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Elon Musk reveals astoundingly low price for The Boring Company Bricks

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Elon Musk has provided more details about The Boring Company’s upcoming merchandise, the Boring Bricks. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Musk gave updates on the tunneling startup’s upcoming headquarters, the first Boring Brick store, and the price of the blocks themselves.

Musk started off the Boring Company updates by stating that the company’s first headquarters would be finished soon, and that it would be made with, of course, Boring Bricks. Keeping the tunneling startup’s fun, lighthearted spirit alive, Musk noted that the Boring Company’s upcoming HQ would be built in the shape of a medieval watchtower.

Musk’s updates on the Boring Bricks got more interesting from there. For one, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO noted that the first Boring Brick Store would be opening in ~2 months, and that the price for the bricks themselves is just 10 cents per piece. Such a price is very low, considering that conventional blocks, like this red clay standard brick from Lowe’s, cost 65 cents each. Even a Masonry Concrete Block, which is relatively cheap at 34 cents per piece, is still costly compared to the Boring Bricks’s 10-cent price. 

The Boring Company Bricks’ 10 cent price would likely make it one of the most affordable bricks in the market. They’re quite durable too, with Musk stating that the bricks, which are made from tunneling rock, are rated for California seismic loads. That being said, perhaps the most notable detail that Elon Musk announced about the Boring Company Bricks was the fact that the tunneling startup would literally be giving them away for free, as long as they are used for affordable housing projects.

Using the Boring Bricks as material for low-cost housing has been mentioned by Musk in the past. When he first shared his ideas for the Boring Company Bricks on Twitter, Musk noted that the bricks would be “interlocking with a precise surface finish,” which would allow the blocks to be stacked on top of each other without compromising durability. Musk even noted that the Boring Bricks would be designed in such a way that “two people could build the outer walls of a small house in a day or so.”

The idea of recycling excavated dirt into bricks has actually been in The Boring Company’s FAQ for a while, even before Elon Musk mentioned the blocks on Twitter. The tunneling startup also intends to use recycled dirt as linings for its tunnels.

“The Boring Company is investigating technologies that will recycle the earth into useful bricks to be used to build structures.  This is not a new concept, as buildings have been constructed from Earth for thousands of years including, according to recent evidence, the Pyramids.  These bricks can potentially be used as a portion of the tunnel lining itself, which is typically built from concrete.”

The Boring Company might be more well-known for its fun, unique merchandise such as the Not-a-Flamethrower, but the company is actually in the process of preparing for a high-profile transport system. Earlier this year, the Boring Company won a bid to build a high-speed transport line that would connect downtown Chicago to O’Hare airport, beating larger conglomerates who were also bidding on the project. If its Chicago project proves to be a success, the Boring Company could have a valuation of up to $16 billion.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving gets sparkling review from South Korean politician

“Having already ridden in an unmanned robotaxi, the novelty wasn’t as strong for me, but it drives just as well as most people do. It already feels like a completed technology, which gives me a lot to think about.”

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Credit: Soyoung Lee | X

Tesla Full Self-Driving got its first sparkling review from South Korean politician Lee So-young, a member of the country’s National Assembly, earlier this week.

Lee is a member of the Strategy and Finance Committee in South Korea and is a proponent of sustainable technologies and their applications in both residential and commercial settings. For the first time, Lee was able to utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology as it launched in the country in late November.

Her thoughts on the suite were complimentary to the suite, stating that “it drives just as well as most people do,” and that “it already feels like a completed technology.”

Her translated post says:

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“Finally, today I got to experience Tesla FSD in Seoul. Thanks to the Model S sponsored by JiDal Papa^^, I’m truly grateful to Papa. The route was from the National Assembly -> Mangwon Market -> Hongik University -> back to the National Assembly. Having already ridden in an unmanned robotaxi, the novelty wasn’t as strong for me, but it drives just as well as most people do. It already feels like a completed technology, which gives me a lot to think about. Once it actually spreads into widespread use, I feel like our daily lives are going to change a lot. Even I, with my license gathering dust in a drawer, don’t see much reason to learn to drive a manual anymore.”

Tesla Full Self-Driving officially landed in South Korea in late November, with the initial launch being one of Tesla’s most recent, v14.1.4.

It marked the seventh country in which Tesla was able to enable the driver assistance suite, following the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.

It is important to see politicians and figures in power try new technologies, especially ones that are widely popular in other regions of the world and could potentially revolutionize how people travel globally.

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Tesla dispels reports of ‘sales suspension’ in California

“This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.

Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has dispelled reports that it is facing a thirty-day sales suspension in California after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued a penalty to the company after a judge ruled it “misled consumers about its driver-assistance technology.”

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the California DMV was planning to adopt the penalty but decided to put it on ice for ninety days, giving Tesla an opportunity to “come into compliance.”

Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California

Tesla responded to the report on Tuesday evening, after it came out, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order that was brought up over its use of the term “Autopilot.”

The company said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem,” yet a judge and the DMV determined it was, so they want to apply the penalty if Tesla doesn’t oblige.

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However, Tesla said that its sales operations in California “will continue uninterrupted.”

It confirmed this in an X post on Tuesday night:

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The report and the decision by the DMV and Judge involved sparked outrage from the Tesla community, who stated that it should do its best to get out of California.

One X post said California “didn’t deserve” what Tesla had done for it in terms of employment, engineering, and innovation.

Tesla has used Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but it did add the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite earlier this year, potentially aiming to protect itself from instances like this one.

This is the first primary dispute over the terminology of Full Self-Driving, but it has undergone some scrutiny at the federal level, as some government officials have claimed the suite has “deceptive” naming. Previous Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was vocally critical of the use of the name “Full Self-Driving,” as well as “Autopilot.”

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New EV tax credit rule could impact many EV buyers

We confirmed with a Tesla Sales Advisor that any current orders that have the $7,500 tax credit applied to them must be completed by December 31, meaning delivery must take place by that date. However, it is unclear at this point whether someone could still claim the credit when filing their tax returns for 2025 as long as the order reflects an order date before September 30.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla owners could be impacted by a new EV tax credit rule, which seems to be a new hoop to jump through for those who benefited from the “extension,” which allowed orderers to take delivery after the loss of the $7,500 discount.

After the Trump Administration initiated the phase-out of the $7,500 EV tax credit, many were happy to see the rules had been changed slightly, as deliveries could occur after the September 30 cutoff as long as orders were placed before the end of that month.

However, there appears to be a new threshold that EV buyers will have to go through, and it will impact their ability to get the credit, at least at the Point of Sale, for now.

Delivery must be completed by the end of the year, and buyers must take possession of the car by December 31, 2025, or they will lose the tax credit. The U.S. government will be closing the tax credit portal, which allows people to claim the credit at the Point of Sale.

We confirmed with a Tesla Sales Advisor that any current orders that have the $7,500 tax credit applied to them must be completed by December 31, meaning delivery must take place by that date.

However, it is unclear at this point whether someone could still claim the credit when filing their tax returns for 2025 as long as the order reflects an order date before September 30.

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If not, the order can still go through, but the buyer will not be able to claim the tax credit, meaning they will pay full price for the vehicle.

This puts some buyers in a strange limbo, especially if they placed an order for the Model Y Performance. Some deliveries have already taken place, and some are scheduled before the end of the month, but many others are not expecting deliveries until January.

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