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Tesla generated $44.4 million of economic activity for CA every day in 2021: IHS Markit
A recent post from Tesla has outlined a number of key insights about the electric vehicle maker’s footprint in California. While Tesla currently lists Gigafactory Texas as its headquarters, the Golden State will always be the place where the company grew and hit its momentum. And based on a report, Tesla has provided substantial economic activity for California over the past few years, generating $44.4 million of economic activity every day in 2021.
Tesla was founded in San Carlos, California, 20 years ago, and since then, the company has grown into the world’s undeniable leader in electric vehicles and the state’s largest manufacturing employer. As noted by Tesla in its recent post, its California footprint today is comprised of “Megapack production and vehicle castings in Lathrop, hardware and software engineering in Palo Alto, vehicle and battery manufacturing in Fremont, battery development and testing in San Diego and vehicle design in Hawthorne.”

These facilities have had a large impact on California’s employment, wages, gross state product, and taxes. This became particularly notable over the past decade, with Tesla-supported jobs in the state increasing by 40% from 2018 to 2021. Tesla’s 2021 wages also exceeded the state average by 50%, a notable number considering the narrative painted against the company due to its non-unionized workforce.
As per a report from IHS Markit, Tesla’s contributions to the California economy can be summarized in the following section:
Supported an average of 59,440 jobs from 2018 to 2020, rising to 80,484 jobs in 2021
- In 2021, this represented 0.5% of California employment or 1 out of every 208 jobs
- For every 100 direct Tesla jobs, 50 more were supported in the supply chain and 68 by follow-on consumer activity
Stimulated economic activity (sales) of $16.6 billion in 2021 was 40% higher than the 2018 to 2020 average of $11.9 billion
- This was equivalent to generating $44.4 million of economic activity every day in 2021
- Tesla’s direct sales rose from $5.7 billion in 2018 to $7.4 billion in 2021
- Tesla directly spent over $1.6 billion with California suppliers in 2021, which triggered another $900 million in supply chain sales activity
Contributed $10.4 billion or 0.3% of California’s gross state product (GSP) in 2021
- This was 42% higher than Tesla’s 2018 to 2020 average GSP contribution of $7.2 billion.
On average, $1.0 million of Tesla’s revenue in California converts to $1.5 million in GSP
Stimulated an average annual wage of $128.6K in California during 2021
- This was 50% higher than the CA average annual wage of $85.7K
Approximately 30% of the economic contributions were stimulated by the local consumer spending of Tesla and its suppliers’ employees
Generated a total of $1.5 billion in California state & local taxes plus federal $2.5 billion in federal taxes from 2018 through 2021
Last year, Tesla’s economic contributions to California were still impressive, with the company growing its headcount to 47,000 employees in the state. That’s still a significant number, considering that California is no longer the state that hosts the electric vehicle maker’s headquarters. That being said, Tesla executives have noted in the past that despite Tesla’s expansion, the company would continue to grow in California, just as revealed in IHS Markit’s report.
IHS Markit’s report on Tesla’s impact on California’s economy from 2018 to 2021 can be viewed below.
Tesla California Economic Impact Final Report October 2022 by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
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Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.

This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
News
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.
Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.
Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.
Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error.
More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.
Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.
Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.
“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Downdetector reports
Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.
As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.

Previous disruptions
Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.
In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.