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Tesla Giga Berlin cleared of water supply concerns as state government begins infrastructure planning

Tesla forest site of Gigafactory 4 in Berlin (Credit: Emil Senkel)

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Tesla takes a step closer to begin construction of Giga Berlin in Grunheide as Brandenburg authorities announce initial plans to spend 100 million euros on infrastructure development around the facility. Additionally, the Agriculture and Environment Minister Axel Vogel confirmed during a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that there’s a secure water supply for the entire region, thereby eliminating one of the biggest risks that would have delayed construction of Tesla’s first European factory.

Local residents, business owners, and environmental groups initially sounded the alarm about water, in fear that the California-based electric carmaker’s plans for a large production facility will dry up their local water supply. Tesla plans to initially produce 150,000 electric vehicles annually at Giga Berlin and will eventually ramp up to 500,000 units per year.

Responsible water association Strausberg / Erkner (WSE) addressed the community in a meeting last week, noting that they can meet the water supply needs of the Gigafactory in Grunheide but need additional funding. According to Vogel, WSE supplied about  10.8 million cubic meters of water in 2018 and the government can stretch that to the approved framework of 16 million cubic meters. Tesla’s Giga Berlin will only need about 1.77 million cubic meters of water per year.

“The evaluations will be completed this week and then the approval notice will be issued,  there is no reason to be worried that Tesla cannot be supplied with sufficient drinking water,” Vogel said.

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In January, Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk also chimed in on the water supply issue and clarified that Giga Berlin is designed with sustainability and the environment in mind.

 

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With Water Issues Solved, Government Thinks of Infrastructure

As Tesla Giga Berlin gains momentum with the assurance of the Brandenburg government that there’s enough water supply for the factory and for the rest of the community, authorities have announced plans to spend 10 million euros this year on roads and railway connections. Another 90 million euros will be allocated next year for various infrastructure projects around the car factory and a total of one billion euros would be spent by 2030.

Minister of Transport Guido Beermann disclosed plans for the electrification of the railway siding and an extension or relocation of the Fangschleuse train station.

There are also talks about the expansion of state roads, bus line networks that will serve commuters to Grunheide, and the extension of the S-Bahn, the city’s rapid railway system, to Grunheide.

Tesla enthusiast Emil Senkel has provided a clear illustration of these plans:

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With the influx of people expected when Giga Berlin goes online, the government is also planning to spend 30 million euros for new dormitories in nearby areas, 50  million euros for the renovation of dormitories, and 52 million euros for the rehabilitation of municipal bridges and bike lanes.

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Environmental Protection Measures

As Tesla completes the necessary requirements to move forward with the construction of its facility in Brandenburg, the carmaker announced the steps it’s taking to ensure all measures are taken to protect the environment. Tesla will put up around 400 nesting boxes for birds breeding in the area and relocate several nests of forest ants. As planned, the carmaker will also search the forest for hibernating bats, forest lizards, and other creatures that need to be moved.

Tesla plans to start production of vehicles at Giga Berlin by July 2021. The factory is expected to employ around 8,000 to 12,000 workers to help with the production of the Model 3 sedan, the Model Y crossover.

A curious soul who keeps wondering how Elon Musk, Tesla, electric cars, and clean energy technologies will shape the future, or do we really need to escape to Mars.

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Tesla’s AI Chief just hinted at something big for FSD v14 lite owners

Tesla’s AI chief suggests the newest FSD v14 Lite build may finally go wide release.

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Tesla’s head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, noted on Sunday that the newest FSD v14 Lite build rolling out to Hardware 3 cars is likely the version that goes to wide release, the strongest signal yet that Tesla is near to closing out an early access phase that Hardware 3 owners have waited more than a year for.

Elluswamy made the comment in response to an extensive review from Tesla owner Zack, known on X as @BLKMDL3, who tested software version 2026.20.6.10 and detailed the changes in a lengthy post. “FSD v14 Lite (for Tesla AI3 hardware vehicles) review.

The update restarts a rollout that had stalled after its initial release. Tesla began pushing FSD v14 Lite to Hardware 3 early access drivers on June 29, bringing driving behavior learned on the newer Hardware 4 computer down to the more limited chip that has powered Tesla vehicles built between 2019 and early 2023. That release, as we covered in detail, gave roughly 4 million HW3 vehicles their first meaningful update since being frozen on version 12.6 in early 2025.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

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The latest build adds features that bring Hardware 3 closer in line with what Hardware 4 owners already have. FSD can now start directly from park without a brake pedal confirmation, a change Zack called a small but meaningful quality of life improvement. The interface also picks up the blue “P” park icon, approaching destination alerts, and a dedicated Self-Driving app with streak tracking, all details previously exclusive to the AI4 branch of v14, as outlined in Tesla’s original release notes.

The stakes around Hardware 3 go beyond software polish. Tesla sold the Full Self-Driving package for years on the promise that every vehicle equipped with it had the hardware needed to eventually drive itself without supervision. That promise broke down during Tesla’s Q1 2026 earnings call, when Musk acknowledged HW3 cars could not run unsupervised FSD, prompting Tesla to offer trade-in discounts and hardware retrofits alongside the Lite software track.

Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story

Tesla has continued to frame v14 Lite as the primary path forward for the HW3 fleet, telling owners in April that international markets would follow the U.S. rollout once regulatory approvals came through. For now, HW3 owners in the early access group are the only ones running the new build. A broader rollout would mark the second major software delivery to the legacy fleet since Tesla first released FSD v14 to Hardware 4 vehicles, and the first sign since June that the Lite program is still moving rather than stuck in early access limbo.

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Elon Musk sends first warning to SpaceX short sellers

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Credit: Grok

In a pointed message on X, Elon Musk warned that firms maintaining significant short positions in SpaceX over time face “very low” survival probability.

The statement comes amid post-IPO volatility for the rocket company, now trading under the ticker $SPCX.

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Five weeks after what was described as the largest IPO in history, the stock had fallen roughly 30% from its peak above $2.6 trillion, briefly surpassing Microsoft and Amazon in market value. Short sellers celebrated gains of about $8.7 billion, but Musk’s reply underscores his long-term conviction.

The warning directly echoes a detailed bullish analysis arguing that Starship’s cost reductions could unlock a multi-trillion-dollar space economy. Projects ranging from solar power beamed from orbit and asteroid mining to orbital data centers and Mars terraforming were projected to create over $100 trillion in new market capitalization.

In this vision, SpaceX acts as the essential infrastructure provider, akin to AWS for cloud computing, capturing monopoly-like revenues from launches, crew transport, and data traffic across a rapidly expanding frontier.

This is far from the first time Musk has targeted short sellers. With Tesla, he has repeatedly framed persistent bears as destined for major losses. In July 2024, Musk declared that once Tesla achieves full autonomy and volume production of Optimus robots, “anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates,” referencing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ reported short bets.

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Elon Musk reveals what Tesla stock surge could do to Bill Gates

Earlier, in 2018, he taunted shorts that they had “about three weeks before their short position explodes,” a remark followed by sharp stock gains. Musk has also called short selling “value destroying” and once suggested it “should be illegal,” viewing it as betting against innovation and progress.

Critics often dismiss Musk’s optimism as hype, especially when near-term metrics like quarterly deliveries or stock fluctuations disappoint.

Yet his pattern remains consistent: framing short positions against his companies as fundamentally misjudging exponential technological leaps. For SpaceX shorts, the message is clear: betting against multi-planetary ambitions and the infrastructure monopoly they enable carries existential risk for the firms involved.

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As Musk and supporters see it, the space economy’s upside dwarfs Earth-bound valuation models, making today’s dips temporary in a decades-long ascent.

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Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration

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Tesla has evidently revealed which of its vehicle models will be the first to receive Starlink integration: the Cybercab.

Tesla’s Santana Row showroom now has a full-fledged display of the Cybercab, with an extensive bit of information hung around an exhibit that seems to reveal the vehicle’s newest feature: an integrated Starlink antenna that will enable secure and reliable internet access during trips.

Credit: @Starscream_SJC | X

Cybercab is geared toward autonomous ride-hailing for one or two passengers. The production units rolling off the lines at Gigafactory Texas are built without steering wheels or pedals, meaning when public rides begin, passengers will not need to interact with a human being or control the vehicle in any way outside of what appears on the center screen for their entertainment during the ride.

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Along the display, Tesla wrote this message about Cybercab:

“Cybercab is built for autonomy. It has no steering wheel, no side mirrors, and no pedals. It goes where you tell it to go and how you want it to, so you can relax along the way. It is hyper aware and responsive to your surroundings, monitoring other drivers, responding to emergency vehicles, utilizing its expertise in the rarest scenarios to help keep you safe.”

Tesla has been teasing a potential Starlink integration for quite some time now. In December, the company hinted at potential Starlink internet terminal integration within its vehicles in a patent that described a vehicle roof assembly with integrated radio frequency (RF) transparency.

Tesla hints at Starlink integration with recent patent

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The company wrote in its patent application that a new roof design built with materials that differ from the standard metallic or glass elements used in today’s cars would allow it to integrate modern vehicular technologies, in particular, ones that require radio frequency transmission and reception.

Tesla suggested high-strength polymer blends, like Polycarbonate, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate.

This is the first time we’ve seen Tesla officially confirm the Starlink integration into the Cybercab. It’s not much of a surprise considering the company’s intention behind the Cybercab, which is to make travel autonomous.

Productivity will now be at a maximum during a work-related commute, while the center screen could be utilized for Netflix or potentially even live TV for those who are heading to dinner or to a fun activity.

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