Elon Musk recently joined a Twitter Spaces talk covering Tesla on Thursday and spoke on several topics such as the lithium refining factory in Corpus Christi, Texas, the recession, his goal of not selling any more Tesla stock for another 18-24 months, and more. The Spaces were hosted by @StockMKTNewz, @WholeMarsBlog, and @StockTalkWeekly.
Elon is currently in here join up https://t.co/wDQnUnM0vr
— Evan (@StockMKTNewz) December 22, 2022
Although you can go back and listen to the recording, Elon Musk gave a lot of detailed information and reassured Tesla shareholders that he wasn’t; he is still at Tesla. Here are five key takeaways from the live Twitter Spaces.
1. Elon Musk isn’t MIA at Tesla.
Several shareholders have been worried that Elon Musk’s focus on Twitter has been taking him away from Tesla. Elon Musk told Ross Gerber that he hasn’t missed a single important Tesla meeting.
“I was back in Austin just last week. There is literally not a single important Tesla meeting I have missed this entire time. I’m not MIA.”
He also told Gerber that he doesn’t have plants to sell any more Tesla stock until around 2025.
“I’m not selling any stock for another 18-24 months. Not until around 2025. I needed to sell. I’m not selling any stock until probably two years from now… I’m somewhat paranoid after going through two recessions.”
2. Tesla will weather any economic storms.
Regarding any upcoming economic issues, Elon Musk said he believed Tesla would weather it better than any company.
“I think Tesla will weather an upcoming economic storm better than any company. Unless the company is making bread.”
“If you are a ship in the storm, even if you have a great ship, you are still going to be hit. There is latency in the supply chain.”
3. Tesla’s lithium refinery.
In November, Tesla began negotiating for a battery-grade lithium refinery in Texas and discussed details of its planned $365 million plant with Nueces County commissioners. Elon Musk spoke briefly of the refinery during the Twitter Spaces.
“Tesla is building a lithium refinery in Texas to relieve the lithium refining choke point.”
“Seven years to build a refinery is insane. We are aiming to have meaningful volume out the factory in 2 years.”
“We are also cathode refining at Giga Texas for nickel-based cathodes.”
4. Next Gigafactory, recession & demand
Elon Musk added that the total automotive demand, especially the demand in China, will cause a reduction in the cost of battery materials. He added that Tesla is deploying capital at the fasted rate possible without being wasteful and then shared a bit of Gigafactory news.
“Deploying capital at the fastest rate we can without being wasteful. We are making investments, and can’t say too much, but we are close to picking a location for the next Gigafactory. We are being careful and deliberate about that. We are coming into recession in a strong position.”
5. Tesla Electric in Texas & Master Plan Part 3
Tesla recently launched Tesla Electric in Texas, which allows Powerwall owners to participate in virtual power plants (VPPs). This was a major milestone for both Tesla and Texas. Elon Musk said:
“The overarching purpose is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. Energy generation, storage of that energy, and electric transport. We are working on all three. The demand for large batteries is quasi-infinite. So long a Tesla battery pack is cheaper than a peaker plant, there will be insatiable demand.”
“1000+ GWh battery packs a year, if not 2000, is the goal. Master plan part 3 is really about scale. One should think of things in terms of tonnage. The fundamental rate limiter is how many gigawatt hours per year of battery packs can we make?”
“300 TWh of installed capacity for fully sustainable energy globally.”
Elon Musk also pointed out that the Tesla team is doing a phenomenal job and stands by his prediction that Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world.
Disclosure: Johnna is a $TSLA shareholder and believes in Tesla’s mission.
Your feedback is welcome. If you have any comments or concerns or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter at @JohnnaCrider1.
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Tesla’s AI Chief just hinted at something big for FSD v14 lite owners
Tesla’s AI chief suggests the newest FSD v14 Lite build may finally go wide release.
Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, noted on Sunday that the newest FSD v14 Lite build rolling out to Hardware 3 cars is likely the version that goes to wide release, the strongest signal yet that Tesla is near to closing out an early access phase that Hardware 3 owners have waited more than a year for.
Elluswamy made the comment in response to an extensive review from Tesla owner Zack, known on X as @BLKMDL3, who tested software version 2026.20.6.10 and detailed the changes in a lengthy post. “FSD v14 Lite (for Tesla AI3 hardware vehicles) review.
The update restarts a rollout that had stalled after its initial release. Tesla began pushing FSD v14 Lite to Hardware 3 early access drivers on June 29, bringing driving behavior learned on the newer Hardware 4 computer down to the more limited chip that has powered Tesla vehicles built between 2019 and early 2023. That release, as we covered in detail, gave roughly 4 million HW3 vehicles their first meaningful update since being frozen on version 12.6 in early 2025.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features
The latest build adds features that bring Hardware 3 closer in line with what Hardware 4 owners already have. FSD can now start directly from park without a brake pedal confirmation, a change Zack called a small but meaningful quality of life improvement. The interface also picks up the blue “P” park icon, approaching destination alerts, and a dedicated Self-Driving app with streak tracking, all details previously exclusive to the AI4 branch of v14, as outlined in Tesla’s original release notes.
The stakes around Hardware 3 go beyond software polish. Tesla sold the Full Self-Driving package for years on the promise that every vehicle equipped with it had the hardware needed to eventually drive itself without supervision. That promise broke down during Tesla’s Q1 2026 earnings call, when Musk acknowledged HW3 cars could not run unsupervised FSD, prompting Tesla to offer trade-in discounts and hardware retrofits alongside the Lite software track.
Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
Tesla has continued to frame v14 Lite as the primary path forward for the HW3 fleet, telling owners in April that international markets would follow the U.S. rollout once regulatory approvals came through. For now, HW3 owners in the early access group are the only ones running the new build. A broader rollout would mark the second major software delivery to the legacy fleet since Tesla first released FSD v14 to Hardware 4 vehicles, and the first sign since June that the Lite program is still moving rather than stuck in early access limbo.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk sends first warning to SpaceX short sellers
In a pointed message on X, Elon Musk warned that firms maintaining significant short positions in SpaceX over time face “very low” survival probability.
The statement comes amid post-IPO volatility for the rocket company, now trading under the ticker $SPCX.
The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2026
Five weeks after what was described as the largest IPO in history, the stock had fallen roughly 30% from its peak above $2.6 trillion, briefly surpassing Microsoft and Amazon in market value. Short sellers celebrated gains of about $8.7 billion, but Musk’s reply underscores his long-term conviction.
The warning directly echoes a detailed bullish analysis arguing that Starship’s cost reductions could unlock a multi-trillion-dollar space economy. Projects ranging from solar power beamed from orbit and asteroid mining to orbital data centers and Mars terraforming were projected to create over $100 trillion in new market capitalization.
In this vision, SpaceX acts as the essential infrastructure provider, akin to AWS for cloud computing, capturing monopoly-like revenues from launches, crew transport, and data traffic across a rapidly expanding frontier.
This is far from the first time Musk has targeted short sellers. With Tesla, he has repeatedly framed persistent bears as destined for major losses. In July 2024, Musk declared that once Tesla achieves full autonomy and volume production of Optimus robots, “anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates,” referencing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ reported short bets.
Elon Musk reveals what Tesla stock surge could do to Bill Gates
Earlier, in 2018, he taunted shorts that they had “about three weeks before their short position explodes,” a remark followed by sharp stock gains. Musk has also called short selling “value destroying” and once suggested it “should be illegal,” viewing it as betting against innovation and progress.
Critics often dismiss Musk’s optimism as hype, especially when near-term metrics like quarterly deliveries or stock fluctuations disappoint.
Yet his pattern remains consistent: framing short positions against his companies as fundamentally misjudging exponential technological leaps. For SpaceX shorts, the message is clear: betting against multi-planetary ambitions and the infrastructure monopoly they enable carries existential risk for the firms involved.
As Musk and supporters see it, the space economy’s upside dwarfs Earth-bound valuation models, making today’s dips temporary in a decades-long ascent.
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Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
Tesla has evidently revealed which of its vehicle models will be the first to receive Starlink integration: the Cybercab.
Tesla’s Santana Row showroom now has a full-fledged display of the Cybercab, with an extensive bit of information hung around an exhibit that seems to reveal the vehicle’s newest feature: an integrated Starlink antenna that will enable secure and reliable internet access during trips.

Credit: @Starscream_SJC | X
Cybercab is geared toward autonomous ride-hailing for one or two passengers. The production units rolling off the lines at Gigafactory Texas are built without steering wheels or pedals, meaning when public rides begin, passengers will not need to interact with a human being or control the vehicle in any way outside of what appears on the center screen for their entertainment during the ride.
Tesla Santana Row will be reopening tomorrow with a full focus on self-driving. Everything in the showroom is about Robotaxi and Cybercab with stats and information about the technology. The Cybercab on display is the production model. pic.twitter.com/yIUYdOGFOp
— Shaun Cassidy (@Starscream_SJC) July 20, 2026
Along the display, Tesla wrote this message about Cybercab:
“Cybercab is built for autonomy. It has no steering wheel, no side mirrors, and no pedals. It goes where you tell it to go and how you want it to, so you can relax along the way. It is hyper aware and responsive to your surroundings, monitoring other drivers, responding to emergency vehicles, utilizing its expertise in the rarest scenarios to help keep you safe.”
Tesla has been teasing a potential Starlink integration for quite some time now. In December, the company hinted at potential Starlink internet terminal integration within its vehicles in a patent that described a vehicle roof assembly with integrated radio frequency (RF) transparency.
The company wrote in its patent application that a new roof design built with materials that differ from the standard metallic or glass elements used in today’s cars would allow it to integrate modern vehicular technologies, in particular, ones that require radio frequency transmission and reception.
Tesla suggested high-strength polymer blends, like Polycarbonate, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate.
This is the first time we’ve seen Tesla officially confirm the Starlink integration into the Cybercab. It’s not much of a surprise considering the company’s intention behind the Cybercab, which is to make travel autonomous.
Productivity will now be at a maximum during a work-related commute, while the center screen could be utilized for Netflix or potentially even live TV for those who are heading to dinner or to a fun activity.