Tesla recently announced they had placed their 40,000th Tesla Supercharger, making them the world’s most extensive DC fast charging network. But where will the company expand to next?
Like all other companies currently producing electric vehicles, Tesla has always faced the issue of offering charging to its buyers. Even today, with Tesla’s supercharging network being as extensive as it is, it is nowhere near the scale of gas stations available to ICE vehicles. Ultimately, this leads to a poorer ownership experience for EV drivers. Looking globally, there are a few areas where Tesla may want to expand first.
40k Superchargers around the world — and counting pic.twitter.com/w6tShTkwPA
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) November 22, 2022
First, it is essential to recognize that the Supercharger network has requests for new charging locations everywhere, and it will likely be working on expanding its network for years to come. The best thing that Tesla can do is intelligently place upcoming chargers. Below are just some of the challenges and opportunities that Tesla may find helpful in the near future as the Supercharger network grows.
North America –
Tesla has a massive presence in the North American market, particularly in the United States, and one of the primary reasons for the company’s success has been its extensive Supercharger network. But even here, Tesla will need to expand as more and more people switch to Tesla products by the day.
Foremost is the concern about city/urban charging. Because most people don’t have access to charging at their homes in dense urban areas, they are forced to use Supercharging locations. And while Tesla has already focused on making charging available in these communities, the daily lines for charging and the enraged Twitter posts indicate that more will be needed as soon as possible.
At the same time, ensuring that charging is located in rural areas is another concern. People in these communities have the opposite problem as those who are in the cities. While they can often easily charge at home, they lack access even to Tesla destination charging near them, effectively forcing them to drive far out of their way to charge their vehicles quickly.
Finally, while the United States and Canada have been serviced fairly well in terms of Tesla charging, Mexico lags years behind in terms of development. Despite having a multiple times bigger population than Canada, Tesla Superchargers are exceedingly rare outside of Mexico City. Hopefully, by introducing more charging infrastructure to the country, Mexico can also grow the demand for electric vehicles.
Europe –
While North America and China have seen dramatic growth in Supercharging locations, Europe has seen more conservative growth, mirroring the demand for Tesla products on the continent. And while Europeans have a wealth of options for electric vehicles (certainly more than in the United States), Tesla should consider an expansion of charging in Europe as a form of leverage to entice buyers away from other brands from Stellantis, Volkswagen Group, and Renault Group.
The three major markets on the continent, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, are likely on the top of the list for Tesla. The company entered these countries first as they came to the European market, yet with exponential demand for their products, they will be pushed by consumers to construct more chargers here first.
At the same time, countries that Tesla has only recently expanded to, including Spain, Italy, and Portugal, will be looking for more charging. And without Tesla’s support in developing that infrastructure, Tesla risks losing customers to competitors who can offer a better charging experience on CCS.
Asia –
The Asian market is far more bifurcated than any other market. The American EV giant has correctly seized on the demand for electric vehicles in China, the world’s biggest car market. And from their investment, they have become the largest western EV brand in the country. However, other significant markets, including Japan, South Korea, and much of South East Asia, remain lacking both Tesla Supercharging locations and demand for electric vehicles generally.
Expansion in China will likely be an ongoing process. A country with over 1 billion people will always have problems with supply. And perhaps this is great news for Tesla as they have an excellent opportunity to grow their market share in the blossoming economy.
Simultaneously, Japan has a similarly fledgling demand for electric vehicles. Despite the country’s reluctance to accept the technology, sales have steadily grown as consumers have become more comfortable with the option. As the third largest economy and one that hasn’t entirely accepted electric vehicles into the norm yet, Tesla should see the island nation as an untouched source of fresh customers.
Overall, Tesla finds itself in a target-rich environment. Any supercharger they place will certainly be helpful for someone. We can only hope that as charging becomes a more profitable venture, Tesla will be more incentivized to place more DC fast chargers and ensure more charging availability for everyone.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
SpaceX announced today that it commenced its first-ever public bond offering, marking a significant step in the newly public company’s capital markets strategy.
The company announced an offering of senior unsecured notes expected to raise at least $20 billion.
The move comes just a short time after SpaceX completed one of the largest initial public offerings in history. In mid-June, the company priced shares at $135 and raised more than $85 billion, propelling founder Elon Musk’s net worth past the trillion-dollar mark and giving the firm substantial liquidity.
🚨 SpaceX has announced its inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes.
The net proceeds will be used to repay outstanding loans under its bridge loan facility in full.
This inaugural debt offering represents a financing milestone for SpaceX, which previously depended… pic.twitter.com/pcOZuVbTRv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
According to the company’s SEC filing, the net proceeds from the notes will be used primarily to repay in full the outstanding borrowings under its existing bridge loan facility, cover related fees and expenses, and fund general corporate purposes. The offering is being conducted under Rule 144A, as well as Regulation S, targeting qualified institutional buyers and non-U.S. investors. Notes will be unsecured obligations ranking equally with other unsubordinated debt.
The $20 billion bridge loan was used to refinance approximately $17.5 billion in higher-cost “junk” debt tied to X and xAI. SpaceX had merged with xAI in February 2026 in an all-stock deal. The bridge facility, which matures in September 2027, had represented the bulk of SpaceX’s long-term debt.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
In connection with the bond launch, SpaceX disclosed it held approximately $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. Investor calls began on the announcement date, with pricing and launch expected shortly thereafter. Rating agencies have assigned investment-grade ratings to the proposed bonds, reflecting confidence in SpaceX’s dominant position in commercial launches and the growth trajectory of its Starlink internet offering.
The debt raise also allows SpaceX to optimize its balance sheet by replacing short-term, higher-cost bridge financing with longer-date, lower-cost fixed-income securities. This provides greater financial flexibility to support capital-intensive initiatives, including the development of Starship, the expansion of the Starlink constellation, and the integration of AI capabilities following the xAI combination.
SpaceX shares (NASDAQ: SPCX) fell sharply on the news, dropping over 16 percent overall on the market on Monday. The stock had surged initially after debuting but pulled back amid profit-taking and broader market dynamics.
Overall, the bond offering underscores SpaceX’s transition to a mature public company with access to diverse funding sources. It positions the firm to pursue its long-term vision of multiplanetary expansion and AI infrastructure, while maintaining a disciplined approach to its capital structure in a high-growth but capital-heavy industry.
SpaceX confirmed today that it has officially signed its third massive compute deal, providing compute at its Colossus data center in Southaven, Tennessee.
Reflection AI will gain immediate access to NVIDIA GB300 chips at SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data center. In return, Reflection will pay SpaceX $150 million per month starting on July 1, with total payments reaching approximately $6.3 billion if the contract runs through its duration, which is until 2029. Either party can terminate the agreement with 90 days’ notice after the initial three-month period.
CNBC first reported the deal.
🚨 SpaceXAI has agreed to a new compute deal with Reflection AI.
Reflection gets access to NIVIDIA GB300s, and will pay $150M per month to SpaceXAI for the compute. pic.twitter.com/bNPare8U5u
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
This latest partnership highlights SpaceX’s strategy of commercializing its massive Colossus supercomputing infrastructure, originally developed to power Elon Musk’s Grok AI models. The company has rapidly expanded its customer base in the AI sector following its February 2026 merger with xAI, a transaction that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion.
SpaceX has previously signed significant compute deals with other major players.
It granted Anthropic exclusive access to the full capacity of its Colossus 1 data center, which exceeds 300 megawatts and includes over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Details from SpaceX’s IPO filings indicate Anthropic will pay $1.25 billion per month through May 2029, potentially generating around $45 billion over the term of the deal.
Additionally, Google agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million per month for compute capacity from October 2026 through June 2029. This 32-month period will provide Google access to roughly 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs, along with supporting processors and memory. Capacity ramps up through September at a reduced fee, with termination options after the first year.
SpaceXA also established arrangements for computing power with Cursor, an AI coding startup. SpaceX acquired them in a $60 billion all-stock deal.
These arrangements position SpaceX’s collective position as an AI infrastructure powerhouse with high-margin revenue potential. The Google deal alone could generate nearly $29.5 billion over its term, while the Reflection contract adds another $6.3 billion.
Combined with the Anthropic arrangement, SpaceX stands to realize tens of billions in revenue from compute leasing in the coming years, which diversifies beyond SpaceX’s traditional rocket launches and Starlink operation.
The deals underscore growing demand for advanced AI training and inference capacity amid chip shortages and surging model development needs. Reflection, valued at $25 billion and focused on “American open intelligence” with government and national security ties, cited recent restrictions on closed models as validation for open-source approaches.
For SpaceX, the partnerships transform capital-intensive data centers into flexible revenue sources while supporting its broader AI ambitions after the company has gone public.
It is safe to say SpaceX won’t be going for electric rockets anytime soon.
In a characteristically blunt reply on X, SpaceX frontman Elon Musk stated, “Unfortunately, electric rockets are impossible,” following reports that MSCI had assigned SpaceX its lowest possible ESG rating of CCC.
The assessment, issued just this past week, coinciding closely with SpaceX’s public market debut, placed the company on par with nations like Russia in sustainability scoring and cited significant risks in environmental, social, and governance areas.
MSCI flagged SpaceX’s exposure to rocket emissions and other operational impacts, alongside governance concerns such as concentrated control by Musk and limited shareholder protections. Musk’s terse comment directly addressed the environmental pillar, underscoring a core physical constraint that ESG frameworks often overlook when evaluating high-thrust industries.
Unfortunately, electric rockets are impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2026
Electric propulsion systems do exist and are widely used in space. Ion thrusters and Hall-effect thrusters accelerate ionized propellant, typically xenon or krypton, using electric fields, achieving very high specific impulse, often exceeding 3,000 seconds compared to roughly 300–450 seconds for chemical rockets.
This efficiency makes them ideal for satellite station-keeping, orbit raising, and deep-space missions where low thrust over long durations is sufficient. SpaceX’s own Starlink satellites employ electric propulsion for these purposes.
However, launching from Earth’s surface demands something entirely different: enormous thrust delivered rapidly to overcome gravity and atmospheric drag. A typical orbital-class booster must generate thrust far exceeding its weight, often in the millions of Newtons within seconds.
Chemical rockets achieve this through exothermic combustion of dense propellants, producing high-mass-flow, high-velocity exhaust. Electric systems, by contrast, expel very small amounts of mass at extremely high speeds. Generating equivalent thrust would require impractical onboard power levels, massive energy storage or generation systems, and prohibitive added mass, rendering the approach infeasible with current or near-term technology.
Musk has previously expressed a similar sentiment, noting a desire for electric orbital rockets while acknowledging the inescapable requirements of Newton’s third law and energy delivery. The distinction is clear: electric propulsion excels once a vehicle is already in space; it cannot replace the high-thrust chemical phase required to reach orbit from the ground.
The episode illustrates broader critiques of ESG ratings. Proponents argue they incentivize better risk management and long-term sustainability. Detractors, including Musk—who has previously called ESG a “scam”—contend that such metrics can penalize essential activities when no practical alternative exists, potentially discouraging innovation in sectors like space access.
Elon Musk dubs the S&P 500 ESG as “outrageous scam” after Tesla gets booted from index
SpaceX has sought to mitigate launch-related impacts through reusability: Falcon 9 boosters have flown more than 30 times in some cases, dramatically lowering the manufacturing and emissions burden per kilogram delivered to orbit. Starship’s design further emphasizes rapid reusability and methane propellant, which can theoretically be produced via sustainable pathways.
Ultimately, Musk’s remark serves as a reminder that certain engineering realities persist regardless of scoring systems. As humanity expands its presence in space for communications, science, and exploration, balancing genuine environmental progress with technological necessity remains a central challenge.
ESG frameworks may evolve, but the fundamental limits of electric launch propulsion are unlikely to change soon.
SpaceX makes $20 billion move to optimize its balance sheet
SpaceX confirms third massive compute deal at Colossus data center
