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Tesla Energy launches partnership with Australian home goods store

Credit: Tesla

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Tesla has launched a new partnership with a chain of home goods and appliance stores in Australia, with the stores now set to sell and install some of the company’s energy products.

On Tuesday, Tesla’s Australia and New Zealand account posted on X that the Powerwall 3, Wall Connector, and Mobile Connector are now available at select Bunnings Warehouse locations. The announcement comes as the first such partnership to sell Tesla’s Energy products third-party, and just months after the company’s latest home battery was launched in the country.

The Mobile Connector is listed on the Bunnings Warehouse website at $550 AUD (~$358 USD) and the Wall Connector priced at $800 AUD (~$521 USD). The select Bunnings Warehouse locations are also able to perform installations for the users,

In order to buy the Powerwall 3, users must request a quote from Tesla’s website, not including delivery, installation, or additional costs, though the website says it will be priced at roughly $11,900 AUD for one Powerwall, $23,800 AUD for two, or $35,700 AUD for three, with the gateway estimated to cost $1,700 AUD.

Tesla ad shows EV and Powerwall customer saved 94% on electricity bill

Currently, Bunnings says installation for the charging equipment is available at select locations in Victoria and New South Wales, though it’s set to arrive at chain locations across the rest of the Australian states soon, with the exception of the Northern Territory. You can currently see the products on the Bunnings Warehouse website, and the list of initial Victoria and NSW locations where installation is available can be seen below.

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Victoria Bunnings Warehouse sites with Tesla Energy products installation

  • Box Hill Warehouse
  • Epping Warehouse
  • Hoppers Crossing Warehouse

NSW Bunnings Warehouse sites with Tesla Energy products installation

  • Castle Hill Warehouse

Tesla officially launched the next-gen Powerwall 3 in Western Australia in September, following the new product’s debut in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany taking place throughout this year. The Powerwall 3 has several advantages over the Powerwall 2, including that it comes with a built-in solar inverter, along with being able to handle a peak power level of roughly 30kW—or enough to manage a dryer and air conditioner.

The company has also launched its Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program in certain parts of Australia, following launches of similar pilots in the U.S., Japan, and multiple other markets. The program effectively lets those with a Powerwall contribute to a giant, distributed battery using their stored power during times of peak demand, with owners able to sell electricity back to the grid to help stabilize demand generation.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla’s new battery add-on aims to increase capacity, decrease install time

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving displays impressive collision avoidance with semi

A Tesla on Full Self-Driving helped a driver avoid a collision with a semi by anticipating the truck’s movement.

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Credit: @AIDRIVR

Tesla Full Self-Driving has displayed incredible anticipatory measures in the past to avoid collisions from both oncoming cars and vehicles approaching from behind.

In a recent demonstration, the semi-autonomous driving functionality averted disaster as it confused the driver by taking a precautionary measure as an oncoming semi-truck started to drift into its lane. By the end of the occurrence, the driver knew why FSD did what it had done.

Tesla’s FSD Supervised prevented this family from hitting a deer

Full Self-Driving avoids disaster

In a video from X account @AIDRIVR, Full Self-Driving navigated as normal when it started to take an oncoming sharp left-hand curve a tad higher than usual.

Normally, the vehicle would stay in the lane, but this time, it started to drift toward the shoulder after what appeared to be a small reduction in speed.

AIDRIVR said he “wondered why FSD was taking this corner so wide,” but the answer quickly approached him from the other side of the road, proving once again that Tesla’s suite is a few steps ahead of even human drivers at times:

A semi-truck in the oncoming lane started to drift over the center line through this sharp turn.

With these large vehicles, these curves can sometimes prove to be better handled by taking the turn a tad wider, which means the large commercial vehicle will start to approach the middle yellow lines.

However, this is much to the chagrin of other drivers and can be a major inconvenience and safety hazard.

Full Self-Driving continues to show instances where it is predicting and anticipating the behaviors and actions of other drivers, keeping occupants in the Tesla safe by using certain tactics to avoid collisions.

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms Robotaxi will come to Saudi Arabia

Tesla Robotaxi will be in Saudi Arabia one day, Elon Musk confirms.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed during the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum on Tuesday that the company’s Robotaxi platform would eventually land in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, essentially confirming the intention to grow a driverless fleet of vehicles outside of the United States.

This is the first time Musk has specifically confirmed Tesla’s intention to expand into Saudi Arabia, although based on the company’s plans, a global expansion is more expected than a confined Robotaxi platform that is limited to only the West.

Musk confirmed during the Investment Forum, where the U.S. agreed with the Saudis to a $600 billion investment pledge, that Robotaxi would eventually expand to the country. The CEO did not mention a specific timeframe, but Tesla is set to launch the Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas, in June.

“Really, you can think of cars, or future cars, as being robots on four wheels. I think it will be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the Kingdom, if you’re amenable.”

As Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite is still supervised, it is expanding to other parts of the globe. Earlier this year, it made its way to China for the first time ever, with many giving rave reviews of the driver assistance platform.

Tesla plans to expand to Europe later this year, but the company is still awaiting regulatory approval from EU agencies, something that will likely take some time to complete.

The big takeaway is that the Robotaxi platform is not confined to a single model, like the Cybercab. Instead, Robotaxi could be any Tesla vehicle, as long as it is capable of unsupervised Full Self-Driving. This is something that will require Tesla to work with local authorities to first launch a Supervised version of the suite, which could then expand to the unsupervised FSD platform, enabling a Robotaxi network in the country.

Nevertheless, Tesla’s relationship with the Middle East seems to be good. The company recently launched the Cybertruck in Saudi Arabia, enabling customer orders just last month.

Tesla confirms Cybertruck will make its way out of North America this year

Additionally, Musk’s Starlink was recently given approval for both maritime and aviation use cases, expanding the relationship between the country and the CEO. This was also confirmed during the Investment Forum today.

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Tesla is building Cortex 2.0 supercomputer facility in Giga Texas

The site was listed as the Central Campus Support facility, but recently, the filings have been updated as Cortex 2.0.

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Credit: @JoeTegtmeyer/X

Tesla may already have a supercomputer cluster in the Giga Texas complex, but it seems like the electric vehicle maker is not done with its supercomputer plans just yet. Based on images taken of the Giga Texas complex recently, it appears that work is now underway to construct a new facility for Cortex 2.0, a companion to the site’s existing Cortex supercluster.

New Giga Texas Facilities

As per longtime Tesla Gigafactory Texas watcher Joe Tegtmeyer, Tesla has been constructing a facility on the North side of the complex for a few months now. Initially, the site was listed as the Central Campus Support facility, but recently, the filings have been updated as Cortex 2.0. So far, work is underway for the Cortex 2.0 building shell, though permits have already been filed for other parts of the upcoming facility.

The speed of the buildout for the Cortex 2.0 facility is rapid, with the drone operator estimating that the location may be operational as early as late this year. It would also not be surprising if Tesla ends up ramping its activities at Gigafactory Texas’ Cortex 2.0 supercomputer cluster sometime next year.

FSD Training and Beyond

Tesla’s heavy investments in its supercomputer clusters are expected to help the company develop and refine its self-driving system, which is currently deployed in non-autonomous form as Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised. Tesla is expected to launch a robotaxi service in Austin in a few weeks, though these vehicles are expected to use FSD Unsupervised, which would be fully autonomous.

Apart from FSD, Tesla’s Optimus program will likely require a substantial amount of computing power as well. Elon Musk has stated that Tesla should be able to build its first “legion” of Optimus robots this year, with production ramping next year. Considering these ambitious timelines, perhaps Giga Texas’ Cortex 2.0 facility would be fully busy as soon as it becomes operational.

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Check out a recent drone flyover of the Giga Texas complex in the video below.

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