Tesla has had quite a phenomenal year in 2022. As the year comes to a close and we move into 2023, it’s great to step back and take a look at Tesla’s progress. Tesla shared a thread on Twitter thanking its supporters, employees, and customers for helping to make 2022 a good year for EVs.
Although Tesla shared its long list, we are highlighting a few of those key moments for Tesla.
2022 was a huge year for EVs.
Thank you to Tesla owners, supporters & employees for helping us accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy! ⚡️🚘🔋☀️❤️
— Tesla (@Tesla) December 29, 2022
Tesla started the new year by moving full speed ahead after delivering almost one million vehicles in 2021. In total last year, Tesla delivered 936,172 electric vehicles.
In March, Elon Musk danced as he and Tesla handed over the first made-in-Germany vehicles produced at the newly opened Giga Berlin, which opened in the fall of 2021. At this event, Elon Musk gave a passionate speech about how Giga Berlin would be the gemstone for Europe and the world. He said:
“I’m incredibly excited to hand over the first production cars from our incredible team here at Giga Berlin Brandenburg. This is a great day for the factory, and I just like to thank everyone who helped. Thank you, thank you very much. It really made a big difference.”
“And to the community, Tesla will make sure that this is a gem — a gemstone for the area, for Germany, for Europe, and for the world.”
“Every vehicle that we make will be another step in the direction of a sustainable energy future. We will also make battery storage. So this is going to be very important for storing renewable energy — so, for solar and wind. Because it’s intermittent, it needs to be stored, but we’re extremely confident that the world will transition to a sustainable energy future with the combination of solar, plus battery storage, and electric vehicles.”
“If you have those three legs of the stool, then you can create a sustainable energy future for as long as the sun shines and the wind blows.”
“I want to be clear that sometimes people are sad about the future or they think, well, ‘will we solve sustainable energy?’ and ‘maybe the climate issue is too late’ or something like that. I really want to assure everyone that you can have hope in the future.”
“You should have hope in the future. This problem will be solved. And this factory is a major step in that direction. And so, believe in the future.”
In the following month, Tesla held its grand opening Cyber Rodeo event at Giga Texas. Event goers were invited to tour the factory and see how Tesla manufactured its made-in-Texas Model Y vehicles. I attended and spot-interviewed one of Tesla’s employees, Kyle Wozniak. Tesla displayed its Tesla Semi, Cybertruck, and the next-gen Roadster.
Kyle Wozniak say hi pic.twitter.com/0nHKl0IdMw
— Johnna (@JohnnaCrider1) April 7, 2022
In June, Tesla’s US Energy Markets Policy Lead, Arushi Sharma Frank, gave public comments to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which paved the way for Tesla owners to participate in virtual power plants (VPPs) later this year. On December 15, Tesla officially launched its Tesla Electric for Tesla as a result of the tireless efforts of Frank and her team.
Tesla opened its Megafactory in Lathrop, California, this year also. It broke ground in August, and provided a sneak peek into the Megafactory in October as it ramped up hiring. Tesla held its second AI Day in September and unveiled a working prototype of the Optimus Bot and shared a video of the bot doing work around the office. “Our goal is to make a useful humanoid robot as soon as possible,” Elon Musk said.
In December, Tesla delivered its first Semi to PepsiCo and FritoLay, and following the deliveries, FritoLay showcased one of the trucks in the Modesto Christmas parade. Pepsi announced plans to deploy 100 of the Tesla Semis it purchased in 2023, and the vehicles will deliver products to customers such as Walmart and Kroger.
Although these are not all of Tesla’s achievements for 2022, the highlights show just how much progress it’s made toward accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Disclosure: Johnna is a $TSLA shareholder and believes in Tesla’s mission.
Your feedback is welcome. If you have any comments or concerns or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter at @JohnnaCrider1.
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In a groundbreaking new report from Reuters, SpaceX is reportedly discussing merger possibilities with xAI ahead of the space exploration company’s plans to IPO later this year, in what would be a blockbuster move.
The outlet said it would combine rockets and Starlink satellites, as well as the X social media platform and AI project Grok under one roof. The report cites “a person briefed on the matter and two recent company filings seen by Reuters.”
Musk, nor SpaceX or xAI, have commented on the report, so, as of now, it is unconfirmed.
With that being said, the proposed merger would bring shares of xAI in exchange for shares of SpaceX. Both companies were registered in Nevada to expedite the transaction, according to the report.
On January 21, both entities were registered in Nevada. The report continues:
“One of them, a limited liability company, lists SpaceX and Bret Johnsen, the company’s chief financial officer, as managing members, while the other lists Johnsen as the company’s only officer, the filings show.”
The source also stated that some xAI executives could be given the option to receive cash in lieu of SpaceX stock. No agreement has been reached, nothing has been signed, and the timing and structure, as well as other important details, have not been finalized.
SpaceX is valued at $800 billion and is the most valuable privately held company, while xAI is valued at $230 billion as of November. SpaceX could be going public later this year, as Musk has said as recently as December that the company would offer its stock publicly.
The plans could help move along plans for large-scale data centers in space, something Musk has discussed on several occasions over the past few months.
At the World Economic Forum last week, Musk said:
“It’s a no-brainer for building solar-powered AI data centers in space, because as I mentioned, it’s also very cold in space. The net effect is that the lowest cost place to put AI will be space and that will be true within two to three years, three at the latest.”
He also said on X that “the most important thing in the next 3-4 years is data centers in space.”
If the report is true and the two companies end up coming together, it would not be the first time Musk’s companies have ended up coming together. He used Tesla stock to purchase SolarCity back in 2016. Last year, X became part of xAI in a share swap.
Tesla has announced it has hit a major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions, shortly after it said it would exclusively offer the suite without the option to purchase it outright.
Tesla announced on Wednesday during its Q4 Earnings Call for 2025 that it had officially eclipsed the one million subscription mark for its Full Self-Driving suite. This represented a 38 percent increase year-over-year.
This is up from the roughly 800,000 active subscriptions it reported last year. The company has seen significant increases in FSD adoption over the past few years, as in 2021, it reported just 400,000. In 2022, it was up to 500,000 and, one year later, it had eclipsed 600,000.
NEWS: For the first time, Tesla has revealed how many people are subscribed or have purchased FSD (Supervised).
Active FSD Subscriptions:
• 2025: 1.1 million
• 2024: 800K
• 2023: 600K
• 2022: 500K
• 2021: 400K pic.twitter.com/KVtnyANWcs— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 28, 2026
In mid-January, CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would transition away from giving the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, opting for the subscription program exclusively.
Musk said on X:
“Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14. FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter.”
The move intends to streamline the Full Self-Driving purchase option, and gives Tesla more control over its revenue, and closes off the ability to buy it outright for a bargain when Musk has said its value could be close to $100,000 when it reaches full autonomy.
It also caters to Musk’s newest compensation package. One tranche requires Tesla to achieve 10 million active FSD subscriptions, and now that it has reached one million, it is already seeing some growth.
The strategy that Tesla will use to achieve this lofty goal is still under wraps. The most ideal solution would be to offer a less expensive version of the suite, which is not likely considering the company is increasing its capabilities, and it is becoming more robust.
Tesla is shifting FSD to a subscription-only model, confirms Elon Musk
Currently, Tesla’s FSD subscription price is $99 per month, but Musk said this price will increase, which seems counterintuitive to its goal of increasing the take rate. With that being said, it will be interesting to see what Tesla does to navigate growth while offering a robust FSD suite.
News
Tesla confirms Robotaxi expansion plans with new cities and aggressive timeline
Tesla plans to launch in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. It lists the Bay Area as “Safety Driver,” and Austin as “Ramping Unsupervised.”
Tesla confirmed its intentions to expand the Robotaxi program in the United States with an aggressive timeline that aims to send the ride-hailing service to several large cities very soon.
The Robotaxi program is currently active in Austin, Texas, and the California Bay Area, but Tesla has received some approvals for testing in other areas of the U.S., although it has not launched in those areas quite yet.
However, the time is coming.
During Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call last night, the company confirmed that it plans to expand the Robotaxi program aggressively, hoping to launch in seven new cities in the first half of the year.
Tesla plans to launch in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. It lists the Bay Area as “Safety Driver,” and Austin as “Ramping Unsupervised.”
These details were released in the Earnings Shareholder Deck, which is published shortly before the Earnings Call:
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla plans to launch its Robotaxi service in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas in the first half of this year pic.twitter.com/aTnruz818v
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 28, 2026
Late last year, Tesla revealed it had planned to launch Robotaxi in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston, but Tampa and Orlando were just added to the plans, signaling an even more aggressive expansion than originally planned.
Tesla feels extremely confident in its Robotaxi program, and that has been reiterated many times.
Although skeptics still remain hesitant to believe the prowess Tesla has seemingly proven in its development of an autonomous driving suite, the company has been operating a successful program in Austin and the Bay Area for months.
In fact, it announced it achieved nearly 700,000 paid Robotaxi miles since launching Robotaxi last June.
🚨 Tesla has achieved nearly 700,000 paid Robotaxi miles since launching in June of last year pic.twitter.com/E8ldSW36La
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 28, 2026
With the expansion, Tesla will be able to penetrate more of the ride-sharing market, disrupting the human-operated platforms like Uber and Lyft, which are usually more expensive and are dependent on availability.
Tesla launched driverless rides in Austin last week, but they’ve been few and far between, as the company is certainly easing into the program with a very cautiously optimistic attitude, aiming to prioritize safety.
SpaceX reportedly discussing merger with xAI ahead of blockbuster IPO
Tesla hits major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions
