

News
GM exec acknowledges Tesla’s lead in EV market: ‘They’re formidable competitors’
General Motors Co. recently launched a $27-billion EV offensive to catch up with Tesla’s EV market lead, which GM executive Doug Parks recently acknowledged in a statement. Parks made the statement in a call before GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra announced the company’s goals in the EV market leading up to 2025.
Parks is GM’s Vice President of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. His acknowledgement of Tesla’s lead reveals much about the legacy automaker’s current mindset and its goals for the future. “We don’t want to just participate, we want to lead,” he said in a call with reporters, according to TechCrunch.
“Tesla’s got a good jump, and they’ve done great things and so they’re [Tesla] formidable competitors. There’s a lot of startups and everyone else invading the space, and we’re not going to secede leadership there.”
On Thursday, November 19, Barra announced that GM is aiming to offer 30 all-electric vehicles by 2025. The car manufacturer also added $7 billion to its EV investment budget. Before the pandemic, General Motors placed a $20 billion budget on EV and autonomous vehicle (AV) development. Now, it is at $27 billion.
“Climate change is real, and we want to be part of the solution by putting everyone in an electric vehicle,” said GM’s Chairman and CEO. “We are transitioning to an all-electric portfolio from a position of strength and we’re focused on growth. We can accelerate our EV plans because we are rapidly building a competitive advantage in batteries, software, vehicle integration, manufacturing and customer experience.”
Based on information released during the Barclays 2020 Global Automotive Conference, GM aims to increase its share in the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market in the United States. The legacy OEM calculated that the top 10 BEV US states provided the company with a 280,000-unit opportunity. For context, TSLA bull Pierre Ferragu from New Street Research projected that Tesla has an international addressable market of 20 million units with its S3XY lineup. The Cybertruck provided an additional addressable market of 3 million units.
In a press release, GM estimated that 40% of its entries in the United States would be battery-electric by the end of 2025, which may be a smart move for the experienced automaker. Tesla and other EV startups, like Rivian and Lucid Motors, seem prepared to fight for 100% EV adoption in the United States by 2030 as shown by the creation of Zero Emission Transportation Association or ZETA.
GM’s presentation at the Barclays 2020 Global Automotive Conference could be viewed below.
Final Barclays Slides by Maria Merano on Scribd
Elon Musk
Tesla plans to adjust heavily scrutinized car part with simple engineering
“We’ll have a really good solution for that. I’m not worried about it.”

Tesla is going to adjust one heavily scrutinized part of its vehicles after recent government agencies have launched probes into an issue stemming from complaints from owners.
Over the past few days, we have reported on the issues with Tesla’s door handle systems from both the Chinese and American governments.
In China, it dealt with the Model S, while the United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported nine complaints from owners experiencing issues with 2021 Model Ys, as some said they had trouble entering their car after the 12V battery was low on power.
Bloomberg, in an interview with Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen, asked whether the company planned to adjust the door handle design to alleviate any concerns that regulatory agencies might have.
Regarding the interior latch concerns in the United States:
- Von Holzhausen said that, while a mechanical door release resolves this problem, Tesla plans to “combine the two” to help reduce stress in what he called “panic situations.”
- He also added that “it’s in the cars now…The idea of combining the electronic and the manual one together in one button, I think, makes a lot of sense.” Franz said the muscle memory of reaching for the same button will be advantageous for children and anyone who is in an emergency.
Regarding the exterior door handle concerns in China:
- Von Holzhausen said Tesla is reviewing the details of the regulation and confirmed, “We’ll have a really good solution for that. I’m not worried about it.”
Franz von Holzhausen (from Tesla’s Robovan) on Tesla’s upcoming redesigned door handles: pic.twitter.com/lnaKve1SlJ
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 17, 2025
The new Model Y already has emergency mechanical door release latches in the back, but combining them in future vehicles seems to be an ideal solution for other vehicles in Tesla’s lineup.
It will likely help Tesla avoid complaints from owners about not having an out in the event of a power outage or accident. It is a small engineering change that could be extremely valuable for future instances.
News
Elon Musk calls out viral claim of 10,000 Tesla Optimus deal: “Fake”
For now at least, Tesla seems determined to focus on the development of Optimus V3.

Elon Musk has provided some clarification to recent reports suggesting that PharmAGRI, a US pharmaceutical and agricultural infrastructure company, is looking to deploy 10,000 Optimus robots for its operations.
Musk posted his clarification on social media platform X.
Alleged Optimus purchase
Recently, reports emerged stating that PharmAGRI Capital Partners will be tapping into Tesla’s humanoid robots for its operations. The firm claimed that it had executed a Letter of Intent with Tesla to deploy up to 10,000 Optimus Gen 3+ humanoid robots across its SuperPharm and CEA facilities. This should allow the company to automate its labor and ensure diversion control.
A comment from Lynn Stockwell, Chairwoman & CEO, suggested that the company really was partnering with Tesla. “With Tesla robotics powering our facilities and DEA-licensed infrastructure in place, we can scale with precision, meet federal sourcing mandates, and deliver therapies that are compliant, secure, and American-made,” she said.
Elon Musk clariies
News of PharmAGRI’s Optimus claims quickly spread on social media, though some Tesla watchers argued that it seemed unlikely that the EV maker will commit two legions of Optimus robots to a rather unknown company this early. Some pointed out that Tesla typically commits to high-profile customers to test its early products, such as PepsiCo with the Tesla Semi.
Photos from PharmAGRI’s website depicting Tesla Optimus bots, as well as the rather basic look of the website itself, also brought more reservations to the company’s claims. Ultimately, Elon Musk weighed in on the matter, responding to a post about PharmAGRI’s Optimus-filled webpage. Musk was quick and direct, simply stating, “Fake.”
Elon Musk’s comments were quite unsurprising considering that Optimus is still very much in active development, and thus, it is quite unlikely that the company is already taking orders or even Letters of Intent from potential customers at this time. For now at least, Tesla seems determined to focus on the development of Optimus V3, which Musk has noted will be “sublime.”
Elon Musk
Elon Musk: Self-sustaining city on Mars is plausible in 25-30 years
Musk noted that true self-sufficiency requires Mars to develop “all the ingredients of civilization.”

Elon Musk has stated that a self-sustaining human settlement on Mars could be established in 25-30 years, provided launch capacity increases dramatically in the coming decades.
Speaking at the All-In Summit, the SpaceX CEO said building a self-sufficient colony depends on exponential growth in “tonnage to Mars” with each launch window, highlighting Starship’s role as the company’s pathway to interplanetary initiatives.
Mars settlement goals
Musk noted that true self-sufficiency requires Mars to develop “all the ingredients of civilization,” from food production to microchip manufacturing. Starship Version 3 is expected to support the first uncrewed Mars test flights, while future iterations could reach 466 feet in height and deliver larger payloads critical for settlement. Ultimately, Musk stated that an aggressive timeline for a city on Mars could be as short as 30 years, as noted in a Space.com report.
“I think it can be done in 30 years, provided there’s an exponential increase in the tonnage to Mars with each successive Mars transfer window, which is every two years. Every two years, the planets align and you can transfer to Mars.
“I think in roughly 15, but maybe as few as 10, but 10-15-ish Mars transfer windows. If you’re seeing exponential increases in the tonnage to Mars with each Mars transfer window, then it should be possible to make Mars self-sustaining in about call it roughly 25 years,” Musk said.
Starship’s role
Starship has flown in a fully stacked configuration ten times, most recently in August when it completed its first payload deployment in orbit. The next flight will close out the Version 2 program before transitioning to Starship Version 3, featuring Raptor 3 engines and a redesigned structure capable of lifting over 100 tons to orbit.
While SpaceX has demonstrated Super Heavy booster reuse, Ship reusability remains in development. Musk noted that the heat shield is still the biggest technical hurdle, as no orbital vehicle has yet achieved rapid, full reuse.
“For full reusability of the Ship, there’s still a lot of work that remains on the heat shield. No one’s ever made a fully reusable orbital heat shield. The shuttle heat shield had to go through nine months of repair after every flight,” he said.
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