News
[Photos] Preparations for Tesla’s Gigafactory event are well underway
New aerial photos obtained by Teslarati show party preparations for Tesla’s upcoming July 29 Gigafactory event are well underway. Photos of Tesla’s $5 billion high-tech battery plant located 20 miles east of Reno, Nevada reveal that the electric automaker turned energy company has perched a large white tent off the main road, rightfully named Electric Avenue, that leads into the Gigafactory.
Several tractor trailers are seen surrounding the tent with a pair of trailers positioned in a way that would suggest cargo was being unloaded into the tent. Taking into account that commercial tractor trailers are generally 53 feet in length, we approximate the tent to be about 210 feet in length and 105 feet wide, or twice the size of a professional NBA basketball court.
-
- Tesla Gigafactory event prepartions seen in aerial photo
-
- A newly perched white tent is seen near the entrance to the Gigafactory
-
- Tesla Gigafactory, July 24, 2016
Also seen in the photos taken on Sunday, July 24 by local flight instructor Josh Mcdonald are roughly 2,000 newly painted parking spaces located directly west of Tesla’s Gigafactory 1. Tesla will be providing valet parking for those driving to Gigafactory 1 via Electric Avenue, but will also have shuttle service departing from downtown Reno to the battery plant. Though Tesla has not disclosed the planned attendance figure for the highly anticipated event, we know CEO Elon Musk isn’t one to shy away from throwing a good party. Both the Tesla ‘D event’ and the Model X unveiling each drew between 4,000 – 6,000 in attendance.
Looking forward to the Gigafactory opening party on Friday next week. The scale blows me away every time I see it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2016
Tesla will also be providing factory tours of Gigafactory 1 as well as “test rides” according to event details outlined on the company’s official invitation to the July 29 party. There’s been speculation that Tesla will be providing event attendees rides in the final version of the Model 3 which completed design late last month.
We know that Musk has said in the past that Tesla will “do the obvious thing” regarding Autopilot on the Model 3. Contrary to Tesla’s current semi-autonomous driving feature which has seen its share of negative press after the first fatality occurred behind the wheel of a Model S on Autopilot, many believe that the obvious thing in this case is a fully autonomous vehicle capable of driving on its own with no human intervention.
Looking at a close up of the area near the white tent, we can see a section leading to a paved road that runs alongside the expansive parking lot, and around the outer perimeter of the factory lot. Zooming into the photo even more and you can see the paved road is painted with very clear lane markings, perhaps to ensure that Autopilot 2.0 sensors have all of the cues needed for a successful demo. What we’re seeing here might in fact be a test track where rides will take place.
Test rides might be originating from near the white tent and on the paved road surrounding the outer perimeter of the Gigafactory 1 lot.
Musk’s vision for the future includes the use of Tesla’s battery plant as the supplier of li-ion cells for its upcoming fleet of Tesla trucks, semis and home and commercial energy solutions.
Tesla broke ground on its first Gigafactory in June 2014 and is expected to produce 105 gigawatt hours of battery cells when it reaches full production in 2020, and becomes the world’s largest producer and consumer of li-ion battery cells.
The four completed sections of the Gigafactory to date represents only 15% of the overall total size when completed. Josh Mcdonald of Nevada Tailwheel tells us, “Tesla has begun construction on the next phase of the Gigafactory as seen from the newly graded sections with concrete and steel pylons forming the base of the foundation directly to the north and south of the factory”.
We’ve outlined in red a few key areas of the Gigafactory seen from the aerial photo. Among the areas outlined are new sections north and south of the existing building, a helicopter landing zone and the security guard shack on Electric Avenue.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
