No, Elon Musk did not “launch new attack” on General Motors (GM) or President Biden yesterday, as The Street recently reported. I thought I would clear this up here since it was my own tweet and Elon Musk’s response to my tweet might have somehow gotten misinterpreted.
According to the article, “Tesla’s CEO is resentful and never misses an opportunity to attack Detroit auto giant GM.”
The article also said that Elon Musk doesn’t want to promote the brands of his rivals and that GM is his favorite target. It, in my opinion, painted GM as the victim and Elon Musk as a bully. So I’d like to clear up some things and share what actually happened.
Elon Musk Didn’t “Launch New Attack” On Anyone
Yesterday, I shared a tweet by Sawyer Merrit with my own comment. I tagged both President Biden and Elon Musk. You can see the tweet below. This was and still is my opinion on GM’s decision to invest $1 billion into Mexico for an EV factory instead of investing those funds into American jobs.
Teslas are the most made-in-USA vehicles
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 19, 2022
As you can see for yourself, Elon Musk did not mention GM or President Biden. He mentioned Tesla and his reference was to Tesla being named the most American-made car by Cars.com.
GM’s Commitment To Mexico
I shared my thoughts about GM’s move to invest $1 billion in Mexico for an EV plant in this article. And there’s more. GM shared a statement on its Mexico media site where the company’s President and CEO, Francisco Garza said (translated by Google into English):
“We are very proud to contribute to the materialization of GM’s Vision of Zero Collisions, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion, contributing to the manufacture of electric vehicles.”
“We trust that the necessary economic conditions will be met so that eventually the Complex can increase the workforce for one more shift in some operations. We are grateful to the Federal Government and the Government of Coahuila for promoting this investment. This is great news to continue celebrating GM’s more than 85 years in Mexico and show our commitment to the country.”
American Jobs Vs Mexican Jobs
It seems that my theory in the tweet that Elon Musk responded to could be correct. I saw this earlier this morning.:
Salaries at the GM plant in Mexico where the Chevy Blazer EV will be made start at just $4,492 a year. $GM pic.twitter.com/G9ZSWy3WGv
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 20, 2022
@WholeMarsBlog shared screenshots of the salaries at the GM plant in Mexico where the new Chevy Blazer EV will be made. The starting pay for Operations is MX$91,950 per year which translates to $4,475.78 per year. There are other salaries with similarly low numbers.
In comparison, GlassDoor shows that technician salaries at GM average out at $63,166 annually. So, it seems that GM will be saving some serious money by outsourcing some of these jobs to Mexico.
My 2.5¢
Clearly, GM is trying to save money. And GM CEO, Mary Barra, recently expressed her confidence that GM can beat Tesla. You can draw your own conclusions from these two scenarios.
I do think that using Elon Musk to paint GM as a victim while downplaying its decision to make its Chevy Blazer EV in Mexico instead of the U.S. is really shady. And using my own tweet to do so as well. No, Elon Musk didn’t “launch new attack” on President Biden or GM. No one attacked them.
I just shared my own opinion on the matter and he pointed out which brand was the most American-made car.
NASA has filed a procurement notice announcing its intent to add six post-certification missions to SpaceX’s existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract. The agency said it would order up to three of those missions immediately upon adding them to the contract, with the remaining three available as needed through the end of the International Space Station’s planned operations in 2030.
The reason for the expansion is straightforward. NASA cited recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable crew transportation capability as the driving factors behind the decision. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has still not been certified for crewed flights, and a cargo-only Starliner mission was not included on NASA’s most recent mission manifest. With Boeing effectively sidelined for the foreseeable future, SpaceX is the only American company capable of rotating crews to the station.
The history behind this contract tells the fuller story of how SpaceX got here. NASA originally awarded SpaceX its Commercial Crew contract in 2014 for $2.6 billion. In 2022 NASA modified the contract to add five missions covering Crew-10 through Crew-14, worth $1.436 billion, bringing the total contract value at that point to $4.9 billion. The recent May 18 filing by NASA extends that runway further, with Crew-12 currently docked at the station and Crew-13 assigned and targeting a mid-September 2026 launch.
According to a report by SpaceNews, NASA stated in its filing: “It is necessary to award additional PCMs to SpaceX given the recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, NASA’s projections for when an alternative crew transportation system may become available, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable capability for crewed flights to ISS.”
No dollar value for the new six missions has been publicly confirmed yet, but based on the 2022 precedent of roughly $287 million per mission, the new block could represent close to $1.7 billion in additional contract value. With SpaceX simultaneously preparing Starship as NASA’s Artemis lunar lander, filing its S-1 for a June IPO, and now absorbing more ISS crew rotation work, the company’s role as the primary contractor for American human spaceflight is no longer a matter of circumstance. It is NASA policy.
In a notable intersection of Big Tech powerhouses, Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has partnered with Canadian energy infrastructure giant Enbridge on a significant renewable energy initiative that will rely on battery technology from Elon Musk’s Tesla.
The project, which was announced this week, marks another step in Meta’s aggressive push to power its expanding data center operations with clean energy, dispelling many of the complaints people have about them.
This new development is located near Cheyenne, Wyoming, and will feature a 365-megawatt (MW) solar farm paired with a 200 MW/1,600 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system, also known as BESS. Tesla is providing the batteries for the project, valued at roughly $200 million.
The story was originally reported by Utility Dive.
This Wyoming project represents the first phase of Enbridge and Meta’s joint “Cowboy Project.” Once operational, it will deliver power to Meta’s regional data centers through Cheyenne Light, Fuel, and Power under Wyoming’s Large Power Contract Service tariff.
This tariff, originally developed in collaboration with Microsoft and Black Hills Energy, is designed specifically for large loads like data centers. It ensures that the renewable supply serves hyperscale customers without impacting retail electricity rates for other users.
The battery system will operate under a long-term tolling agreement, providing dispatchable capacity that enhances grid reliability. During periods of high demand, the utility can access the backup generation, addressing one of the key challenges of integrating large-scale renewables with the explosive growth of data center electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence.
This latest collaboration builds on prior joint efforts between Enbridge and Meta in Texas, including the 600 MW Clear Fork Solar, 152 MW Easter Wind, and 300 MW Cone Wind projects. Together with the Wyoming initiative, the companies have now partnered on roughly 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of combined solar, wind, and storage capacity.
The deal highlights the intensifying demand for reliable, low-carbon power from technology giants. Meta has committed to supporting its data center growth with renewable energy, joining peers like Microsoft and Google in seeking large-scale solutions. Enbridge’s Allen Capps described the project as “one of the larger utility-scale battery installations supporting U.S. data center operations and growth.”
The involvement of Tesla’s battery technology adds an intriguing layer, linking two of the world’s most prominent tech leaders—Zuckerberg and Musk—in the clean energy transition.
As data centers continue to drive unprecedented electricity load growth across the United States, projects like this one illustrate how hyperscalers are turning to strategic partnerships with traditional energy players and innovative storage solutions to meet both sustainability goals and reliability needs.
SpaceX has decided to stand down from what was supposed to be the first test launch of Starship’s v3 rocket tonight after a minor issue with a hydraulic pin delayed the flight once more.
The company scrubbed its first test flight of the upgraded Starship v3 on May 21 in the final minutes of the countdown. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk quickly took to social media platform X, explaining that a hydraulic pin on the launch tower’s “chopsticks” arm failed to retract properly.
Musk added that the company would fix the issue this evening. SpaceX will attempt another launch tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. CT, 6:30 p.m. ET, and 3:30 p.m. PT.
The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.
If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT. https://t.co/DJAdvDYQpH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026
The countdown for Starship Flight 12 — featuring the taller and more capable V3 stack with Booster 19 and Ship 39 — had been progressing smoothly until the late-stage issue surfaced. The Mechazilla tower arm, designed to secure the vehicle on the pad and eventually catch returning boosters, could not complete its retraction sequence.
SpaceX teams immediately began troubleshooting the hydraulic system for an overnight repair.
Starship V3 introduces several significant upgrades over earlier versions. These include greater propellant capacity, more powerful Raptor 3 engines, larger grid fins, enhanced heat shielding, and an improved fuel transfer system.
We covered the changes that were announced just days ago by SpaceX:
SpaceX unveils sweeping Starship V3 upgrades ahead of May 19 launch
The changes are intended to increase payload performance, support higher flight rates, and advance the vehicle toward operational missions, including Starlink deployments, NASA Artemis lunar landings, and future crewed Mars flights. The debut flight from Starbase’s new Launch Pad 2 marked an important milestone in scaling up the fully reusable Starship system.
This stand-down highlights the intricate challenges of preparing the world’s most powerful rocket for flight. Despite extensive pre-launch checks, a single component in the ground support equipment can force a scrub.
The incident aligns with Starship’s proven iterative development approach. Previous test flights have encountered both successes and setbacks, each providing critical data that refines hardware and procedures. Some outlets may call some of these flights “failures,” when in reality, they are all opportunities for SpaceX to learn for the next attempt.
With V3, SpaceX aims to reduce ground-system dependencies and increase launch cadence to meet ambitious long-term goals.
NASA just gave SpaceX more crew missions because Boeing can’t certify
Elon Musk called it Epic: The full story of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 12
