We are a month into 2021, and I wanted to switch things up a little bit and get away from the technical jargon of Tesla talk and move onto something a little lighter-hearted. Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that he was taking a break from Twitter, and it inspired me to write a piece that wasn’t so focused on automotive development or batteries, and instead on something that it reminded me of.
Now, before I begin, I realize Musk holds a lot more responsibilities than I do. He is the CEO of several companies, he has a large platform, he has hecklers and botherers of proportions I cannot (and don’t want to) begin to imagine. The guy is under a microscope with every move, and I think it is perfectly reasonable that he took a break from social media, even if it was only for a few days.
It reminded me of how last Summer, I decided to take a break from social media. The only thing I kept was Twitter, and it was only for work. I deleted Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, and I found it extremely refreshing. I decided that it was time to do a little bit of self-reflection, and instead of finding things through my phone for entertainment, I decided to do a slight dopamine detox and challenge myself to fight “boredom” in my spare time, and I found the effects to be very advantageous for my mental and physical health.
Off Twitter for a while
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2021
As a 26-year-old, I am at the heart of social media. I can remember when MySpace was a thing in my high school years, I can reflect back on opening up my first Facebook account. I even have a few Twitter accounts that still exist from the early days when I was figuring out the platform. Now, I’m a bit older than I was then, but I have slowly found myself finding the toxicity of social media to be more evident than I have in previous years. It is full of hypocrisy, hatred, criticism, and false glamour that many people simply do not have the time for. While it is used by basically everyone on Earth with an internet connection, it doesn’t mean it is great to be on constantly, and I must think that Elon, the guy who probably has more mental strength than most people, even needs to take a break and focus on himself every once in a while.
With that being said, I think there are a plethora of things that really went through my head when he announced his short-lived break. First off, I know I never want to be in the position he is in. I think about the lack of privacy he must have, and also how his critic base is likely as large as his support system. Unfortunately, there are people who find him to be unappealing, which is something I just don’t understand. However, I do know that even as someone in a position with such wealth and power, he has to feel that sometimes, social media is simply too much for even him to handle.
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I tried to take this lesson to heart earlier this week, and I realized that it is important to take a step back from who we are in our professional lives, and simply be human every once in a while. Many of us are lost in the daily grind of our careers. I know that, personally, I find myself up at night wondering how I can be a better writer. How can I break that big story? How can I make Teslarati a better outlet for news than it already is? These are questions I think anyone who gives a damn would ask themselves, with respect to their own careers. It is the kind of mindset my parents instilled in me as a child: Hard work and dedication pays the bills. You can be whoever you want to be if you set your mind to it, and I always told myself that I would be a journalist eventually, I just didn’t know when. Luckily, I got the shot when I was 24, and I’ll never look back.
As we all live in a world full of the latest and greatest technology, many of the readers of this newsletter owning perhaps the greatest piece of technology in our world right now, it is hard to get away from what we all use and love. It is hard, and it is understandable to think about life without it. But when is the last time you took a step back from everything and examined your life and how you are living? Take a step back from your work, your connection to so many others through the internet, and examine your serenity and how you feel without it. It will probably be refreshing.
Many of us are not under the level of stress that a Tesla CEO feels, and many of us will never feel that stress. But it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a break. It doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to set your phone down for a few days and just be by yourself with your own thoughts.
The last few nights, I have been reading “As A Man Thinketh,” by James Allen, a book I read several times a year. A few lines of it really inspired me to write this newsletter, and I want to share those lines with you all. The lines reminded me of Elon’s reflection on the 2017 “production hell” episode of Model 3 manufacturing, and how the critics are still vocal and plentiful. While Elon admits there are times where buying a Tesla vehicle is not favorable to the consumer, he is still doing his best to solve these issues.
“The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, ‘How lucky he is!’ Observing another become intellectual, they exclaim, ‘How highly favored he is!’ And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, ‘How chance aids him at every turn!’ They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; they have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the heartaches; they only see the light and joy, and call it ‘luck.’ They do not see the long and arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it ‘good fortune,’ do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it chance. In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized. The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart–this you will build your life by, this you will become.”
So with this, I want to say, grind while you can, but take breaks when the time is right. You have this one life, so don’t get lost in your work. Enjoy the good times. The work we put in brings us the fruits of life, but make sure that you take the time to enjoy those fruits.
They won’t be ripe forever.
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I use this newsletter to share my thoughts on what is going on in the Tesla world. If you want to talk to me directly, you can email me or reach me on Twitter. I don’t bite, be sure to reach out!
Lifestyle
Tesla saves its passengers again – This time after a 300-foot cliff fall in Malibu
A Tesla Model 3 fell 300 feet off a Malibu cliff and both passengers survived.
A Tesla Model 3 plunged roughly 300 feet off a cliff on Mulholland Highway in Malibu on Friday morning, May 29, 2026, and both occupants survived. The crash was reported at approximately 7:30 a.m. near the 2500 block of Mulholland Highway, triggering a multi-agency rescue operation involving Malibu Search and Rescue, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the California Highway Patrol, and McCormick Ambulance.
When first responders arrived, the male driver was outside the vehicle shouting for help while the female passenger remained pinned inside the Tesla. Rescue crews rappelled down the cliffside on ropes to reach the wreckage. A flight medic was lowered by helicopter to begin treating both victims, and the driver was hoisted up to the roadway before crews used the Jaws of Life to free the trapped passenger. Both were airlifted to a local trauma center with moderate injuries despite a remarkable result for a fall that steep.
The outcome is not surprising, considering Model 3 earned an overall 5-star rating from NHTSA in every category and sub-category, and recorded the lowest probability of injury of any car ever evaluated by the U.S. New Car Assessment Program. The absence of a traditional engine in the front of the vehicle creates a longer crumple zone that absorbs impact energy before it reaches occupants, and the battery pack running along the floor gives the car an unusually low center of gravity that reinforces structural rigidity.
This is not the first time a Tesla has kept passengers alive after going off a cliff. A Tesla Model Y carrying a family of four survived a plunge off a cliff at Devil’s Slide near San Francisco in January 2023, with two adults and two children walking away from a 250-foot fall. That incident drew widespread attention to how the structural integrity of Tesla’s electric platform performs in extreme crash scenarios that most vehicles would not survive.
Tesla Model Y driver who drove off cliff with family attempts to avoid criminal conviction
Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Tesla improves Dashcam playback with awesome addition
Tesla Full Self-Driving attempts 150-mile stress test: the good and the bad
