Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said many times that he loves humanity. So it’s not surprising that he is concerned about the low birthrate. Eight billion people may seem like a lot but Elon Musk is right in his concerns.
In May 2022, MedCity News published an article on the globally declining birth rate and noted that depopulation is placing a huge burden on a diminishing workforce. It also highlighted technological improvements in egg freezing have been improving pregnancy rates.
The United Nations projects that by 2100 the world will have 11.2 billion people, however, the birthrate was at its lowest in 2021. The good news is that it has been increasing a bit since then. According to the New York Times, the U.S. birthrate has increased by 1%. The increase stopped a steady decline.
Although this is a good thing, I think Elon Musk is right in his concerns. Elon Musk mentioned the 2021 statistic to me when he was on my podcast earlier this month.
Elon Musk Is Raising Awareness About Population Decline
The Tesla CEO has been raising awareness about the decline in population for quite some time. Today on Twitter he shared a few tweets that echoed what he told me in my podcasts a couple of weeks ago. He tweeted that he’s doing his best to help with the crisis and added, “A collapsing birthrate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”
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Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis.
A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2022
His tweets come as the news of him having another set of twins made its way around Twitter. (Congratulations, Elon!) During our conversation, I brought up a reason that I thought was pretty valid and it opened a good debate where I think we both learned a little from one another. I certainly learned from him.
I’ve always thought poverty played a key role, but I could be wrong. I have friends at all income levels who have children. I also have friends at various income levels who don’t and the most common complaint I’ve heard is that ‘children are too expensive.’ I think what Kim Paquette asked Elon was very important.
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https://twitter.com/kimpaquette/status/1545050919561093120
Elon Musk’s Thoughts On Population Decline
Elon pointed out to me that there’s another issue playing a major role in the birthrate decline and this makes the most sense.
“Well, the population decline problem, I think, is possibly the biggest risk to civilization. It’s certainly one of the biggest risks. First of all, a lot of people think that there’s too many humans on the planet and the planet can’t sustain this number of humans.”
“This is absolutely not true we could double the population without any meaningful damage to the environment. You can put all the humans on earth in the City of New. York. That’s the cross-sectional area of humans.”
“They literally fit the city of New. York with on one floor you don’t even need high-rises. If you’re on a plane flight and you look down and you say, ‘what percentage of the time, if I were to drop a ball, would that ball would hit a person?’”
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“Basically zero. Even in a city like LA which you would think ‘oh that’s a crowded city.’ But looking at it from above, what’s the cross-sectional area of humans relative to the rest of the ground? And it’s much less than one percent in even in LA.”
“If you’re in a big city environment and you see a lot of people you sort of extrapolate that to everywhere. But it’s actually very rare to see a concentration of humans. The earth is very sparsely populated with humans. There’s not enough humans far from being too many.”
“And I think people are still operating on the assumption that the population’s just growing like crazy when in fact the opposite is occurring. And these numbers are easy to look up. I mean, they’re just on the internet. We had the lowest birth rate in recorded history last year.”
Again, I think that Elon Musk is right to raise awareness about the low birthrate. Whether or not you agree with Elon Musk on the topic of population, he’s doing a good thing by raising awareness.
USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years pic.twitter.com/v5PSLbvEAE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2022
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Tesla is nearing its long-awaited unveiling of the all-electric Tesla Roadster, a new report from The Information claims, as the company has said several times this year that the event would take place “soon.”
Now, it appears there is movement on Tesla’s end regarding when it will happen.
The report says that Tesla will unveil the Roadster as soon as this month with a SpaceX version that will utilize cold-gas thrusters to help the vehicle float for a short period of time. This is something CEO Elon Musk has talked about with the Roadster for years.
🚨 The Information is reporting this morning that Tesla is ready to unveil the “flying” Roadster as soon as this month
It’s almost here, folks. pic.twitter.com/IdL4atsucQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
Additionally, due to the delays, Tesla explored “a variety of designs” for the Roadster, potentially planning to abandon the design it showed off for the first time in 2017 and adopting an entirely new aesthetic.
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According to The Information, Tesla considered utilizing a repurposed Model S Plaid and even wanted to upgrade the look to something like a Lamborghini Countach.
We’ve heard all of these things before, including teases about the date and how “soon” the Roadster will finally be ready to be shown off to the world (for the second time). Musk said that the event would occur in April, then May, then Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen continued to say it would be coming “soon.”
We do expect to see the Roadster by the end of the year, and now with this new report swirling, it appears it could be sooner rather than later.
The wait has been incredibly long, but there is likely a good reason for it. Tesla’s desire to make the Roadster the craziest vehicle on the road was non-negotiable, and it likely took a lot of time and resources to develop and perfect into something that was safe and suitable for a vehicle like this.
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Tesla finally got its Nevada Robotaxi Permit but with a few catches hard to miss
Nevada granted Tesla’s robotaxi permit, but capped the fleet at just ten vehicles for now.
Tesla has received its robotaxi permit in Nevada, more than two months after regulators closed the public comment period on the company’s application. News of the approval surfaced Wednesday night when Tesla investor and longtime company watcher Sawyer Merritt posted a copy of the interim order, and the Nevada Transportation Authority’s own carrier registry now lists the permit, AVNC Permit 002 under Docket 26-05015, as active for Tesla Robotaxi, LLC.
Tesla asked Nevada in June for authority to run up to 5,000 vehicles in Clark County within a year, however the permit the NTA issued is initially capping Tesla at ten fully autonomous vehicles and confines them to a defined geofence along the Las Vegas Strip corridor. Any expansion of that operating area, or any increase to the fleet size, requires the NTA’s approval first.
Tesla has received its Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permit in Nevada.
The Nevada Transportation Authority says that operations are limited to a maximum fleet of 10 fully autonomous vehicles and shall be conducted only within the Authority-approved Operational Design… https://t.co/Cxfd6GIfDk pic.twitter.com/iOO6wSZkHF
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 13, 2026
The order also sets rules that look more restrictive than what Tesla runs in Austin. Rides are barred on roads with posted speed limits above 45 miles per hour, pickups are off limits within a quarter mile of Harry Reid International Airport without separate authorization, and every vehicle has to carry visible “Robotaxi” markings while notifying riders before each trip that no one is driving. The order also requires “appropriate human supervision”, language that suggests Nevada isn’t ready to let Tesla offer the rides without a safety monitor that it has run in parts of Austin since January. As with standard protocol with robotaxi services, Tesla must report any accident, system failure, or vehicle that becomes stranded on a Nevada road within five business days.
Tesla is entering a market Nevada already knows well. Zoox, the Amazon owned robotaxi company, has run its own autonomous vehicle permit in the state since last year, building up to roughly 100 vehicles and 350,000 rides along the Strip. That history likely explains why the NTA started Tesla at ten cars rather than the fleet size the company asked for. The agency has a template for scaling a permit up once a company proves out its safety record.
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Tesla’s Nevada application first surfaced in June, when the company filed for the permit alongside plans for a maintenance hub in southwest Las Vegas. The company has said it won’t meaningfully scale its robotaxi fleet anywhere until FSD v15 ships, expected in late 2026 or early 2027, which makes the ten vehicle cap less of a constraint today than it might look on paper. For now, Tesla has the legal right to start Nevada rides. Whether it starts before FSD v15 arrives is a separate question the permit doesn’t answer.
Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
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Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
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Tesla Roadster unveiling nears, and it will fly: The Information
Tesla finally got its Nevada Robotaxi Permit but with a few catches hard to miss
