
Ives believes it is time for Musk to make a move:
“The Street and us knew a bad 1Q was coming but this was even worse than expected. The time has come for Musk….it’s a fork in the road moment. The more political he gets with DOGE the more the brand suffers, there is no debate. This quarter was an example of the damage Musk is causing Tesla. This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla with much better days ahead.”
Interestingly, the stock dropped over 5 percent after the delivery report. It quickly rebounded 8 percent and is currently up over 5 percent on the day after a report from Politico stated that Musk and President Donald Trump have discussed the CEO stepping back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Based on that, it seems that investors were looking for Musk to step back from his government duties and show more public attention to Tesla. Realistically, we do not know how much of his time is being devoted to Tesla and its EV initiative. However, it seems investors were ready to hear something along the lines of Musk being more involved and speaking openly about Tesla and its projects.
It’s not all bad. Ives still recognizes Tesla’s prowess with the rollout of robotaxi and Full Self-Driving and how much impact it could have moving forward:
“Autonomous remains the biggest transformation to the auto industry in modern-day history and in our view, Tesla will own the autonomous market in the US and globally with the launch of unsupervised FSD in Austin kicking off the autonomous era at Tesla that we value at $1 trillion alone on a sum-of-the-parts valuation…”
With that being said, he also wants Musk to balance responsibilities with DOGE and Tesla:
“BUT…Musk needs to stop this political firestorm and balance being CEO of Tesla with DOGE. The future is so bright but this is a full blown crisis Tesla is navigating now and its primarily self-inflected. We remain firmly bullish on the long-term Tesla story but Musk needs to get his act together or else unfortunately darker times are ahead for Tesla.”
Tesla shares are trading at $283.01, up 5.42% at 1:57 p.m. on the East Coast.
News
Tesla shares Optimus’ improved walk in new update video
The video featured an Optimus robot confidently walking in a humanlike manner.

During Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting, CEO Elon Musk stated that the company will attempt to produce its first “legion” of humanoid robots this 2025.
A recent video from Elon Musk suggests that work continues to be underway to refine the humanoid robot before it enters production.
A Better Walk
Tesla’s new Optimus update video was shared on social media platform X by CEO Elon Musk, who described the video with the words, “Accurate actuators accelerate automation.” The video featured an Optimus robot walking confidently, in a manner that is significantly more humanlike than its previous iterations.
A post from Tesla Vice President of Optimus (Tesla Bot) Milan Kovac shared more context about the new video. As per Kovac, the short clip demonstrates the humanoid robot’s latest walk, with “straight knees, smoother heel-to-toe gait, and arms sway.” Kovac also noted that the humanoid robot was “Entirely trained in simulation with RL.”
Optimus’ Quick Progress
Optimus was initially announced in 2021 during Tesla’s AI Day event. At the time, Tesla only had a static model of the humanoid robot, as well as a literal man in a suit. Fast forward to today, and Optimus has already undergone several iterations. Several of its components have also been vastly improved, such as its hands, which is expected to feature 22 degrees of freedom when it enters production.
Tesla seems determined to start production of Optimus quickly. During the Q1 2025 All Hands meeting, CEO Elon Musk stated that the Fremont Factory had produced its first humanoid robot from its Optimus production line. Musk also noted that while Tesla is internally aiming for enough parts to produce 10,000 to 12,000 Optimus robots this year, the company could very well be capable of producing 5,000 units of the humanoid robot this 2025.
“So this year, we hopefully will be able to make about 5,000 Optimus robots. We’re technically aiming for enough parts to make 10,000, maybe 12,000, but since it’s a totally new product with a totally new, like everything is totally new, I’ll say we’re succeeding if we get to half go the 10,000. But even 5,000 robots, that’s the size of a Roman legion, FYI,” Musk stated.
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