News
[Update: old photo, not hardware for a new Falcon Heavy] SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy launch gets closer to reality
Update: The photo of a Falcon Heavy nosecone posted on Instagram on August 30th was actually more than 12 months old, dating back to early preparations for the rocket’s inaugural February 2018 launch. As such, no new hardware has actually been spied arriving in Florida for Falcon Heavy’s second launch, likely sometime in early 2019.
SpaceX’s second-ever Falcon Heavy rocket appears to be entering into the (very) early stages of hardware preparation and integration in anticipation of its second launch, expected to occur as early as December 2018 or January 2019.
The apparent arrival of one of the new rocket’s side booster nosecones at Kennedy Space Center – captured by local NASA engineer Hampton Black (Instagram: @spacecoast_hampton) – is a strong indicator that SpaceX is already gearing up for the production and launch of the next serial Falcon Heavy, this time composed entirely of upgraded Block 5 boosters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGz9UiHbNl/?taken-by=spacecoast_hampton
Of note, the individual transport of a Falcon Heavy nosecone to Kennedy Space Center bucks the trend observed during the transport of the first rocket’s two side boosters, both of which were shipped to Florida with nosecones already installed. Why might SpaceX be shipping a new Falcon Heavy nosecone to Florida separately, rather than atop a Falcon booster? The most obvious explanation happens to be that SpaceX is planning on reusing a flight-proven Falcon 9 Block 5 booster for Falcon Heavy’s next launch, perhaps even a booster already residing in Florida (B1047, B1049, and potentially B1051).
This should come as no surprise at all, given the inherent disruption any dedicated Falcon Heavy booster production – 3X the effort for one launch – would have on single-booster Falcon 9 manufacturing. Thanks to the extraordinary loads placed on FH center boosters, those will likely need to have a separate design dedicated to Falcon Heavy, but statements from CEO Elon Musk after the rocket’s successful February 2018 debut indicate that Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters will be interchangeable as side booster with minimal rework.
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- Falcon Heavy’s refurbished side core, spotted 8/21/17 in Louisiana by an observant fan. (reddit /u/neauxgeaux)
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- One of Falcon Heavy’s side boosters seen arriving at LC-39A about a month ago. (Reddit /u/MajorRocketScience)
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- A Falcon Heavy side booster and its nosecone. (Tom Cross)
Inter-booster connection hardware will certainly need to be installed on the outside of any Falcon Heavy-focused Falcon 9 booster, but the only other major hardware modification apparently needed would be the replacement of a booster’s Falcon 9 interstage (wrapped in a black heat-resistant material on Block 5 vehicles) with a Falcon Heavy nosecone.
This is likely why a lone nosecone has been transported to the Cape – it might seem rather premature with Falcon Heavy’s next launch potentially five or more months away, but it’s likely that SpaceX integration engineers and technicians want to physically verify that new procedures work as expect and that the new hardware fit meets SpaceX’s tolerances. Normally, the vast majority of that final integration and verification work would be conducted in situ at the company’s Hawthorne factory, where the Falcon 9 or Heavy booster simply would not ship to McGregor or a launch pad until everything checked out as expected.
It’s entirely possible that this very booster – Falcon 9 B1046 – could be modified for duty as a Falcon Heavy side booster in the near future. August 2018. (Tom Cross)
Rather than shipping a flight-proven Block 5 booster back to Hawthorne or McGregor, SpaceX might instead be able to much more easily ship just the components that need to be swapped out in order to modify a Falcon 9 booster for Falcon Heavy side core duties. If that can, in fact, be done, it should serve to dramatically lower the previously massive work-hour gaps between Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 launches, potentially making Heavy a much more viable and workhorse-esque rocket for SpaceX and the company’s present and prospective customers.
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A Tesla Semi caught fire in Hayward, California, which caused both directions of traffic to shut down for hours before being completely reopened early on Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.
The fire occurred just after 5:30 local time in Hayward on Tuesday, as the Semi caught fire in the southbound lanes of I-880 before CHP officials made the decision to shut down both lanes of traffic due to potential risks from hazardous chemical smoke.
There were no injuries reported.
🚨 A Tesla Semi reportedly caught fire, with California Highway Patrol confirming. The Semi was on I-880 SB
An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 semi-truck and large commercial vehicle fires occur on U.S. roadways every year
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 28, 2026
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, as neither Tesla nor the CHP have not determined a cause.
However, some images taken before the Semi was completely destroyed by the fire seem to indicate this might have been an older unit, as it appears to be one of the designs that Tesla shipped as part of its pilot program, before revising it and starting mass production just a month ago.
@Tslachan From on of the videos looks like it’s an old Semi (not the refresh version that recently started production) https://t.co/KzwmR2kXow
— Area Under The Curve 🎗️ (@AreaUnderCurve) October 28, 2026
At the time of publication, CHP had not returned our request for a comment for additional details, including the Semi involved and any potential collaboration on an investigation between the CHP and Tesla. We will update this story when we hear back from them.
The southbound lanes were reopened at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, with the northbound lanes opening last night a few hours after the fire began. The CHP did state that the lithium batteries were “incredibly difficult to extinguish,” according to NBC Bay Area.
The truck’s driver said that the Semi caught fire, but he did not have an explanation.
An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 semi-truck and large commercial vehicle fires occur on U.S. roadways every year.
Tesla’s launch of the “Emergency Drive Away” function a few months back offered owners a safe option to evacuate an area if they were in reasonable danger. The function finally got its first use in the real world, but it appears it was by mistake.
A video shared by u/Joshalander in the r/TeslaLounge subreddit recorded the instance from his vehicle and said the incident took place in Austin this past weekend during the city’s F1 Race.
“Was charging around 6 AM this past Sunday in Austin before heading to the F1 race and heard a pop. Looked over and saw the new emergency drive-away feature in action. Genuinely felt bad for the dude when he got out and realized what happened, since he looked exhausted and only seemed to half-read the prompts.”
🚨 Here’s the first look at Tesla’s Emergency Drive Away function in action:
Apparently this driver accidentally enabled it and drove forward; you can see the Supercharger pull with the car.
Tesla said previously this would cost up to $25k if not used properly. https://t.co/B4qQRrsO6B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 28, 2026
Emergency Drive Away unlatches the Supercharger connector from the vehicle, but still causes damage to both the car and the Supercharger. Tesla has said that it will cost up to $25,000 in repairs to have everything fixed back to normal.
Additionally, the company said that if it were not used in an emergency situation, the driver of the vehicle who activated the Emergency Drive Away feature would be responsible for all repair costs.
Tesla constitutes the following situations as reasonable justifications for activating the feature:
- You face an immediate threat to your life or personal safety.
- You must leave the area immediately.
- Exiting the vehicle is unsafe.
- Unplugging the charge connector would unreasonably delay your departure or expose you to a risk to your personal safety.
After using the feature, Tesla requires the driver to schedule Service so the car can be inspected.
News
Tesla’s Cybercab battery design could make robotaxis even cheaper
Tesla built the Cybercab’s battery pack with spare room for a future switch to LFP.
Tesla built the Cybercab’s battery pack with empty space inside it on purpose, and the reason points to a cheaper robotaxi down the road.
Robert Sumpf, Tesla’s director of mechanical design engineering for battery modules and packs, said the extra room beside and beneath the Cybercab’s modules was left there so the company can move to lithium iron phosphate cells later. “So, we protected this pack to go to an even lower energy dense chemistry as we scale and need to bring LFP into the platform,” Sumpf said in a Cybercab deep dive with Munro Live.
The Cybercab runs on Tesla’s own 4680 cells with a nickel chemistry today. LFP cells store less energy for their size, so a straight swap would cut range. The reserved space lets Tesla add more LFP cells to make up the difference. In return, Tesla would get cells that cost less, run cooler and survive more charge cycles. LFP became the most used EV battery chemistry in the world last year.
Not all of that room was planned for a chemistry change. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, said part of it exists because “we didn’t need as many batteries as we thought we did.” Tesla told Sandy Munro in early 2025 that it was targeting a Cybercab pack under 50 kWh with close to 300 miles of range.
The pack also breaks from the structural design Tesla used in some Model Y and Cybertruck builds. Instead of potting hundreds of cells into one block, the Cybercab uses four separate, individually sealed modules, so a bad module can be replaced without scrapping the whole pack. Sumpf was blunt about the older approach, giving the Model Y structural battery “a grade D” because it was hard to build and nearly impossible to repair. He estimated a fully structural pack gains about 10% more cell volume, but said “the issue is the service cost.”
That cost matters more for a car that rarely sits parked. Cybercab chief engineer Eric Earley said replacing an entire pack “before half a million miles is a killer on cost,” which is why remanufacturing and serviceability were built into the design from the start.
The same Munro Live tour produced Moravy’s admission that the Cybercab line at Giga Texas is now outpacing Robotaxi deployments, along with a look at the robotaxi’s unorthodox paint process. Tesla is aiming to deliver the first Cybercabs to outside customers by the end of 2026, though Elon Musk has said the vast majority will stay owned by Tesla and run as a transport service.
Sumpf did not give a date for an LFP version, name a cell supplier or say how a chemistry change would affect range. For now, the 4680 cars keep piling up: Texas DMV records from Tuesday list 544 Cybercabs authorized for Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet, more than the 507 Model Ys on the same roster for the first time.
Tesla Semi catches fire in California: what we know
Tesla’s ‘Emergency Drive Away’ function gets its first use in the real world
