News
Tesla Energy takes a stand against coal and gas generators in Australia
Tesla Energy firmly argued against using coal and gas generators to support a proposed low-cost, reliable, secure, and zero-emissions grid in Australia.
In March 2019, Australia’s energy ministers tasked the Energy Security Board (ESB) to advise on a national electricity market design, which birthed the Post 2025 Electricity Market Design. The project was aimed at providing a more robust and lower emissions power system for Australians.
In April 2021, the ESB released an options paper and invited companies and innovators to comment on their detailed design thus far. Tesla answered the Board’s invitation.
In a letter to Dr. Kerry Schott—the Chair of the ESB—Tesla Energy’s Head of Energy Policy and Regulation, Emma Fagan, summarized all of Tesla’s recommendations and feedback on the P2025 Market Design Options Paper.
Two main points were driven in the letter. First, Tesla is firmly against the idea of extending the life span of existing coal and gas generators.
In the letter, Fagan stated that “Tesla does not support the introduction of PRRO or any other mechanism to artificially extend the life of the existing thermal fleet of generation.”
Tesla attached a White Paper to the letter, highlighting the significant benefits of deploying a battery storage system at a scale that would complement Australia’s growing wind and solar energy intake.
In the White Paper, Tesla Energy argued that battery storage is capable of replacing essential system services provided by thermal plants. As an example, Tesla recalls the time Tesla Powerpacks from the Hornsdale Power Reserve helped stabilize the grid after Callide’s coal power plant exploded in New South Wales.
Second, Tesla strongly recommended building a market that would incentivize the use of new technology or infrastructure to handle the energy coming from a sustainable grid.
“Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. In Australia, forward looking market design will be critical to achieving this outcome,” Fagan wrote to Dr. Schott.
In the letter, Tesla Energy proposed a tailored ‘flexibility market,’ arguing that it would address the risk of “disorderly coal plant exits by ensuring new capacity is incentivized to enter the market before old plants are retired.”
Fagan included a list of design principles to consider for a flexibility market, which are listed below.
- Eligible assets provide a combination of ‘flexible services,’ such as fast response and fast ramp dispatch.
- Incentive payments linked to service provision (covering essential system services), as opposed to simply paying based on registered ‘peak MW’ capacity.
- Provisions for locational and temporal specific needs (e.g., load-side response for low operational demand risks)
- Co-optimization with existing NEM dispatch of energy and frequency control ancillary services
- Technology neutral without being prescriptive on technology type or commercial model
- Low/zero emission requirements to align with existing state targets and goals.
Tesla hopes that Australia takes the opportunity to introduce structural reform to its power grid through this project.
“As the ESB progresses towards its final recommendations, it should use this rare window of opportunity for structural reform to be visionary and design a future-focused market that facilitates investment in new technologies,” Fagan stated in the letter.
Read Tesla’s White Paper on the benefits of battery storage systems below.
Tesla Energy: Battery Storage as a Key Enabler for 100% Renewables by Maria Merano on Scribd
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com or reach out to me at maria@teslarati.com.
Tesla has officially revealed its 2026 Summer Update, which comes with a variety of crazy new features, including Navigation fixes that owners have been wanting for months.
Tesla routinely releases a larger update with the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter updates, where it ships a variety of new features, bug fixes, and other additions to customer cars.
The 2026 Spring Update featured things like “Hey Grok” voice assistance, a redesigned self-driving app, Unreal Engine visual upgrades, and more.
🚨 TESLA’S SUMMER UPDATE FOR 2026 IS HERE:
Featuring:
✅ Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
✅ Caraoke with Scoring
✅ Automatic Navigation
✅ Preferred Routes
✅ Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
✅ Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
✅ Rear Display Lock
✅ Other Improvements
🔌… https://t.co/C9IW3egEhH
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 21, 2026
Tesla’s Summer Release has about ten new features; we’ll show you each and detail them below:
New Grok Voice Commands
“Grok can now make phone calls, search and play music, adjust climate, open the glovebox, and answer questions about your Tesla.”
Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
“View and share self-driving stats from the mobile app.”
Caraoke With Scoring
“Caraoke now scores your singing while in Park. High scores are saved to your Tesla profile.”
Automatic Navigation
“Automatic Navigation now adapts to your routine.
In addition to Home, Work, and upcoming calendar events, your vehicle can now suggest and route to places you visit regularly – like a school drop-off on the way to work, or the gym on the way home.”
Preferred Routes
“For a more personalized experience, navigation now prioritizes routes that you’ve taken before”
Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
“Set your desired Arrival Energy from your phone.”
Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
“Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: https://github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
Rear Display Lock
“Kids can watch content on the rear screen, but only the front row can control it through the rear screen app.”
Other Improvements
- Find Superchargers by name when searching for a destination
- Add Apple Music songs to queue from search and artist page
- Set your preferred zoom level for the Self-Driving visualization
- Intro animations for new Model 3 and Y
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you, as the company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, finally shed some light on the reason they are putting a satellite internet terminal on its ride-hailing-geared vehicle.
On Monday, Tesla officially confirmed that it would integrate Starlink V5 terminals into Cybercab vehicles, something many Tesla fans had figured the company would do, as the vehicle is primarily geared toward giving rides without any passenger intervention.
Starlink V5 directly integrated in Cybercab pic.twitter.com/FxzTtzjB6I
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 20, 2026
The ability to access the internet would allow riders to work or play in the car with their devices. It seemed like a more-than-reasonable feature to add to the Cybercab, which made its way off the production lines for the first time earlier this year.
Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
However, the move is not for the rider, as Elluswamy confirmed on Monday night. Instead, it’s actually for Tesla to be able to have a constant connection to the cars in the Robotaxi fleet so it can troubleshoot issues, contact riders, or resolve other issues.
Elluswamy said:
“It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.”
It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 20, 2026
Many initially assumed the option of constant connectivity would be enabled on the Cybercab for passenger entertainment or work. With the Cybercab, passengers won’t be doing anything but enjoying the ride, so it seemed more than logical that they would be hanging out with Starlink internet access as an amenity.
However, Tesla’s primary concern with Robotaxi is safety, and nailing these first unsupervised rides is a crucial step to setting a good narrative on how effective driverless transportation can be.
Being able to get in touch with passengers or a vehicle if something is wrong is a crucial part of the overall experience, and preventative measures are being taken by Tesla to ensure a smooth process, even in the worst-case.
Tesla has expanded its Robotaxi program in Florida to include two new cities: Tampa and Orlando.
This marks the second and third cities to be added to the company’s available locations for autonomous ride-hailing in the Sunshine State, joining Miami, which was the first Florida city to offer Robotaxi rides.
Tesla announced the addition of Orlando and Tampa to the Robotaxi program on Tuesday morning. The cities now join Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area as locations where Tesla can operate its Robotaxi platform:
Robotaxi now in Tampa & Orlando! pic.twitter.com/fYtmXgJq3O
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) July 21, 2026
These rides are unsupervised, as AI Head Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the suite in Florida is operating without safety drivers or anyone within the cabin to assist with operation.
Orlando Tesla Robotaxi Operation
The geofence in Orlando covers a prominent irregular shaded zone on the map, roughly 4-6 miles across in key dimensions, so it likely measures somewhere between 25 and 45 square miles, which is comparable to other early Tesla launches in other cities.
It encompasses central and southern areas bounded by major highways including SR-417 and SR-528, including parts of the Orlando metro core, tourism-adjacent zones, and residential/commercial districts. This represents an initial targeted rollout in a tourist-heavy region, positioned for quick expansion via Tesla’s software updates.
Tampa Tesla Robotaxi Operation
In Tampa, the shape of the geofence is a shaded polygon covering key neighborhoods, explicitly including West Tampa, Tampa Heights, Hyde Park, and downtown Tampa proper, with boundaries along major roads and the Hillsborough River area.
This focuses on high-demand central zones and will offer tourists and citygoers rides without drivers.
Robotaxi Progress
Tesla has been operating Robotaxi since last June, when it launched in Austin. The geofences in most regions have already expanded several times since their launch last year, but the bigger complaint is vehicle availability. Tesla has been working to add more Robotaxi-enabled vehicles to its fleet.
The company still plans to utilize its Cybercab, a new vehicle that is being produced at Gigafactory Texas, for the Robotaxi suite alongside the Model Y, which has been the vehicle of choice for Tesla with early operations.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you
