Tesla is partnering with electric vehicle charging reliability platform ChargerHelp! to survey the status of various chargers in the company’s Destination Charger Network.
ChargerHelp! is an app-based dispatch and deployment system that helps to resolve issues with downed or inoperable electric vehicle charging stations. The company offers on-demand repairs and maintenance support from local workforces, which can come and service a malfunctioning EV charger in Tesla’s Destination Charger Network.
Tesla’s Destination Charging Network consists of over 35,000 wall connectors at Destination Charging Sites, which include hotels, restaurants, and resorts. They are not as powerful as the Tesla Superchargers as they only offer 22 kW of power. Tesla’s high-powered V3 Supercharger offers 250 kW for comparison.
ChargerHelp! said its partnership with Tesla will start in California as the platform will survey Destination stations to provide critical data points and insights pertaining to the station’s overall performance.
Perhaps the biggest issue facing EV adoption is charger reliability. The issue pushed California Governor Gavin Newsom to write the “EV Charging Reliability Transparency Act,” a bill supported by ChargerHelp!, which could help solve most of the issues with EV charging maintenance. A study from the University of California Berkley that found that only 72.5% of chargers in the Bay Area were operable, despite having lofty plans to eliminate ICE car sales by 2035.
“Trusting that a charging station will work and knowing that if there is an issue it will be fixed in a timely manner is essential to EV drivers and paramount to the success of the industry,” Kameale C. Terry, ChargerHelp! Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, said.
Electric vehicle chargers are widely available and companies are working to expand their presence of piles that can support a variety of cars. Additionally, the United States has funneled billions to expanding the electric vehicle charging infrastructure, looking to build at least 500,000 additional EV chargers in the U.S., thanks to $7.5 billion in funding.
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The White House has also announced over $700 million in private sector commitments for EV charging infrastructure:
- Toyota announced an additional $2.5 billion investment in a Greensboro, North Carolina manufacturing facility.
- Honda and LG Energy Solution announced a $4.4 billion joint venture in a to-be-announced location in the U.S.
- Ford Motor Company announced it will invest $3.7 billion in assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri and create 6200 jobs.
- Panasonic announced a $4 billion plant in De Soto, Kansas that will create 4,000 jobs. Panasonic is also reportedly evaluating a similar investment in an additional new battery factory.
- Vinfast announced a more than $5 billion investment in building electric vehicles and batteries in North Carolina that will create 13,000 jobs.
- Hyundai announced a $5.5 billion investment to build electric vehicles and batteries near Savannah, Georgia
- Through DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, the Department of Energy announced a $2.5 billion loan in July 2022 to General Motors for battery manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan
ChargerHelp! was founded in 2020 and operates at a fixed monthly price per EV charging station, it said.
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Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
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Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
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Elon Musk continues to tease the unveiling event for the Tesla Roadster, a continuing trend that has grown into a bigger game of “When” for fans who have been waiting years for the car to finally enter production.
A video shared on X of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Musk appeared on last year, teasing the Roadster unveiling, was shared once again on the social media platform. The poster said the Roadster event will be “unforgettable.”
Musk agreed:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2026
The timing is interesting because just yesterday, Musk said that we will be getting flying cars, and for years, Tesla has hinted that it could develop a SpaceX cold gas thruster package that would help the car float or fly for a short period of time.
It would be reasonable to assume Tesla’s major delays with this unveiling event are likely caused by the company’s need to break the rules and push the envelope on nearly everything. Last July, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said:
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“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind blowing. We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on and he got a little excited.”
The latest updates that Tesla has given us are that the Roadster is in design development, and it did have several potential dates for an unveiling event this year, including April. It was then pushed to August.
However, there are no clues as to when Tesla will be ready, and fans are certainly getting frustrated with the delays.
For what it is worth, Franz von Holzhausen told Jay Leno this week that the event would be “very soon.”
We sure hope.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s driverless Cybercab just passed a big test with State Governor
Florida’s governor rode Tesla’s Cybercab at a closed test track and called the experience impressive.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rode in a Tesla Cybercab on a closed test track this week and came away impressed, posting on X that the vehicle “successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.” He called the ride “impressive.”
The stop was part of a broader event Monday at SunTrax, a 775 acre state owned proving ground in Auburndale that Florida built specifically to test autonomous and connected vehicles before they reach public roads. Standing next to a gold Cybercab, DeSantis described the car in plain terms: “You go in there and you just sit. You have a screen. There’s no steering wheel, no pedals. Clearly these things could be very beneficial.”
We took a ride on a robotaxi on the Suntrax course and it successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.
Impressive! https://t.co/FVAkzFLz3r
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 11, 2026
DeSantis paired the praise with a caveat that has followed autonomous vehicles since the category existed. “You don’t want to be in an autonomous vehicle and it drives you into a ditch. That would not be good,” he said, framing safety validation as the gate before wider deployment.
SunTrax, the 2.25 mile oval which the state calls the only high speed autonomous vehicle test track in the Southeast, can simulate rain, pedestrian crossings, hills and crowded urban conditions at highway speeds, letting companies push a car past what an early public rollout would risk. Tesla, Waymo and Beep all use the facility, and Florida’s regulatory approach, among the most permissive for autonomous vehicles in the country, doesn’t require a human operator inside a fully autonomous car.
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Tesla has reason to want the blessing of Florida and states beyond, as the Cybercab entered volume production at Gigafactory Texas this spring and has since self certified as SAE Level 4 under Texas law. Public road testing so far has kept a safety monitor in the passenger seat, and Florida is where Tesla has been expanding its existing Model Y based Robotaxi service instead, adding Miami in July and then Orlando and Tampa two weeks later. A closed track endorsement from a sitting governor doesn’t change any of that, but it does put Tesla’s newest hardware in front of a state that has already shown it will move fast on rules.
Tesla launches Powerwall Lease for affordable home backup
Elon Musk teases Tesla Roadster unveiling once again
