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Tesla Energy completes over 500K solar panel and Solar Roof installations

Tesla/Twitter

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Tesla has confirmed that its energy division has completed more than 500,000 solar panel and Solar Roof installations, which was equal to about 4 GW of clean energy. The milestone was announced in a post on Tesla’s official Twitter account. 

The update bodes well for Tesla’s solar installations, as it suggests that Tesla Energy is growing, albeit at a deliberate pace. Tesla Energy has been described by Elon Musk as a business that can be larger than the company’s EV division. Despite this, Tesla Energy — particularly its solar division — is yet to see a notable ramp. 

This is not to say that Tesla Energy has become stagnant, as the division accomplished a number of milestones this year. In Tesla’s Q2 2022 Update Letter, the electric vehicle maker noted that solar deployments increased during the quarter to 106 MW. This number, however, got reduced to 94 MW in Q3 2022, though this still represented a 13% year-over-year increase. 

Apart from Tesla’s solar products, Tesla Energy also offers battery storage solutions for both residential and commercial customers. Tesla’s battery for homes, the Powerwall, has become a key component of the company’s projects like the California virtual power plant, which was tapped to support the grid during several events this year. In Texas, the company has launched Tesla Electric, which also uses Powerwall batteries and solar. 

“Solar and Powerwall can help you and your community accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. With Tesla Electric, your Powerwall automatically decides when to charge and when to sell electricity to the grid. Together with other Tesla Electric members, you can maximize the value of your solar energy while using your Powerwall storage to add more renewable electricity to the grid. You can also achieve your own sustainability goals when importing electricity from the grid, as Tesla Electric offsets your usage with energy from 100 percent renewable sources,” Tesla wrote. 

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What’s particularly interesting is that Tesla’s solar products are still far from reaching their true potential. The Solar Roof alone is still in its initial phases despite being released years ago. Thus, it is yet to see a notable ramp in production and installations. This is quite unfortunate, as the Solar Roof is a product that Elon Musk believes could truly make a difference in the residential sustainable energy market. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla FSD V14 gets tentative release date

The update will feature a 10X higher parameter count, among other improvements.

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Credit: Whole Mars Catalog/YouTube

Tesla is not releasing Unsupervised FSD to regular customers yet, but the company seems to be preparing something special for its FSD users nonetheless. 

This was, at least, according to Elon Musk in a recent post on X.

Tesla FSD V14

Tesla’s FSD program has been deemed by Elon Musk as one of the key factors that would determine the company’s long term success. Over the past months, however, Tesla has mostly been focusing on the rollout and ramp of its Robotaxi program in Austin and the Bay Area. Tesla’s Robotaxi service uses Unsupervised FSD, which is not yet released to customers.

However, in a post on X, Musk stated that Tesla is preparing its next big update for its consumer-grade FSD system—V14. Musk did not provide a lot of details about FSD V14’s capabilities, but the CEO did state that the update will feature a 10X higher parameter count, among other improvements.

“The FSD release in about 6 weeks will be a dramatic gain with a 10X higher parameter count and many other improvements. It’s going through training & testing now. Once we confirm real-world safety of FSD 14, which we think will be amazing, the car will nag you much less,” Musk wrote in his post.

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Tesla Unsupervised FSD Rollout

During the second quarter earnings call, Tesla executives were asked for a timeline on the rollout of Unsupervised FSD to consumer vehicles. In his reply, Musk stated that he believes Unsupervised FSD will be available for consumers in certain geographies. He did explain that Tesla will be extra careful with the system’s release. 

“We are getting there. I think it will be available for unsupervised personal use by the end of this year in certain geographies. We are just being very careful about it. This is not something we should rush,” Musk said, adding that “I am confident that by this year, within a number of cities in the US, it will be available to end users.

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Elon Musk reaffirms Tesla Semi mass production in 2026

The Tesla Semi factory near Giga Nevada is expected to be capable of producing 50,000 units of the Class 8 all-electric truck per year.

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Credit: Tesla Semi/X

Elon Musk has reaffirmed the Tesla Semi’s mass production date. He mentioned the update in a post on social media platform X during the weekend.

Tesla Semi Factory

The Tesla Semi was initially unveiled in late 2017, and its first deliveries were held in December 2022. Since then, Tesla has only been delivering the Semi to a handful of customers while it builds a dedicated factory for the Class 8 all-electric truck near its Giga Nevada facility.

Drone flyovers of the Tesla Semi factory over the past months have suggested that progress in the construction of the facility has been steady. More recent flyovers have even suggested that Tesla is now busy outfitting the facility with the necessary equipment for the mass production of the Semi.

Elon Musk’s Recent Comments

In a recent comment on X, Elon Musk reiterated the idea that the Semi was indeed expected to be mass produced in 2026. Musk shared his update as a response to a Tesla bull who recalled that Bill Gates did not believe that the Semi was feasible due to the limitations of battery technology. In his response, Musk posted a laughing emoji together with “Tesla Semi will be in volume production next year.” 

The Tesla Semi factory near Giga Nevada is expected to be capable of producing 50,000 units of the Class 8 all-electric truck per year. While this number may not be attained by the facility right out of the gate, it would only be a matter of time before the factory manages to hit an optimal production rate.

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In a video posted on social media earlier this year, Dan Priestley, who leads the Semi program at Tesla stated that the company is preparing for volume production over the coming quarters. With such a pace, the factory should be able to mass produce the Semi in 2026. 

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Elon Musk confirms Tesla AI6 chip is Project Dojo’s successor

Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 chips are expected to be rolled out to the company’s consumer products.

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Credit: Tim Zaman/Twitter

Earlier this week, reports emerged stating that Tesla has stepped back from its Project Dojo initiative. While the reports were initially framed as a negative development for the electric vehicle maker’s autonomous driving efforts, CEO Elon Musk later noted on X that Tesla was indeed halting its Dojo initiative.

Elon Musk’s Confirmation

As per Musk, Tesla was shuttering Project Dojo because it does not make sense for the company to divide its resources and scale two different AI chip designs. Dojo, after all, is designed to train the company’s autonomous driving program, and thus, it would not be rolled out to Tesla’s consumer products.

In a series of posts on X, Musk stated that it would make sense to just use Tesla’s AI5/AI6 to train its FSD and Autopilot systems. “In a supercomputer cluster, it would make sense to put many AI5/AI6 chips on a board, whether for inference or training, simply to reduce network cabling complexity & cost by a few orders of magnitude,” Musk said.

Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 chips are expected to be rolled out to the company’s consumer products, from Optimus to the Cybercab to the next-generation Roadster.

AI6 is Dojo’s Successor

What was particularly interesting about Musk’s comment was his mention of using AI5/AI6 chips for training. As per Musk, this strategy could be seen as “Dojo 3” in a way, since the performance of Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 chips is already notable. Musk’s comment about using AI6 chips for training caught the eye of many, including Apple and Rivian alumnus Phil Beisel, who noted that “AI6 is now Dojo.”

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“Dojo is Tesla’s AI training supercomputer, built around a custom chip known as the D1. The D1 and AI5/AI6 share many core design elements, particularly the math operations used in neural networks (e.g., matrix multiplication) and highly parallel processing.

“Dojo had a unique feature: chips arranged in a 5×5 grid using a system-on-wafer design, with etched interconnects enabling high-speed data transfer. In a sense, Dojo will live on as the generalized AI6. Going forward, all efforts will focus on AI6,” the tech veteran wrote in a post on X.

Elon Musk confirmed the Apple alumnus’ musings, with the CEO responding with a “bullseye” emoji. Musk is evidently excited for Tesla’s AI6 chip, which is expected to produced by Samsung’s upcoming Texas fabrication facility. In a post on X, Musk stated that he would personally be walking Samsung’s line to accelerate the output of Tesla’s AI6 computers.

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