Tesla’s Battery Day is coming tomorrow after the electric car maker’s 2020 Annual Shareholder Meeting. During the event, Tesla is expected to discuss the details of its next-generation battery cells, as well as their role in the world’s acceleration in sustainable energy. Actual details about Battery Day have been pretty scarce save for a few potential leaks, but that has not stopped the Tesla community from speculating about what the highly-anticipated event would involve.
A concise summary of the current expectations for Battery Day was recently shared by Tesla Daily’s Rob Maurer, who compiled a list of topics that the electric car maker could cover during the event. Following then is a list of expectations about what Tesla could discuss tomorrow, as the company finally shows the world what it has been working on with regards to its battery technology.
A New Cell Design
Tesla has been teasing that it would be going into the production of battery cells. So far, leaks suggest that the company is about to adopt a larger form factor for its batteries, similar to how Tesla introduced the 2170 cells for the Model 3, which were larger than the 18650 cells used in the Model S and Model X. Leaks have pointed to Tesla’s new cells possibly adopting a 54×98 form factor, which has about 10x the volume of a 2170 cell.
With larger form factors, the electrons and the ions travel larger distances as they move around in the cell, generating more friction and heat. This is a huge downside to larger cells, but Tesla’s tabless battery patent may hold the key to solving this issue. With a tabless battery cell design, the distance traveled by electrons and ions is largely reduced, limiting the disadvantages inherent among large cells. Such a design has several advantages, including better energy density and a more efficient manufacturing process.
Battery Chemistry
Speculations are abounding that Tesla may discuss the amount of silicon that it is using in the anode of its next-generation cells. The more silicon that is used, the better the energy density. However, the utilization of silicon usually results in cracked anodes over time, reducing battery performance and life. Introducing more silicon into the anode is something that battery researchers have been attempting to accomplish for a while now, so it would be quite interesting if the electric car maker would announce some headway into its silicon use as well.
Tesla may also discuss Maxwell’s technology and how it is being used for the company’s electric cars and energy storage devices. Maxwell has developed numerous innovations prior to its acquisition by Tesla, though the most relevant part of the company’s work in relation to the electric car maker is arguably its dry battery electrode tech. Considering that traditional lithium-ion batteries produce their electrodes in a wet slurry format (a rather lengthy process), dry electrode technology could vastly improve not only the energy density of Tesla’s cells, they could improve the production output of the batteries themselves as well.
Cell-to-Pack Innovations
Tesla’s battery packs today feature cells that are packed into modules that are then packed into a battery pack. Back in the days of the original Roadster, battery modules were used as a means for the company to take out parts of the battery that may need to be replaced without taking out the entire pack. That was 12 years ago, however, and much has happened since then. Tesla has transitioned from a budding niche electric car maker to the manufacturer of the market’s best-selling EVs.
As Elon Musk noted in the past, battery modules today are pretty much just an extra step, taking up weight without really serving a legitimate purpose. Musk then stated that the future is cell to pack without modules, suggesting that the company’s next-generation batteries will be using a cell-to-pack design. Such an innovation gives numerous benefits to Tesla, from lower production costs to possibly even better energy density.
Battery Manufacturing and the Roadrunner Line
Elon Musk has always been pretty transparent about Tesla’s mission, which is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. Having enough batteries to enable such a transition is key to this goal. With this in mind, the potential innovations that Tesla will be discussing in Battery Day — a larger form factor that would allow the company to produce fewer cells to get the same amount of energy; a tabless cell design that could make production easier; dry electrode tech that could greatly increase the production capacity density of each battery; and a cell-to-pack design that should allow the production of batteries with less equipment at less cost — could ultimately pave the way for electric vehicles and energy storage products that are significantly better than the industry standard today.
The Roadrunner project in Fremont is expected to be a central component of Tesla’s battery manufacturing plans, with attendees to the event being shown just how fast the company could produce its battery cells using its in-house production process. Elon Musk seems to be hyping the Roadrunner line recently on Twitter as well, when he made references to a game called “Factorio,” which happens to be a title focused on growing and maintaining advanced, efficient factories.
The Million-Mile Battery
The million-mile battery has been heavily speculated for Battery Day. Tesla’s electric cars are already capable of lasting long despite heavy use, but with batteries and powertrains that could last a million miles, the company could create a generation of vehicles that are designed to be always operational for an extended period of time. Million-mile batteries are then crucial for Tesla’s plans to roll out a Robotaxi service, which involves vehicles traveling long distances every year.
The Plaid Powertrain
With Tesla’s battery innovations in mind, speculations are high that the company would unveil its first vehicles that would carry its next-generation cells on Battery Day. Among Tesla’s ongoing projects, the Roadrunner cells seem to be a perfect match for cars like the Plaid Model S, Plaid Model X, and next-generation Roadster. All three vehicles have been confirmed by Elon Musk to feature the company’s upcoming “Plaid Powertrain,” which is something that has been heavily teased for some time now. Interestingly enough, updates on Tesla’s Plaid vehicles have been pretty scarce lately, making an announcement on Battery Day somewhat likely.
Watch Rob Maurer’s full Tesla Battery Day predictions in the video below.
Tesla has stunned by gaining yet another approval for its Full Self-Driving suite in Europe, its second in two days and its fifth overall.
Belgium will be the latest country to allow Tesla owners to utilize FSD on public roads in Europe, joining a quickly growing list that started with the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Estonia.
On Tuesday, Denmark announced its approval of the FSD suite, which has now been followed by Belgium just one day later.
The country’s Minister of Mobility, Annick De Ridder, announced the approval on her X account, stating that she had just signed the approval of Tesla FSD. It now goes to the country’s homologation department for the last step of the approval process.
De @Tesla community houdt hier al geruime tijd de vinger aan de pols over de toelating voor de FSD-technologie op onze Vlaamse en Belgische wegen.
Uit waardering voor jullie niet-aflatende interesse (en aanmoediging 😉), krijgen jullie hierbij de primeur: ik heb net de toelating… pic.twitter.com/Yrps4OHTj8— Annick De Ridder (@AnnickDeRidder) June 10, 2026
The Belgian approval is one of mighty importance because it truly shows how quickly countries in Europe could greenlight the FSD suite consecutively. Approvals are already coming in relatively quickly, which is a great sign.
Perhaps the next big development that could come from FSD approvals in Europe is an approval from a country like England, Italy, France, Spain, or Germany. It would be something to see how FSD would perform in a major European metro, such as London, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Rome, or Berlin.
Getting Full Self-Driving in Spain and England will be such huge milestones for Tesla. I am so excited to see how FSD performs in Madrid, Barcelona, and London, specifically.
The ultimate test will always be Mumbai or New Delhi. Excited for India’s eventual approval! https://t.co/paw9Ch1qmL pic.twitter.com/9RdDERVSSJ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 9, 2026
Full Self-Driving does an excellent job of roaming around major U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles, but other high-profile international cities of significance would truly mark a line in the sand for Tesla, which can simply enable any vehicle in its customer-owned fleet to run FSD with the correct approvals.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently confronted worries about orbital data centers and launching satellites in mass quantities in space, as some voiced concerns about crowding.
Musk’s SpaceX plans to combat the issue of needing data centers by launching them into space instead of taking up valuable real estate on Earth. It has been a major point of SpaceX’s future, including its looming IPO, which could be the largest ever.
In a recent interview filmed at SpaceX’s Starlink terminal factory in Bastrop, Texas, Elon Musk directly addressed concerns that deploying large numbers of AI satellites for orbital data centers could crowd Earth’s orbit. His message was straightforward and reassuring: space is vast beyond human intuition.
“Space is really big,” Musk said. “It’s not like space is gonna get crowded. Space is enormous. If you actually look at it relative to the Earth, the satellites are so tiny you can’t even see them.” He emphasized that even zooming in makes a satellite appear large, but from a planetary perspective, they are minuscule specks.
Elon on concerns that AI satellites will crowd space:
“Space is really big. It’s not like space is gonna get crowded. Space is enormous. If you actually look at it relative to the earth, the satellites are so tiny you can’t even see them.” https://t.co/Mvr7NpL25Q pic.twitter.com/5Fi629Rii7
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 8, 2026
Musk pointed to SpaceX’s real-world experience operating roughly 10,000 Starlink satellites as evidence that large constellations can be managed safely. “We’ve got a pretty good idea of how to operate just really large constellations and do it safely,” he noted. SpaceX remains the only operator with meaningful experience at this scale, giving the company unique insight into tight orbital packing without compromising safety
The discussion highlighted SpaceX’s plans for “AI1” satellites—essentially orbiting racks of AI compute powered by massive solar arrays and cooled via radiative panels in space’s vacuum.
These satellites leverage proven Starlink V3 technology, making them simpler to design than communications satellites. A first-generation unit targets around 150 kW peak power, with a 70-meter wingspan for solar panels and radiators. Laser links will connect them to each other and the Starlink network, delivering low-latency access (on the order of a few milliseconds from low-Earth orbit).
FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan
Musk framed orbital data centers as a practical solution to Earth’s constraints on AI growth. Ground-based facilities face power shortages, water demands for cooling, and grid limitations. In space, constant sunlight (no day-night cycle), vacuum radiative cooling, and abundant solar energy offer clear advantages.
Production will ramp up at an expanded “Gigasat” factory in Bastrop, with solar manufacturing already underway and full AI satellite output expected at reasonable volume by the end of 2027. Starship’s rapid, high-volume launch capability, aiming for multiple flights per hour, will make massive deployment feasible.
Critics sometimes raise risks like space debris or Kessler syndrome, but Musk’s response underscores scale: even a million satellites would represent an imperceptible fraction of available orbital volume when viewed against Earth’s size. SpaceX’s automated collision avoidance and deorbiting designs for Starlink further mitigate concerns.
This vision ties into broader ambitions. Musk sees orbital AI compute as a step toward harnessing more of the Sun’s energy, advancing humanity on the Kardashev scale from a Type 0 civilization toward Type 1 and eventually Type 2. By moving power-hungry data centers off-planet, SpaceX aims to unlock orders-of-magnitude more compute while preserving Earth’s resources.
Musk’s comments should ease public anxiety. With proven operational expertise, incremental engineering, and the immensity of space itself, orbital data centers represent not overcrowding, but smart expansion into the final frontier.
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is currently listed as a Level 2 suite in terms of its passenger cars. As its Robotaxi platform continues to move quickly, it has been recognized as a Level 4 ride-sharing program by the State of Texas, as Tesla recently self-certified itself.
However, a Wall Street analyst is arguing that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has effectively achieved Level 4 autonomy in most conditions in all of its vehicles, drawing on personal experience and data released by the company.
Alex Potter of Piper Sandler said in a note to investors on Wednesday that “Tesla has solved the self-driving puzzle,” pointing to decisions to offer insurance discounts for FSD-enabled policies as a signal of confidence, which is backed up by stellar safety records compared to human driving.
Investing.com initially reported on Potter’s new note.
Additionally, Potter looks at the recent start of Cybercab production at Giga Texas as a potential indication that Tesla is ready to offer some level of unsupervised driving at least in the near future. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, completely eliminating the ability for human input.
He also sees Tesla’s allocation of “several hundred million USD (if not $1B+)” as confidence internally, seeing as it would be tough to set aside that amount of capital toward a project that the company does not see as relatively near-term.
Forward thinking, especially as Cybercab has no human controls, it would make sense that Tesla is at least close to self-driving. How close is another question.
Tesla has routinely teased that unsupervised FSD is close, but there are still a lot of things it feels as if the company has to roll out some more capability, including unsupervised parking features, known as “Banish,” better operation with regional self-driving performance, and other improvements.
That is not to say that Tesla FSD is super impressive already. It has already completed coast-to-coast drives across the United States and Canada, it routinely takes the stress out of driving for most people, and it has proven through Tesla Safety Reports that it is safer and involved in accidents less frequently than humans.
🚨 These are the first-ever FSD safety statistics out of the Netherlands, showing it was over 3.5x safer than human driving on Dutch roads.
The most recent numbers out of Tesla for North America show:
-Over 5.5 million miles between accidents for Teslas using FSD
-660k miles… https://t.co/XKlRzgSGEh pic.twitter.com/HX6kzh0ZKc— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 9, 2026
Even Potter believes it is capable, as he used it to go from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in April.
“There’s no substitute for personal experience,” he wrote.
Tesla stuns with another FSD approval in Europe, its second in two days
SpaceX’s Elon Musk relieves worries about orbital data centers
