News
SpaceX on track with Crew Dragon program despite thin NASA budget
On Thursday (Oct. 10th) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and NASA Demo-2 astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley spoke at the company’s Hawthorne, CA headquarters after the NASA and SpaceX heads toured the factory and spoke with company engineers.
While discussing NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and SpaceX’s ongoing development, Musk revealed – among other things – one particularly impressive detail: the company’s Crew Dragon program is almost perfectly sticking to NASA’s budget.
During an audience Q&A session, Bridenstine touched on the impact federal funding has had on the NASA Commercial Crew Program, partially correctly stating that “the timelines never changed*, but the budget got cut. So, there are consequences when the budget doesn’t meet the vision.” The objective of returning to NASA the ability to launch its own astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), however, was and still is a central priority.
*Bridenstine’s claim that “the timelines never changed” is explicitly false. In reality, Boeing and SpaceX launch schedules almost immediately changed as a direct result of systematic Congressional underfunding, slipping at least two years after egregious budget cuts from 2011-2014.
Musk further clarified that “the SpaceX Commercial Crew Program is within 1% of the (federal) budget”, meaning that Crew Dragon’s development costs have almost exactly matched the $2.6B NASA awarded SpaceX to build the spacecraft. He went on to reinforce that SpaceX has continuously operated within the confines of that overarching budget, while the three or so years of delays Crew Dragon has suffered can in many ways be traced directly back to the fact that “the NASA [budget] request for Commercial Crew for several years was substantially reduced by congress, I think in some cases by 50%.”
As Musk notes, in response to such a dramatic lack of funding, SpaceX impressively “didn’t spend more money, it just took longer”. He also politely hinted at his awareness of the political machinations that caused those shortfalls, stating that in “the same years that commercial crew was dramatically underfunded, some other unmentioned programs were overfunded.” The “unmentioned programs” that Musk alluded to are, of course, NASA’s own Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, both of which are infamously behind schedule and over budget
As previously reported on Teslarati:
“Former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver noted that over the ~5 years Congress consistently withheld hundreds of millions of dollars of critical funds from Commercial Crew, NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft were just as consistently overfunded above and beyond their budget requests. From 2011 to 2016 alone, SLS and Orion programs requested $11B and received an incredible $16.3B (148%) from Congress, while Commercial Crew requested $5.8B and received $2.4B (41%).”
Beyond the simple fact that there hasn’t been enough federal funding, Bridenstine also mentioned that CCP has suffered from misaligned – and completely unattainable – timelines given the underfunding. He continued to push his platform that, as the NASA Administrator, he has been focused on returning to “realism when it comes to terms of cost and schedule.” He stated that there needs to be more “realism built into the development timelines.”
In an effort to ensure that the safety of the NASA astronauts remains the top priority for Commercial Crew, Bridenstine clarified that the timeline is a “developmental timeline,” and one which may see further delays should something not go as planned or other safety issues arise. Musk assured that SpaceX is more than capable of supporting CCP and upholding its end of the bargain by stating that “we’re going to get this done. We’re going to get [this] done soon and we’re going to get [this] done right.”
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News
Tesla Service just made a simple change for iOS users that makes a big difference
The Live Activities will now provide owners with a quick view of the service status on their vehicle, including the expected arrival time of the repair technician, the actual arrival time, and the estimated completion time.
Tesla has improved the transparency and communication it has with customers when their vehicles are being serviced with a very simple addition to its app.
The addition will only impact iOS users as it utilizes Apple’s Live Activities feature, which is utilized for other Tesla features, most notably during Supercharging to alert owners of their state of charge, charging rate, session cost, and time remaining.
Now, Tesla is using the Live Activities feature of iOS to alert customers of the status of a repair through Service, something that definitely improves the overall interaction between the owner and the company.
The Live Activities will now provide owners with a quick view of the service status on their vehicle, including the expected arrival time of the repair technician, the actual arrival time, and the estimated completion time.
Credit: @robkten | X
It also uses Apple’s Dynamic Island for an even more streamlined look at repair status.
The change was first noticed by Not a Tesla App. Some owners have said that the change has been available for about two months, but we had also not noticed it until now.
Tesla has been working to improve its Service division, especially over the past few months, as Raj Jegannathan, Vice President of IT/AI-Infra, Apps, Infosec, and Vehicle Service Operations, has revealed the company is working to make things easier for owners.
It is no secret that getting in touch with Tesla Service is easier said than done. In fact, CEO Elon Musk has even had to step up on X to get some issues resolved.
But Tesla has done a good job of confronting the shortcomings, especially when it comes to communication between the Service Center and owners.
It started a pilot program at select service locations that shared local and regional leader contact information so customers could reach out if they had an issue with diagnostic, warranty, or estimate issues.
Tesla also enabled an extended in-app messaging option, which gives owners 24 hours to contact Service regarding any complaints they might have. Previously, the messaging option was only available for two hours.
The small change made to utilize Live Updates gives Tesla owners the opportunity to peek at their Service status without being overly communicative and pestering employees. It’s a small change, but it’s a good one.
Unfortunately, it is not available for Android users quite yet.
News
Tesla job postings seem to show next surprise market entry
The company has several job postings for various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians.
Tesla’s recent job postings on its Careers website seem to show its next market entry, and it is a bit of a surprise.
Moving forward, Tesla is basically looking to expand its footprint wherever possible. It has already made a major splash in various global markets, and it has managed to make its way to several regions where things were more difficult and delayed.
Most notably, this includes India, where Tesla just recently started operations.
However, the company is now looking to expand in the Western Hemisphere, and recent job postings from Tesla show that it has its eyes set on a new South American market: Colombia.
The company has several job postings for various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians.
The locations include Medellin and Bogota, two of Colombia’s most populated and important regions.
NEWS: Tesla will soon launch operations in Colombia, making it the second country in South America with official Tesla presence after Chile.
Tesla has posted multiple job positions located both in Bogota and Medellin, from Tesla Advisor, Service Technician to Sales Manager… pic.twitter.com/jgNEb7t7xu
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 22, 2025
Tesla’s presence in South America is extremely limited, and if it decides to launch in Colombia in the coming weeks, it will only be the second country on the continent where the company has a dedicated presence.
Tesla has only two Supercharger locations in all of South America, both in Chile, and both are located near Santiago, a major city situated in the center of the country. One major thing Tesla will need to do after launching in more countries across South America is to establish a more dedicated charging presence.
Tesla Superchargers follow Model 3 and Model Y to South American country
It is surprising Tesla has not tried to enter Argentina or Brazil, but demand has to be there, and South America is not necessarily a hotbed for electric vehicles.
However, last year saw significant growth in the market for EV demand, with a 187 percent increase year over year, led by Brazil and Uruguay. These statistics come from Bloomberg.
Investor's Corner
Tesla Q3 deliveries could exceed expectations: Wolfe Research
“Q3 is poised to be a strong quarter,” the firm noted.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) could deliver a stronger-than-expected third quarter, as per Wolfe Research, which stated that the EV maker’s vehicle deliveries could reach between 465,000 and 470,000 units this Q3 2025.
Such results would represent a 22% increase from Q2, topping consensus estimates of 445,000. “Q3 is poised to be a strong quarter,” the firm noted.
U.S. and China demand
In the U.S., Wolfe attributed part of the volume lift to consumers accelerating purchases ahead of the expiration of a $7,500 federal EV tax credit. The firm is also optimistic about China’s deliveries, which the firm noted is trending above prior expectations. Wolfe estimated 165,000–170,000 deliveries in China for the third quarter, or about 10,000 more than its earlier forecast, as noted n a Yahoo Finance report.
The firm noted that these figures do not yet include meaningful contributions from the newly launched Model Y L. “We estimate 165-170k deliveries in Q3, or ~10k above our prior est,” Wolfe stated, though these volumes “largely do not reflect the recent launch of the Model Y L.”
Earnings outlook
Wolfe noted that it expects Tesla’s Q3 earnings per share to fall between $0.55 and $0.60, which is above the current consensus of $0.49 per share. The firm forecasts automotive gross margins, excluding regulatory credits, of about 16.5% to 17%.
Looking ahead, Wolfe warned that Q4 could prove more challenging due to U.S. demand being pulled forward by tax incentives. Still, Wolfe suggested that factors like stronger seasonal demand in China and Europe could become tailwinds that could help the company’s volumes in the fourth quarter. The ramp and rollout of the Model Y L and upcoming affordable models could also help bolster the company’s Q4 volumes.
Tesla Service just made a simple change for iOS users that makes a big difference
Tesla job postings seem to show next surprise market entry
Tesla Q3 deliveries could exceed expectations: Wolfe Research
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