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Elon Musk stands by Tesla Semi and rebuts Bill Gates’ critique: ‘He has no clue’
Earlier this month, tech visionary and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates penned a blog post outlining his stance on the next generation of transportation. And while Gates was supportive of all-electric cars, he maintained that some types of vehicles, such as heavy-duty machinery like 18-wheelers, will never really work out if they were just powered by batteries.
Instead, Gates explained that other technologies such as cheap alternative fuels would work better for tasks like long-haul travel. The Microsoft co-founder mentioned biofuels and electrofuels as superior alternatives to battery-electric heavy-duty machines, partly due to their compatibility with the trucks that are already operating today.
“The problem is that batteries are big and heavy. The more weight you’re trying to move, the more batteries you need to power the vehicle. But the more batteries you use, the more weight you add—and the more power you need. Even with big breakthroughs in battery technology, electric vehicles will probably never be a practical solution for things like 18-wheelers, cargo ships, and passenger jets. Electricity works when you need to cover short distances, but we need a different solution for heavy, long-haul vehicles,” Gates wrote.
Elon Musk, for his part, recently shared his stance on Gates’ recent statement. When asked on Twitter about his thoughts on the Microsoft co-founder’s points about batteries and long-haul trucking, the Tesla CEO offered a quick, direct rebuttal. “He has no clue,” he wrote.
Inasmuch as Musk’s statement is direct, the Tesla CEO’s rebuttal may very well prove to be a key argument for battery-electric long-haul trucks. Tesla, after all, has been obsessively improving its battery tech over the years, and the results of all this work are expected to be discussed in the upcoming Battery Day event. The event, which will be held this September 22, 2020, is expected to feature a thorough discussion about Tesla’s next-generation battery cells, which would likely be pivotal to the release of even more impressive, breakthrough vehicles and energy products.
Tesla’s next vehicles like the Plaid Model S, Model X, Semi, and Cybertruck, for example, are all speculated to be fitted with the company’s next-generation cells. And Tesla being the way it is, there is a very good chance that the electric car maker will not stop with the technology it will unveil on Battery Day. Innovations will continue, work on more advanced cells will be done, recycling will be emphasized, and batteries will get even better over time. Elon Musk, for his part, has stated that 400 Wh/kg batteries with high cycle life and ready for mass production are potentially just 3 to 4 years away, and based on his previous statements, 400 Wh/kg is the point where all-electric flights could be made possible.
Ultimately, Musk and Gates’ opposing views on electric long-haulers like the Tesla Semi would likely be decided by the performance of the vehicle itself when it gets released. Fortunately, it appears that the market does not need to wait very long, seeing as Elon Musk has noted that the Semi is already poised to enter volume production. If the Semi gets embraced by long-haul companies due to its affordable operating cost, performance, and tech, and if its capabilities prove better than those announced in its unveiling, the vehicle could end up being a Class 8 humbling device for the Microsoft co-founder.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
