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Tesla combats Uber, Lyft congestion in New York City with Supercharger Congestion Fees

Credit: TeslaShill | X

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Tesla is combatting Uber and Lyft congestion at its Superchargers in New York City with Supercharger fees after the ride-sharing services have backed up EV chargers.

This week, it appears the Superchargers are more congested than normal, and it could be due to the influx of Uber and Lyft vehicles at locations in Brooklyn and Queens.

Tesla has sent this message to drivers in the area, indicating that Active Supercharger Congestion Fees will be applied:

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“Idle fees have been replaced by congestion fees at select Superchargers near you. Congestion fees accrue when your Supercharger is busy and your vehicle’s battery is above a certain level. This change helps reduce wait times and ensures that everyone has access to Superchargers when they need it.

Congestion fees apply when:

  • Supercharger is busy
  • Your vehicle’s charge is above the congestion fee charge level

View congestion fees and charge levels at which they apply on your touchscreen.”

The number of Lyft and Uber vehicles that applied for licenses through the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) was well over 9,000 units last year, and several NYC Councilmembers warned that this could cause congestion.

The TLC eliminated the cap on for-hire drivers as long as the vehicles are electric or handicap accessible, but there are now so many in the city that it is causing issues.

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On top of this, there are only so many charging stations in the City, and several are operated by Revel, the ride-sharing service that fought the TLC for more for-hire licenses several years ago.

Tesla Model 3 wins hearts as famed NYC Taxi, picks up where Nissan Leaf couldn’t

As for congestion fees, Tesla launched them last year in an attempt to keep Supercharger lines moving when certain locations are congested.

Code from Tesla hacker green stated that the congestion fees would apply when vehicles are charging over 80 percent.

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Potential Solutions

The big issue and core problem is that there are a lot of EV drivers in New York, but the infrastructure just has not gotten to a point where it can routinely handle an influx of cars that need a charge.

Revel has been expanding its network of EV chargers throughout New York City and plans to open more stations this year.

Spokesperson Robert Familiar told us:

“Revel’s public fast-charging Superhubs have seen about four times more public utilization in the last two months, which we see as a direct outcome of the Green Rides initiative. We’re anticipating an even greater uptick as more drivers look to skip long lines and hidden fees by charging at our higher-volume Superhubs.”

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The 2018 Green Rides initiative has been great for EV adoption, but it surged demand so much that it generally outpaced infrastructure availability.

Jason Kersten, the Press Secretary of the NYC TLC, told me that there will be growing pains until the City is able to build out the appropriate amount of infrastructure. EVs are obviously a great thing for New York, and we talked in detail about the transitional phase that the City will go through over the next 11 years as it gears up for a 100 percent zero-emissions fleet.

TLC Commissioner David Do believes infrastructure will need to catch up as drivers under the Commission jumped at the opportunity to own EVs last year:

“In October, we gave TLC drivers the option of owning their own EV plates instead of continuing to lease gas-powered vehicles, and many of them jumped at it. They’re now hitting the road, leading the charge towards a cleaner and more sustainable city and sending a very clear message: We need more charging infrastructure. We’re doing everything we can to meet that demand as quickly as possible. That includes the city’s commitment to install 13 fast charging hubs in municipal parking facilities citywide, a new Bronx charging depot, and 30 fast chargers at TLC’s Woodside inspection facility.”

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88 percent of the 9,756 applications the TLC received between October 18 and November 13 were from individual drivers, not companies. The TLC has, so far, approved 4,732 and continues to process applications.

The TLC and the City of New York have worked together to increase charging infrastructure moving forward. The efforts have resulted in $15 million in federal funding for a charging depot in the Bronx, 30 fast-chargers at the TLC’s Woodside inspection facility, and 13 municipal parking facilities citywide, among other things.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration

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Tesla has evidently revealed which of its vehicle models will be the first to receive Starlink integration: the Cybercab.

Tesla’s Santana Row showroom now has a full-fledged display of the Cybercab, with an extensive bit of information hung around an exhibit that seems to reveal the vehicle’s newest feature: an integrated Starlink antenna that will enable secure and reliable internet access during trips.

Credit: @Starscream_SJC | X

Cybercab is geared toward autonomous ride-hailing for one or two passengers. The production units rolling off the lines at Gigafactory Texas are built without steering wheels or pedals, meaning when public rides begin, passengers will not need to interact with a human being or control the vehicle in any way outside of what appears on the center screen for their entertainment during the ride.

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Along the display, Tesla wrote this message about Cybercab:

“Cybercab is built for autonomy. It has no steering wheel, no side mirrors, and no pedals. It goes where you tell it to go and how you want it to, so you can relax along the way. It is hyper aware and responsive to your surroundings, monitoring other drivers, responding to emergency vehicles, utilizing its expertise in the rarest scenarios to help keep you safe.”

Tesla has been teasing a potential Starlink integration for quite some time now. In December, the company hinted at potential Starlink internet terminal integration within its vehicles in a patent that described a vehicle roof assembly with integrated radio frequency (RF) transparency.

Tesla hints at Starlink integration with recent patent

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The company wrote in its patent application that a new roof design built with materials that differ from the standard metallic or glass elements used in today’s cars would allow it to integrate modern vehicular technologies, in particular, ones that require radio frequency transmission and reception.

Tesla suggested high-strength polymer blends, like Polycarbonate, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate.

This is the first time we’ve seen Tesla officially confirm the Starlink integration into the Cybercab. It’s not much of a surprise considering the company’s intention behind the Cybercab, which is to make travel autonomous.

Productivity will now be at a maximum during a work-related commute, while the center screen could be utilized for Netflix or potentially even live TV for those who are heading to dinner or to a fun activity.

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SpaceX adjusts Starship Flight 13 test launch target date once again

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has updated its target for the thirteenth integrated flight test of Starship, aiming for as early as Thursday, July 23. The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas.

The target flight was initially rescheduled for today, but SpaceX pushed it back again.

This latest adjustment follows an aborted attempt earlier in the week and reflects the iterative, rapid-development approach that has defined the Starship program. With the vehicle already stacked and ground teams making final preparations, the mission represents another step toward proving the full reusability of the world’s most powerful rocket system.

The original launch attempt on July 16 was scrubbed at T-0 when several Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite properly. The automatic abort system triggered just as the engines began their startup sequence, preventing liftoff.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that some engines did not start as expected, prompting the decision to replace two Raptors on Booster 20 to ensure reliability. The issue occurred despite a successful full-duration static fire earlier, highlighting the complexities of coordinating 33 engines under flight conditions.

This cautious approach underscores SpaceX’s commitment to safety amid an aggressive test cadence.

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SpaceX comes with a slew of changes for Starship Flight 13

Flight 13 builds directly on the lessons from Flight 12 in May 2026. The Super Heavy booster’s primary goals include a successful liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and controlled splashdown in the Gulf of America.

Hardware and software modifications address the off-nominal flip and boostback burn problems from the prior flight, where propellant slosh and engine relight issues led to an uncontrolled impact.

For the Starship upper stage, objectives include deploying 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites, the first real payload of this type, performing a single Raptor engine relight in space, and executing a controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Propulsion upgrades aim to improve engine-out capability after one vacuum Raptor was lost on Flight 12.

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Additional test elements focus on heat shield performance. Six satellites carry cameras to image the tiles during flight, while white-painted tiles and upgraded attachments on flaps and the aft skirt will gather data for future reusability.

The FAA completed its mishap investigation into Flight 12 earlier this month, clearing the regulatory path.

This suborbital mission, the second with V3 vehicles, advances Starship toward operational missions, including potential crewed flights and support for NASA’s Artemis program. Success would mark significant progress in rapid reusability and satellite deployment from the massive system.

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Elon Musk debunks $52 billion SpaceX-NVIDIA GPU deal

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Credit: SpaceX

Elon Musk dismissed reports claiming SpaceX had placed a massive order for NVIDIA GPUs worth $52 billion. The denial came hours after Taiwanese media, citing unnamed industry sources, reported that SpaceX planned to acquire approximately 13,000 AI server racks, equating to roughly 1 million GB300 GPUs, from Foxconn.

Each rack was estimated at around $4 million, with deliveries potentially starting in late 2025.

The story suggested this would mark SpaceX’s first major foray into Foxconn-manufactured NVIDIA hardware, breaking from suppliers like Supermicro and Dell. Musk responded bluntly on X:

Despite the denial, the rumored scale aligns with SpaceX’s explosive growth in AI infrastructure. NVIDIA’s GB300 (successor to the GB200 NVL) racks deliver unprecedented performance for large-scale training and inference. A $52 billion commitment would dwarf most corporate AI budgets and provide the compute muscle needed for frontier models.

SpaceX already operates gigawatt-scale terrestrial clusters like Colossus in Memphis, Tennessee, and has monetized them aggressively through leasing deals.

SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete

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Major customers include Anthropic (paying ~$1.25 billion monthly for 220,000+ GPUs), Google (~$920 million monthly for 110,000 GPUs), and Reflection AI. These arrangements are projected to generate tens of billions in annual revenue, far outpacing traditional SpaceX businesses.

Such an investment would fuel internal AI efforts, particularly Grok models under the integrated SpaceXAI division, while supporting ambitious orbital data center plans. SpaceX envisions launching thousands of AI-optimized satellites powered by solar energy and cooled in space, bypassing terrestrial power and land constraints.

This “Starmind” constellation could position the company as a leader in space-based computing.

SpaceX as an Emerging AI Powerhouse

Once primarily known for reusable rockets and Starlink satellite internet, SpaceX has transformed into a multifaceted AI player.

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The 2026 acquisition of xAI integrated Grok development directly into the company. Starlink’s low-latency global network complements massive compute clusters, enabling efficient data flow for training and serving AI models.

Musk has long argued that AI scaling demands solutions beyond Earth, citing things like real estate and electricity limits on the ground.

While the Foxconn deal may not be in the cards, SpaceX’s trajectory is continuing on the path of blending aerospace engineering with hyperscale AI to dominate both launches and intelligence infrastructure.

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