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Tesla ‘a disproportional beneficiary’ of China’s incoming green tidal wave: Dan Ives
Tesla is set to be “a disproportional beneficiary” of China’s growing adoption of electric vehicles and sustainable energy, according to Wedbush analyst and Tesla bull Dan Ives.
After navigating through a difficult few months in China, where Tesla combated unfair PR on several occasions that brought the safety of the company vehicles into question, Ives now believes that the automaker can now focus on expanding on its already solid foundation in the region. The Chinese market has been an exceptionally potent location for electric vehicle makers, becoming a main focus of several OEMs that are working to transition toward electrification. Tesla, while being a mainstay in China’s EV sales leaderboard for over a year, is primed to benefit from the market’s evergrowing love affair with the electric vehicle, continuing a monumental climb toward automotive legacy in the world’s largest car market.
Despite falsified reports of faulty braking systems on several occasions, Tesla has managed to be one of the best-selling EV manufacturers in China. In Q2, Tesla sold over 53,000 cars in China, capped off by an impressive 28,138 cars in the domestic market in June. The strong performance was fueled by demand for the Model 3 and Model Y, the two cars that Tesla manufactures in China at the Giga Shanghai production facility.
Although Tesla’s Q2 was a strong one, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Silicon Valley-based electric car company. As previously mentioned, Tesla battled several claims of brake failures in its vehicles. The initial occurrence of this was at the Shanghai Auto Show, where the Tesla booth was infiltrated by a woman who claimed faulty brakes caused a dangerous accident. Tesla navigated through this scandal, along with several others by continuously debunking these claims. The company eventually set up a Special Handling Team to handle these issues, and also threatened legal action for those who were attempting to gain notoriety or money through false claims.
Ives acknowledges Tesla’s bumpy and tumultuous road in China in Q2, but the performance, which is indicated through the strong sales figures during the PR nightmare, essentially proves the company is ready to move on to even more robust sales figures. “We believe Tesla have navigated the safety/PR issues better than expected, and are now in a position to accelerate market share in this key region,” Ives wrote.
In May, Ives also wrote that Tesla, along with other manufacturers like NIO, Xpeng, and Li Auto, would all benefit from an increasing EV market share in China. Ives wrote in the May note that only 5% of total automotive sales in China were EVs and that the next two years would result in a doubling of this market concentration of electrified models.
While China was bumpy during the quarter we believe Tesla have navigated the safety/PR issues better than expected and are now in a position to accelerate market share in this key region. We believe the green tidal wave is on the horizon with Tesla a disproportional beneficiary.
— Daniel Ives (@DivesTech) July 21, 2021
In short, the benefits of a more supported EV market in China are going to fuel many automakers, but Tesla seems to be the one that Ives is putting his money on. This is mostly because of the fact that bad press really didn’t affect sales figures, and Tesla continues to perform in one of the most heavily concentrated EV markets globally.
Ives is ranked 43rd out of 7,591 analysts on TipRanks.com. He has a success rate of 74% and an average return of 35.3%.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
SpaceX has announced a new target date for the thirteenth test flight of Starship: Monday, July 20, with the launch window opening at 6:45 p.m ET/5:45 p.m. CT.
This is the first rescheduling attempt of Starship’s 13th test flight. It was set to launch last night, but SpaceX scrubbed the launch attempt.
🚨 SpaceX is now looking at Monday, July 20th at 6:45 p.m ET/5:45 p.m. CT for the 13th test flight of Starship pic.twitter.com/7s8aMJV5Ge
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 17, 2026
CEO Elon Musk revealed that some of the engines on Starship did not start, which automatically triggers a launch abort. Two of the Raptor engines will be removed and replaced.
To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2026
SpaceX officially announced the new launch window this morning.
Starship’s 13th test launch comes with a few new objectives, but SpaceX does not plan to attempt a catch of the booster, which it has done several times in the past.
For Starship’s Upper Stage, there are some adjustments to ensure engine reusability that will be assessed during the ascent, and 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites are also set to make their way into space. SpaceX also plans to attempt an in-space relight of a single Raptor engine, which is a critical demonstration for future orbital deorbit, refueling, and deep space maneuvers.
Ultimately, it will splash down in the Indian Ocean.
The continuous tests help SpaceX advance the Starship program toward eventual full reusability, operational Starlink V3 deployment, and future missions, which include NASA’s Artemis program.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Elon Musk flew under the radar with his recent purchase of a $1 billion energy company, according to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) documents.
Transaction number 202612350 listed Tesla and SpaceX frontman Elon Musk as the acquiring party and CF APR Super Holdings LLC as the seller, with New APR Energy, LLC as the acquired entity. The deal, which closed without public announcement, came to light on May 14.
BREAKING: Elon Musk acquires Jacksonville power company APR Energy in a deal valued at more than $1,000,000,000.00.
— Polymarket Money (@PolymarketMoney) July 15, 2026
Analysts inferred the deal’s scale from minority stakeholder disclosures, including one report of a 5 percent interest sold for approximately $50.4 million. Fortress Investment Group had purchased APR’s assets in late 2024, rebranded the operation as New APR Energy, and subsequently transferred ownership to Musk.
APR Energy specializes in rapidly deployable power infrastructure. The company maintains one of the world’s largest fleets of mobile gas and diesel turbines, with more than 1.1 gigawatts of generation capacity. Its modular units, which are often trailer-mounted, enable turnkey installations ranging from 20 MW to over 500 MW.
APR provides full engineering, procurement, construction, operation, and maintenance services for behind-the-meter power plants, serving everything from data centers, utilities, and industrial clients.
The firm has expanded aggressively to meet surging demand, recently adding turbines and deploying over 100 MW for a major AI hyperscaler. Its solutions bridge critical gaps where grid interconnections face delays of two to five years, according to Yahoo.
The acquisition means something more for Musk. As he continues to expand projects in artificial intelligence, especially xAI, his AI venture, there is a greater need to supply energy-intensive supercomputing clusters, including the Colossus project, with what they need: reliable and high-capacity power.
Ownership of APR provides immediate access to flexible generation assets that can be deployed adjacent to data centers, reducing dependence on a strained infrastructure. It also complements Tesla’s energy storage business, so Musk will be able to pull from his own entities to address the rapid scaling demands of AI training and compute.
SpaceX announces new Starship 13 test flight target date
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
