News
Tesla “Battery Day” event date is looking like April 2020, says Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is preparing to host a Battery Day for shareholders sometime after the first quarter, possibly in April. The announcement came during the earnings call following Tesla’s release of its Q4 2019 Update Letter.
Responding to a question from a participating investor about where Tesla stands in growing its battery capacity, Musk said that the company has already demonstrated massive improvement in growing the capacity of the cells, modules, and batteries it uses for its all-electric vehicles.
The CEO attributed part of the improvements to Tesla’s relationships with various battery partners, such as Panasonic, which is Tesla’s in-house supplier of lithium-ion batteries at Giga Nevada. Tesla also teamed up with other partners such as LG and CATL to produce battery packs for its cars produced in China. Aside from that, Musk declined to provide additional details on future plans for improving its battery technology, leaving investors to look forward to the upcoming Battery Day event later this year.
“We have a lot more to talk about this in detail in Battery Day probably April. We have a very compelling strategy. I mean, we are super deep in cell. Super deep. Cell through battery,” he said.
Tesla’s efforts to upgrade its batteries include the acquisition of California-based energy storage firm Maxwell Technologies, which was completed in May last year. Tesla’s interest in Maxwell primarily lies in the latter’s innovations in ultracapacitors and dry electrode technologies, which could potentially improve the company’s batteries.
Prior to the acquisition, Tesla also submitted a patent for an idea to use electrolyte additives to improve the performance and lengthen the lifespan of lithium-ion cells. The patent, titled “Dioxazolones and Nitrile Sulfites as Electrolyte Additives for Lithium-ion Batteries,” provided details on how Tesla can significantly increase the lifespan and performance of its batteries by adding electrolyte additives such as lithium salt. Tesla also submitted another patent for using cold plates and heat pipes to reduce heat generated by the battery, thereby increasing the longevity of its energy storage systems.
The latest developments appear to be moving Tesla toward the completion of a 1-million mile battery. In April last year, Musk said that Tesla owners will soon be able to drive their cars for up to 1 million miles over the lifespan of their vehicles. This is equivalent to 20 years if the cells are used for energy storage systems. Tesla lead researcher Jeff Dahn and a team from the Dalhousie University physics and atmospheric science department have also developed pouch cells that can last 1 million miles or 20 years in a grid storage system.
Tesla’s huge lead in the electric vehicle market is due in part to its constant efforts to improve its battery technology. In fact, its batteries have improved so much over the years that the Model S is nearing a range of 400 miles. The published range for the luxury sedan is 373 miles, but Musk said during the earnings call that the actual range is somewhere in the 380s.
“S and X actually have more range than we are currently stating on the website. We just haven’t gotten around to updating the EPA […] number, but the actual range of the Model S and X are above what the website says they are,” he said. “Somewhere in the 380s, something like that.”
He also added that the 18650 lithium-ion cells that power the Model S and X have largely improved over the years, adding that further developments could raise the range of the Model S to 400 miles.
“I think we’re pretty happy with the energy content of the cell and the improvements in the efficiency of the vehicle,” he said. “We’re rapidly approaching a 400-mile range for the Model S, for example.”
Battery Day is expected to be similar to Autonomy Day, which was held in April last year. The event, which was attended by investors and also available via livestream, was a full three-hour technical discussion of Tesla’s work on autonomous driving technology and how the company plans to achieve its goal of delivering fully self-driving cars.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
