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Tesla partners up to expand Virtual Power Plant program in Texas
More Tesla Powerwall customers are coming to the distributed battery program in South-Central Texas.
Tesla is a part of a new energy partnership in Texas set to help expand the company’s Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program in the state, as announced by one energy provider this week.
In a press release on Monday, the Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative (GVEC) announced a partnership with Tesla and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to participate in a utility-scale VPP pilot program. Dubbed the Aggregated Distributed Energy Resource (ADER), the pilot will utilize Tesla’s Powerwall home battery systems to create a distributed “battery” across owners, in order to help stabilize the grid and provide backup power in times of peak demand.
GVEC says the early ADER program has already registered around 17 MW of generation from Tesla’s Powerwall customers, and the utility provider’s Board President Gary Birdwell highlights how important the subject of energy storage is in today’s climate.
Tesla Energy’s Powerwall home battery is super underrated, and it has so much potential in areas that are typically affected by power outages.
Storm Watch alone will save lives.🌩️🏡🔋pic.twitter.com/9uVGTUXQol
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 18, 2025
“Consumer generated energy is quickly becoming an important resource for the Texas wholesale electricity market,” Birdwell said in a statement. “Cooperation between GVEC and Tesla, two prominent market participants, uniting to utilize their strengths for the common goal of building stability and resiliency of the grid is a strategic move.”
Through Tesla’s VPP programs, such as this one, Powerwall owners can essentially sell generated and stored electricity back to the grid when demand is high or the grid is facing outages. GVEC does this through what it calls the Peak-Time Payback (PTP) program, offering mutual support for customers and ERCOT grid operators.
The group describes itself as a cooperative group providing electricity and electrician services, solar and energy storage, internet, air conditioning and heating to over 130,000 customers in South-Central Texas across Cuero, Gonzales, La Vernia, Schertz and Seguin. GVEC says it officially became a certified Tesla battery installer in the region in 2019, adding that Powerwall installations have continued to increase in the years since.
“Tesla has been a major player in the ADER pilot program since its inception. They are a highly visible company with the capabilities and expertise to meet the robust participation requirements,” says Darren Schauer, GVEC General Manager and CEO. “As an additional benefit, GVEC has the ability to offer ancillary services directly onto the market. This means GVEC Powerwall members can now support the needs of the Texas grid while also creating a new revenue stream to reinforce the long-term financial strength of their member-owned cooperative.”
READ MORE ON TESLA’S VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS: Tesla invites LADWP customers to join its Virtual Power Plant
As of Q3 2024, Tesla said it had over 100,000 Powerwalls participating in its VPP programs globally, and the company also started rolling out its next-gen Powerwall 3 in markets around the world throughout last year. Along with Texas, Tesla currently has U.S. VPP programs being run or piloted in Northern and Southern California, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico and elsewhere, not to mention those in other multiple countries.
In November, Tesla’s team at Gigafactory Nevada also celebrated building over 1,000 Powerwall units in a single day. Months earlier in August, Giga Nevada crews reached a milestone of building 500 Powerwalls in one shift, as the company continues to ramp up production of the home-scale batteries.
Meanwhile, Tesla Energy’s portfolio is also backed by the Megapack grid-scale batteries, which have also been deployed worldwide. The company currently produces Megapacks at a factory in Lathrop, California, where it has been ramping production since launching in 2022, as well as a new facility in Shanghai, China, which went online last month. Tesla has also alluded to plans for a third “Megafactory,” which is reportedly being built in Texas.
Tesla ad shows EV and Powerwall customer saved 94% on electricity bill
Tesla has officially expanded its Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite in Europe once again, as it will now be offered to customer vehicles in Lithuania, marking a significant milestone as the second European Union country to offer the system.
Tesla confirmed FSD’s rollout in Lithuania this morning:
FSD Supervised now rolling out to Teslas in Lithuania 🇱🇹!
Making European roads safer, one by one pic.twitter.com/Uuj0bNG7pP
— Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa (@teslaeurope) May 20, 2026
Tesla showed several clips of Full Self-Driving navigation in Lithuania to mark the announcement, while Lithuanian Transport Minister Juras Taminskas highlighted the system’s potential to assist with lane-keeping, speed adjustment, and traffic tasks on longer drives, while emphasizing that drivers must stay alert and ready to intervene.
Just a few weeks ago, Tesla officially entered Europe with Full Self-Driving in the Netherlands. The expansion of FSD on the continent is now officially underway.
Full Self-Driving’s European Journey
Europe has long posed one of the toughest regulatory challenges for Tesla’s autonomy ambitions due to stringent safety standards under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) framework, particularly UN Regulation 171 for Driver Control Assistance Systems.
The Netherlands’ RDW authority granted the pioneering approval after over 18 months of rigorous testing, including 1.6 million kilometers on European roads and extensive data submissions.
This approval enables mutual recognition across the EU, allowing other member states to adopt it nationally without full re-testing. Lithuania quickly leveraged this mechanism, becoming the second adopter. Tesla positions FSD Supervised as a tool to incrementally improve road safety, with the company claiming it reduces incidents when used properly.
Bottlenecks slowing broader European deployment include fragmented national regulations, varying levels of regulatory skepticism, and requirements for robust driver monitoring. Some EU officials have raised concerns about performance in adverse conditions like icy roads or speeding scenarios, alongside frustrations over Tesla’s public advocacy approach.
Additional hurdles involve data privacy, liability frameworks, and the need for EU-wide harmonization. While countries like Belgium appear to be fast-tracking adoption, larger markets such as Germany, France, and Italy are expected to follow in the coming months, with potential EU-wide progress targeted for later in 2026.
Tesla Full Self-Driving Across the World
As of May, Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is available in approximately ten countries.
In North America, it has been live for years in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Asia-Pacific additions include Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, while China utilizes what Tesla calls “City Autopilot.” In Europe, the Netherlands and now Lithuania join the list, with more countries mulling the possibility of also approving FSD.
Tesla offers FSD via monthly subscriptions (around €99 in Europe) or one-time purchases (with deadlines approaching in many markets), shifting toward recurring revenue models. Today is the final day Europeans will be able to purchase the suite outright.
This expansion underscores Tesla’s push for global autonomy, starting with supervised and building toward greater capabilities. With Lithuania now online, momentum is building across Europe, though regulatory caution will continue shaping the pace. Owners in approved regions report smoother highway and urban driving, but the system remains Level 2, which requires human oversight.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
SpaceX has revealed the date for the maiden voyage of Starship v3, its newest and most advanced version of the rocket yet.
Starship v3 represents a significant leap forward. At 124 meters tall when fully stacked, it stands taller than previous versions and boasts substantial upgrades.
The vehicle incorporates next-generation Raptor 3 engines, which deliver higher thrust, improved reliability, and simplified designs with fewer parts. Both the Super Heavy booster (Booster 19) and the Starship upper stage (Ship 39) feature these enhancements, along with structural improvements for greater payload capacity—exceeding 100 metric tons to low Earth orbit in reusable configuration.
SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk have announced that the company aims to push the first launch of Starship v3 this Thursday. Musk included some clips of past Starship launches with the announcement.
Now targeting launch as early as Thursday, May 21 → https://t.co/2gZQUxS6mm
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 19, 2026
First Starship V3 launch later this week! pic.twitter.com/JFX4CrSfnY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2026
There are a lot of improvements to Starship v3 from past builds. Key hardware changes include a more robust heat shield, upgraded avionics, and modifications optimized for orbital refueling, a critical technology for future missions to the Moon and Mars. This flight marks the first launch from Starbase’s second orbital pad, allowing parallel operations and accelerating the cadence of tests.
This will be the 12th Starship launch for SpaceX. Flight 12 objectives include a full ascent profile, hot-staging separation, in-space engine relights, and reentry testing. The booster is expected to perform a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while the ship will deploy 20 Starlink simulator satellites and a pair of modified Starlink V3 units before attempting reentry.
Success would validate V3’s design for operational use, paving the way for rapid reusability and higher flight rates.
The rapid evolution from V2 to V3 underscores SpaceX’s iterative approach. Previous flights demonstrated booster catches, ship landings, and heat shield advancements. V3 builds on these with nearly every component refined, supported by an expanding production line at Starbase that churns out vehicles at an unprecedented pace.
Starship V3 is here putting SpaceX closer to Mars than it has ever been
This launch comes amid growing momentum for SpaceX’s ambitious goals. Starship is central to NASA’s Artemis program for lunar landings and Elon Musk’s vision of making humanity multiplanetary. A successful V3 debut would boost confidence in achieving orbital refueling and crewed missions in the coming years.
As excitement builds, enthusiasts and engineers alike await liftoff. Weather and technical readiness will determine the exact timing, but the community is optimistic. Starship V3 is poised to push the boundaries of spaceflight once again, bringing reusable interplanetary transport closer to reality.
Tesla Full Self-Driving expands in Europe, entering its second country
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
