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Tesla has launched its latest-gen Powerwall in this U.S. territory

Credit: Tesla

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Tesla has launched its latest generation home battery system in another U.S. territory as the company’s energy business continues to roll the new technology out in markets around the world.

In a post on X on Monday, Tesla Energy announced that the Powerwall 3 is now available in Puerto Rico, following the company’s launch of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program in the U.S. territory last year. Tesla also launched the next-generation Powerwall across the rest of the U.S. earlier this year, and in other countries, including Canada, Germany, and still others.

Credit: Tesla Energy | X

READ MORE: Tesla Energy already exceeded FY 2023’s battery deployments—and there’s still one quarter left

Tesla Powerwall 3 launch and recent milestones

Tesla officially launched the Powerwall 3 on its website in the U.S. in February, though the company had been quietly starting installing them in the country throughout much of last year. In addition to starting to deploy the Powerwall 3 in a variety of markets throughout this year, Tesla has also reached several production, delivery, and other milestones in 2024.

Most recently, Tesla announced last month that its Powerwall production team at Gigafactory Nevada had built over 1,000 units in a single day. The same production team produced more than 500 Powerwall units in a single shift in August.

As of Q3, Tesla had deployed over 750,000 Powerwall units globally, of which more than 100,000 are participating in the company’s VPP programs—which effectively create giant, distributed batteries from a region’s Powerwall owners during times of peak energy demand.

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Puerto Rico’s VPP program has the potential to become the company’s largest VPP program yet, with around 75,000 Powerwall owners around the time it launched last November. Tesla also details the Puerto Rico VPP program on its website here.

To be sure, most of the Powerwalls involved in these VPPs and deployed throughout the world are still comprised of Tesla’s Powerwall 2 units, though the Powerwall 3 has been rolling out to more and more countries and regions.

Tesla Energy: production and delivery scales for this high-margin business

The news of Tesla widening the reach of its Powerwall 3 also comes as this year comes to an end, a year during which Elon Musk predicted the energy business would make some substantial strides. In addition to the Powerwall being produced and delivered in high volumes, Tesla’s grid-scale Megapack batteries have been going online more frequently than ever, living up to Musk’s predicted hype.

Heading into 2024, Musk said he expected Tesla Energy to grow into its highest-margin business, and predicted that the energy sector’s sales growth rate would outpace that of its automotive arm. In the third quarter, Tesla Energy reached a record gross profit margin of 30.5 percent, along with delivering a record 6.9 GWh of energy products to drive the company past its full-year 2023 energy deployments.

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.

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Tesla shows off solar, Powerwall-backed display at Giga Berlin

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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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

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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tesla-supercomputer-pre-dojo
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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Tesla’s new upgrade makes the Cybertruck extra-terrestrial

The upgrade was announced by the electric vehicle maker on social media platform X.

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Credit: Tesla

It took a while, but the Tesla Cybertruck’s rock sliders and battery armor upgrades have finally arrived. The upgrade was announced by the electric vehicle maker on social media platform X, to much appreciation from Cybertruck owners.

Tesla Releases Cybertruck Armor Package

As could be seen in Tesla’s official Shop, the Cybertruck Terrestrial Armor Package is available only for Foundation Series units for now, though non-Foundation Series vehicles should have access to the upgrade around September 2025. Price-wise, the armor package is quite reasonable at $3,500.

For that price, Cybertruck owners would be able to acquire enhanced rock sliders and an underbody battery shield that should allow the all-electric pickup truck to go through harsh terrain without any issues. Each purchase of the Terrestrial Armor Package includes 1 Underbody shield, 1 Left side structural rocker, and 1 Right side structural rocker.

Most importantly, the Armor Package’s price includes shipment to the customer’s preferred Tesla Service Center and installation.

Extra-Terrestrial

Tesla describes its Cybertruck Armor Package as follows: “Get extra-terrestrial. The Cybertruck Terrestrial Armor Package includes enhanced rock sliders and an underbody battery shield to provide greater protection from rocks and debris when off-roading on tough terrain. The rock sliders are constructed from coated steel and the underbody battery shield is constructed from aluminum for greater protection against scraping.”

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Initial impressions from a Cybertruck owner who was fortunate enough to test the Armor Package in real-world off-road conditions have been positive. The item’s pricing also seems to be quite appreciated by Cybertruck owners in forums such as the Cybertruck Owners Club, with some members stating that they would be acquiring the package for their own all-electric pickup trucks.

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