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Tesla Energy backup helps SpaceX Starship Mk1 face down tornadoes, power outages
SpaceX’s South Texas Starship facilities and Mk1 prototype fell under threat of damage when stormy weather – including multiple tornadoes and heavy rain – impacted the area in the early hours of October 21st.
With a healthy serving of luck, SpaceX’s Boca Chica campus managed to escape largely unscathed, but much of the surrounding area lost power after high winds knocked down numerous utility poles. Thankfully, one of the first things SpaceX installed in Boca Chica, Texas was a large Tesla solar array and multiple Tesla Powerpacks.
Sometime around 3am local time on October 21st, South Padre Island and Boca Chica, Texas were hit by a significant thunderstorm, delivering high winds and heavy rain throughout the region. This is far from unusual for any and all of the coastal areas lining the Gulf of Mexico, but it’s the first (relatively) severe weather to hit SpaceX’s Starship build site in at least a month or two.
LabPadre and SPadre livestreams of SpaceX’s build site went down shortly after the storm kicked up and local commenters suggested that conditions had abruptly soured, raising some mild concerns about the wellbeing of locals in Boca Chica Village, as well as Starship Mk1 itself. The streams likely went down as a result of power outages caused by wind damage to powerlines in the area, but it appears that most of those outages were rectified within a day or so. LabPadre’s stream remains down but SPadre’s is back up and serving excellent live views of stormy weather and thunderclaps.
Perhaps most notably, local weather radar readings indicated that two tornadoes touched down perhaps just a mile or less away from Starship Mk1 shortly after the storm kicked off, raising concerns that SpaceX’s build site could have suffered a direct impact (or two). Thankfully, by all outward appearances, SpaceX’s Starship facility made it through the storm unscathed. Parts of the site experienced significant flooding but things were otherwise unharmed and SpaceX immediately restarted work on Starship Mk1 as soon as the storm died down.
Just a few hours prior to the storm’s arrival, technicians were installing the first heavy-duty leg mounts on Starship Mk1 and that work continued the moment the wind and rain died down.
Weathered residents of Boca Chica Village – located a stone’s throw away from SpaceX’s build site – were largely unphased by the mild storm and the Village itself (and thus SpaceX, too) may have only briefly lost power. Still, an unstable power supply is utterly unacceptable and dysfunctional for a large-scale industrial manufacturing site like SpaceX’s Starship facilities.
Thankfully, SpaceX’s South Texas presence includes a substantial solar array and Tesla Powerpack installation, likely capable of powering the company’s Starship build site and communications antennas for hours in the event of a serious power outage. More likely than not, that local grid backup likely came in handy last night, either augmenting or fully supplanting power from the grid at some point.
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Tesla teased its entrance into a new market with a confusing and what appeared to be cryptic message on the social media platform X.
The company has been teasing its entrance into several markets, including Africa, which would be a first, and South America, where it only operates in Chile.
In September, Tesla started creating active job postings for the Colombian market, hinting it would expand its presence in South America and launch in a new country for the first time in two years.
The jobs were related to various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians. These are all roles that would indicate Tesla is planning to launch a wide-scale effort to sell, manage, and repair vehicles in the market.
Last night, Tesla posted its latest hint, a cryptic video that seems to show the outline of Colombia, teasing its closer than ever to market entry:
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) November 12, 2025
This would be the next expansion into a continent where it does not have much of a presence for Tesla. Currently, there are only two Supercharger locations on the entire continent, and they’re both in Chile.
Tesla will obviously need to expand upon this crucial part of the ownership experience to enable a more confident consumer base in South America as a whole. However, it is not impossible, as many other EV charging infrastructures are available, and home charging is always a suitable option for those who have access to it.
Surprisingly, Tesla seems to be more concerned about these middle-market countries as opposed to the larger markets in South America, but that could be by design.
If Tesla were to launch in Brazil initially, it may not be able to handle the uptick in demand, and infrastructure expansion could be more difficult. Brazil may be on its list in the upcoming years, but not as of right now.
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Tesla expands crucial Supercharging feature for easier access
It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.
Tesla has expanded a crucial Supercharging feature that helps owners identify stall availability at nearby locations.
Tesla said on Tuesday night that its “Live Availability” feature, which shows EV owners how many stalls are available at a Supercharger station, to Google Maps, a third-party app:
Live availability of Superchargers now in Google Maps pic.twitter.com/DJvS83wVxm
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) November 11, 2025
Already offering it in its own vehicles, the Live Availability feature that Teslas have is a helpful feature that helps you choose an appropriate station with plugs that are immediately available.
A number on an icon where the Supercharger is located lets EV drivers know how many stalls are available.
It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.
Essentially, when those drivers needed to charge at a Supercharger that enables non-Tesla EVs to plug in, there was a bit more of a gamble. There was no guarantee that a plug would be available, and with no way to see how many are open, it was a risk.
Tesla adding this feature allows people to have a more convenient and easier-to-use experience if they are in a non-Tesla EV. With the already expansive Supercharger Network being available to so many EV owners, there is more congestion than ever.
This new feature makes the entire experience better for all owners, especially as there is more transparency regarding the availability of plugs at Supercharger stalls.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla is able to expand on this new move, as Apple Maps compatibility is an obvious goal of the company’s in the future, we could imagine. In fact, this is one of the first times an Android Auto feature is available to those owners before it became an option for iOS users.
Apple owners tend to get priority with new features within the Tesla App itself.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM
The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.
The Boring Company is gearing up to tackle one of its toughest projects yet, a new tunnel system beneath Nashville’s notoriously tough limestone terrain. Unlike the soft-soil conditions of Las Vegas and Austin, the Music City Loop will require a “hard-rock” boring machine capable of drilling through dense, erosion-resistant bedrock.
The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.
A boring hard-rock tunneling machine
The Boring Company revealed on X that its new hard-rock TBM can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load. It also features a 15-filter dust removal system designed to keep operations clean and efficient during excavation even in places where hard rock is present.
Previous Boring Co. projects, including its Loop tunnels in Las Vegas, Austin, and Bastrop, were dug primarily through soft soils. Nashville’s geology, however, poses a different challenge. Boring Company CEO and President Steve Davis mentioned this challenge during the project’s announcement in late July.
“It’s a tough place to tunnel, Nashville. If we were optimizing for the easiest places to tunnel, it would not be here. You have extremely hard rock, like way harder than it should be. It’s an engineering problem that’s fairly easy and straightforward to solve,” Davis said.
Nashville’s limestone terrain
Experts have stated that the city’s subsurface conditions make it one of the more complex tunneling environments in the U.S. The Outer Nashville Basin is composed of cherty Mississippian-age limestone, a strong yet soluble rock that can dissolve over time, creating underground voids and caves, as noted in a report from The Tennessean.
Jakob Walter, the founder and principal engineer of Haushepherd, shared his thoughts on these challenges. “Limestone is generally a stable sedimentary bedrock material with strength parameters that are favorable for tunneling. Limestone is however fairly soluble when compared to other rack materials, and can dissolve over long periods of time when exposed to water.
“Unexpected encounters with these features while tunneling can result in significant construction delays and potential instability of the excavation. In urban locations, structures at the ground surface should also be constantly monitored with robotic total stations or similar surveying equipment to identify any early signs of movement or distress,” he said.
Tesla teases new market entrance with confusing and cryptic message
Tesla expands crucial Supercharging feature for easier access
Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM
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