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Tesla and Arevon team up on 172-Megapack solar plus project

One of Tesla’s largest Megapack sites, the Arevon Eland solar project is supported by an impressive 1.2GWh of Megapacks.

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Tesla Megapack
Credit: Tesla

Tesla and partner Arevon have completed the second phase of an energy storage site in Southern California, as highlighted in a short video shared this week.

On Monday, Tesla’s Megapack account on X posted a brief video on the Kern County, California “Eland” storage site, which was recently expanded to offer 300MW/1.2GWh of Megapacks supporting 758MW of solar. The so-called “Eland Solar-plus-Storage Project” site now features 172 Megapack units and 1.36 million solar panels, which the companies have previously said is roughly enough to power 200,000 homes annually.

In the video, Tesla also notes that the facility has site-level controls to regulate power output, “providing a firm resource to the grid,” and supporting the Los Angeles climate goal of reaching 100-percent renewable electricity by 2035. You can check out the clip below.

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READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapack project in California housed in former steam plant

Arevon announced the official start of operations for Eland 1 in December with 150MW/600 MWh, and the Eland 2 phase has effectively doubled this. The company also appears to be on track for its targeted opening of Eland 2 in Q1 this year, though it’s not clear at the time of writing if Arevon has yet announced a start of operations for the second phase.

Last February, Arevon announced that it secured a $1.1 billion financial commitment for the remaining parts of the Eland 2 Solar-plus-Storage project, together with Eland 1 becoming one of the largest solar-plus-storage installations in the U.S. The projects also include a long-term purchase agreement from the Southern California Public Power Authority, which plans to facilitate contracts for the LA Department of Water and Power and Glendale Water and Power.

Tesla’s grid-scale Megapack batteries can store and deploy generated energy to the electrical grid, especially during periods of peak power usage, high demand, or outages. Coupled with solar or other energy sources in these kinds of solar-plus-storage sites, Tesla’s Megapacks can help support renewable energy for long periods of time, or at least add stability to the grid.

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Over the past couple of years, Tesla has been deploying large-scale Megapack projects in markets around the world, as backed by an initial production facility in Lathrop, California. This “Megafactory” aims to eventually produce 10,000 Megapack units, or 40 GWh, per year, and it has been ramping up production since late 2022.

In November, the Lathrop Megafactory officially produced its 10,000th Megapack, and Tesla also started production at a second Megapack plant in Shanghai, China last month, after starting construction on the site last May. The Shanghai Megafactory is also expected to have a volume annual production of 10,000 units per year.

Additionally, Tesla has teased plans for a third Megafactory, though it has yet to disclose where such a facility would be built.

Tesla’s massive Megapack site near Melbourne is almost ready

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla expands its branded ‘For Business’ Superchargers

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Credit: Francis Energy

Tesla has expanded its branded ‘For Business’ Supercharger program that it launched last year, as yet another company is using the platform to attract EV owners to its business and utilize a unique advertising opportunity.

Francis Energy of Oklahoma is launching four Superchargers in Norman, where the University of Oklahoma is located. The Superchargers, which are fitted with branding for Francis Energy, will officially open tomorrow.

It will not be the final Supercharger location that Francis Energy plans to open, the company confirmed to EVWire.

Back in early September, Tesla launched the new “Supercharger for Business” program in an effort to give businesses the ability to offer EV charging at custom rates. It would give their businesses visibility and would also cater to employees or customers.

“Purchase and install Superchargers at your business,” Tesla wrote on a page on its website for the new program. “Superchargers are compatible with all electric vehicles, bringing EV drivers to your business by offering convenient, reliable charging.”

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The first site opened in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, which is Northeast of Tampa, as a company called Suncoast launched the Superchargers for local EV owners.

Tesla launches its new branded Supercharger for Business with first active station

The program also does a great job at expanding infrastructure for EV owners, which is something that needs to be done to encourage more people to purchase Teslas and other electric cars.

Francis Energy operates at least 14 EV charging locations in Oklahoma, spanning from Durant to Oklahoma City and nearly everywhere in between. Filings from the company, listed by Supercharge.info, show the company’s plans to convert some of them to Tesla Superchargers, potentially utilizing the new Supercharger for Business program to advertise.

Moving forward, more companies will likely utilize Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program as it presents major advantages in a variety of ways, especially with advertising and creating a place for EV drivers to gain range in their cars.

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Tesla Cybercab ‘breakdown’ image likely is not what it seems

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Credit: TslaChan | X

Tesla Cybercab is perhaps the most highly-anticipated project that the company plans to roll out this year, and as it is undergoing its testing phase in pre-production currently, there are some things to work through with it.

Over the weekend, an image of the Cybercab being loaded onto a tow truck started circulating on the internet, and people began to speculate as to what the issue could be.

The Cybercab can clearly be seen with a Police Officer and perhaps the tow truck driver by its side, being loaded onto, or even potentially unloaded from, the truck.

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However, it seems unlikely it was being offloaded, as its operation would get it to this point for testing to begin with.

It appears, at first glance, that it needs assistance getting back to wherever it came from; likely Gigafactory Texas or potentially a Bay Area facility.

The Cybercab was also spotted in Buffalo, New York, last week, potentially undergoing cold-weather testing, but it doesn’t appear that’s where this incident took place.

It is important to remember that the Cybercab is currently undergoing some rigorous testing scenarios, which include range tests and routine public road operation. These things help Tesla assess any potential issue the vehicle could run into after it starts routine production and heads to customers, or for the Robotaxi platform operation.

This is not a one-off issue, either. Tesla had some instances with the Semi where it was seen broken down on the side of a highway three years ago. The all-electric Semi has gone on to be successful in its early pilot program, as companies like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo. have had very positive remarks.

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Tesla reveals its first Semi customer after launch

The Cybercab’s future is bright, and it is important to note that no vehicle model has ever gone its full life without a breakdown. It happens, it’s a car.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that there has been no official word on what happened with this particular Cybercab unit, but it is crucial to remember that this is the pre-production testing phase, and these things are more constructive than anything.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla analyst teases self-driving dominance in new note: ‘It’s not even close’

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco of Morgan Stanley teased the company’s dominance in its self-driving initiative, stating that its lead over competitors is “not even close.”

Percoco recently overtook coverage of Tesla stock from Adam Jonas, who had covered the company at Morgan Stanley for years. Percoco is handling Tesla now that Jonas is covering embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.

His first move after grabbing coverage was to adjust the price target from $410 to $425, as well as the rating from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’

Percoco’s new note regarding Tesla highlights the company’s extensive lead in self-driving and autonomy projects, something that it has plenty of competition in, but has established its prowess over the past few years.

He writes:

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“It’s not even close. Tesla continues to lead in autonomous driving, even as Nvidia rolls out new technology aimed at helping other automakers build driverless systems.”

Percoco’s main point regarding Tesla’s advantage is the company’s ability to collect large amounts of training data through its massive fleet, as millions of cars are driving throughout the world and gathering millions of miles of vehicle behavior on the road.

This is the main point that Percoco makes regarding Tesla’s lead in the entire autonomy sector: data is King, and Tesla has the most of it.

One big story that has hit the news over the past week is that of NVIDIA and its own self-driving suite, called Alpamayo. NVIDIA launched this open-source AI program last week, but it differs from Tesla’s in a significant fashion, especially from a hardware perspective, as it plans to use a combination of LiDAR, Radar, and Vision (Cameras) to operate.

Percoco said that NVIDIA’s announcement does not impact Morgan Stanley’s long-term opinions on Tesla and its strength or prowess in self-driving.

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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief

And, for what it’s worth, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even said some remarkable things about Tesla following the launch of Alpamayo:

“I think the Tesla stack is the most advanced autonomous vehicle stack in the world. I’m fairly certain they were already using end-to-end AI. Whether their AI did reasoning or not is somewhat secondary to that first part.”

Percoco reiterated both the $425 price target and the ‘Equal Weight’ rating on Tesla shares.

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