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Elon Musk is trying to help solve the Flint Water Crisis
After building a mini-submarine to aid in the rescue attempt of the members of the Wild Boar soccer team in Thailand, Elon Musk is now flexing his philanthropic muscles towards a long-standing issue in the United States — the Flint Water Crisis.
Musk previously noted on Twitter that he has already been helping out the citizens of Flint. Spurred on by some Flint residents and activists for the city, however, Musk opted to take a more hands-on approach. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO promptly coordinated with individuals testing the contamination levels of the city’s water system, and by Wednesday, Musk has provided an email address, flint@x.com, where residents can send the results of their water’s ppm (parts per million) and ppb (parts per billion) levels.
Musk’s pledge to help the people of Flint has mostly been met positively by the online community, with several of his followers even offering to lend a hand to a “barnstorming weekend” aimed at installing water filters in the homes of the city’s residents. Musk also reacted favorably to the idea of utilizing Flint’s local plumbers to help in the initiative. Despite being in China to discuss Tesla’s plans of building Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, Musk further stated that he would call Flint Mayor Karen Weaver about plans to address the city’s water problems.
Gathering input this week, will begin taking action next week and let people know how they can help
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2018
Just like his efforts to help in the Thailand cave rescue operations, Musk’s pledge to help the city of Flint became a target for his staunch critics online. Key Flint activist Mari Copeny, better known as Little Miss Flint due to her letter to then-president Barack Obama about the ongoing water crisis, clarified Musk’s involvement, however, stating that the city is appreciative of the serial tech entrepreneur’s efforts to help.
Hey world. Let’s set the record straight. My team has been working with @elonmusk and his team for over a week to figure out the best solution to help #Flint with the #FlintwaterCrisis
Extremely grateful for him and all he has done so far.— Mari Copeny (@LittleMissFlint) July 12, 2018
The Flint Water Crisis started in April 2014, after the city’s drinking water source was changed from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the much cheaper Flint River. Insufficient water treatment caused lead to be leached from lead water pipes into the residents’ drinking water. Lead pipes are viable pipes for water systems, provided that corrosion inhibitors are used to prevent lead from contaminating the water. A common corrosion inhibitor is orthophosphate, which forms low-solubility complexes with the lead in the pipes. Orthophosphates were used in Flint’s systems when the drinking water was coming from Detroit, but when the shift to the Flint River was conducted, no orthophosphate or any other anti-corrosion inhibitors were used. The absence of these inhibitors is behind the harrowing images of rust-colored water coming from Flint’s water supply.
The lead-contaminated water caused several grave problems for Flint’s residents. Between 6,000 to 12,000 children from Flint have been exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead, which could result to serious health problems. The percentage of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels is estimated to have risen from about 2.5% in 2013 to as much as 5% in 2015 as well. An outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease, a form of atypical pneumonia with no known vaccine, also resulted in 10 fatalities. The Legionnaires’ outbreak is linked to Flint’s contaminated water supply.
A comparison between Flint’s water coming from the Flint River and the Detroit River. [Credit: Occupy]
The Flint Water Crisis has resulted in several lawsuits being filed against government officials, many of which were accused of mismanaging the situation. Since the water crisis’ peak, however, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has stated that the lead content of Flint’s water has fallen below the federal limit. As of April 2018, the MDEQ issued a statement assuring Flint’s residents that the city’s water quality “has been restored.” Regardless of this, however, many Flint residents remain skeptical that their water is now safe, especially considering that the replacement of the contaminated lead pipes is still ongoing. In this sense, Musk noted on Twitter that the planned “barnstorming” weekend in Flint would not only aim to give residents water filters for their homes; it would also attempt to fix residents’ perception of the city’s water supply.
You’re right on both counts. Most houses in Flint have safe water, but they’ve lost faith in govt test results. Some houses are still outliers. Will organize a weekend in Flint to add filters to those houses with issues & hopefully fix perception of those that are actually good.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2018
While Elon Musk’s recent philanthropic ventures are attracting more attention than usual, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s humanitarian efforts have actually been going on for some time. It should be noted that Tesla’s big battery in South Australia was started after Musk became aware of the power crisis in the region. After Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, Musk also promptly sent a team to help the island nation get back on its feet. As of Musk’s latest update, he noted that there are currently 11,000 projects underway in Puerto Rico.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
