Tesla’s Giga New York facility is ramping production to meet Elon Musk’s goals for the company’s energy business. Tesla started ramping solar roof sales and installations in 2019 when Q4’s 54 MW deployment showed a 26% jump from the previous quarter’s 43 MW.
In a series of recent tweets, the CEO shared some of his appreciation for the company’s workers involved in the ongoing rollout of the Solarglass Roof tiles. The third-generation tiles are Tesla’s flagship residential solar product, and they have the potential to disrupt the energy sector in a manner similar to how the Model 3 disrupted the midsize sedan market.
Musk’s tweets provided some updates about Tesla’s Solarglass Roof tiles. According to the CEO, new variants for the solar shingles are coming, though the company is mastering its current black tiles first. Tesla is also currently busy with installations in the Bay Area, though an expansion to other territories is coming soon.
Hard to believe that is high efficiency solar power seamlessly integrated into beautiful roof tiles. Great work by SolarGlass engineering, Giga NY factory & Tesla installation teams!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 9, 2020
California Today, The Rest Of The World Tomorrow
Starting Tesla’s Solarglass push in California makes a lot of sense, considering that it is a state where residents enjoy a solar investment tax credit of 26% for the purchase cost of energy systems between January 1 to December 31, 2020. This energy incentive will drop to 22% by 2021, and it will be retired by 2023. The incentives seem to have worked for the most part. As of December 2019, the state has 1 million solar systems installed, the majority of which are in residential properties.
Just like how Elon Musk plans to put Gigafactories in every continent to lay the foundation for Tesla, California is an excellent location to build a stronghold and develop a good case to convince consumers in other places to buy the company’s solar solutions. Musk, as most people might know, has the grand plan of transitioning the world towards sustainability and his current endeavor is an initial step to that goal.
Tesla has adopted a series of initiatives that are designed to make its energy products more attractive to consumers. Aside from lowering prices in October, Tesla has also introduced an incentive program encouraging Tesla owners to share their experiences about their energy products.
“The demand is very strong and we are working also not just through Tesla Solar Roof, but also through new homebuilders and through just the roofing industry in general, whether is in North America on the order of 4 million new roofs per year,” Musk said during the recent Tesla Q4 2019 earnings call.
According to Musk, he believes that eventually, the Solarglass Roof would be a matter of choice for consumers between having a live roof that generates power and a conventional roof that only serves a single purpose. Tesla may have a revolutionary product in the Solarglass Roof, and if it were to succeed, it will allow Tesla Energy to grow at a pace that matches or even exceeds that of the company’s electric car business.
The solar industry has a big room to grow and draws a bright future for players such as Tesla. Of all greener energy options, it is expected to boom the fastest from today through 2050.
I was pleasantly surprised by my recent visit to the Tesla plant. It was encouraging to see Solar roofs, batteries, and charging stations being built in the facility. Tesla reports over 1100 workers at the plant and they say they will hit 1460 by the April deadline. pic.twitter.com/33aSuRdQLC
— Senator Sean Ryan (@SenSeanRyan) February 8, 2020
Tesla’s Giga New York Ramps Production
To meet the demand, Tesla’s Giga New York is bustling with activity. The 88-acre property in Buffalo is home to the factory that produces Tesla’s solar modules. New York State Assembly member Sean Ryan toured the Tesla factory in Buffalo last Friday and was pleased with the progress.
“The factory is built out. It has complete lines running, product moving around, people are there, so it’s really transformed itself into what we’ve been hoping for,” Ryan said. “We’ve been holding our breath since we put that big bet down on Tesla. They had a slow start, and I was worried as we’re appoaching this spring they were going to hit their deadlines, but they’re right on track.”
Ryan last visited the factory 15 months ago and his testimony corroborates Musk claims recently that Giga new York is operating at a good pace.
Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit just days before an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas. The move revives a reservation process first launched in 2017 and later paused when Tesla pulled pricing from its website in 2021.
The reservation page requires an immediate $5,000 credit-card payment, described as fully refundable, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, which is identical to what was expected previously. Reservations are not considered final until the wire clears.
The structure matches the 2017 terms Tesla used when it first collected deposits after unveiling a prototype. Tesla has not published a confirmed retail price or production start date on the order page.
Go buy a Roadster pic.twitter.com/n7rhouAmIS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
The October 1 event is scheduled in Waco, about 90 minutes north of Tesla’s Austin headquarters and near SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site. Tesla sent invitations to existing reservation holders and posted a “Go for launch” teaser on September 12.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor area from September 18 through October 2, consistent with plans for a demonstration involving SpaceX-designed cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk has previously described the optional package as enabling extreme acceleration or brief hovering. Tesla has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.
The second-generation Roadster was first shown in November 2017 during Tesla’s Semi launch. Musk promised production in 2020, with claimed performance of 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, more than 250 mph top speed, and roughly 620 miles of range.
Those targets have slipped repeatedly.
Tesla later pointed to 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025-2026 before indicating production would not begin until 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas. Design work has continued, with reports of a sharper, Cybertruck-influenced look replacing the original curvy prototype.
Original reservation holders who paid $50,000 in 2017, or $250,000 for the Founders Series, have waited nearly nine years without a production car. Some high-profile customers canceled. Tesla’s decision to reopen orders now, after previously shutting them down, tests whether new buyers will commit substantial funds before seeing a finalized production vehicle. The October 1 event is intended to answer remaining questions about what those buyers will actually receive and when.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is heading to Czechia after the Czech Ministry of Transport recognised the Dutch RDW’s provisional type approval, making the country the seventh EU member state to clear the system for public roads. Tesla Europe announced on 21 September 2026 that “FSD Supervised is now approved in Czechia” and that rollout “will begin soon.”
The decision marks a notable reversal. Earlier in 2026, Prague had declined to automatically recognise the Netherlands’ April approval, citing concerns over speed-limit compliance, traffic-sign recognition and driver-attention monitoring, and arguing that a coordinated EU approach was preferable. Officials said months of expert review, talks with Tesla and other member states, and real-world data from countries already using the system resolved those issues.
🚨 Tesla FSD heading to Czechia 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/mkzlM9QjrB
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
“Safety remains the top priority,” the ministry stated.
FSD Supervised remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system: the driver must stay engaged and is legally responsible. Eligible vehicles need AI4, the company’s most up-to-date hardware version. Tesla is expected to push the feature over the air in the coming days, following the pattern seen after earlier national approvals.
Europe’s rollout began when Dutch regulator RDW issued a provisional EU type approval on 10 April 2026 after extensive testing. Mutual recognition then produced a rapid cascade: Lithuania (20 May), Estonia (29 May), Denmark (9 June), Belgium (10 June) and Slovenia (7 September). Czechia now completes that list of seven.
The approvals cover only a modest share of the EU population, but they add political weight ahead of a 6 October vote by the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles. A qualified majority, at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population, could open the remaining markets, including large ones such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have so far preferred to wait for a bloc-wide decision.
For Czech Tesla owners, the immediate prize is access to the same supervised highway and city driving already available in the other six countries. For Tesla, each new market generates additional European driving data and strengthens the case that FSD Supervised can operate safely under the continent’s varied road rules. The Czech approval is therefore both a local milestone and another incremental step toward a wider European launch.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a Temporary Flight Restriction over SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas, rocket development and test facility, a move widely viewed as preparation for Tesla’s October 1 Roadster reveal. The restriction took effect September 18 and runs through October 2.
NOTAM FDC 6/3825 covers a 1.5-nautical-mile radius around the site near Waco and extends from the surface to 10,000 feet above ground level. The FAA cited hazards under 14 CFR 91.137(a)(3) and barred aircraft and drones from the zone. Tesla’s invitation to reservation holders already placed the event in Waco, about 20 minutes from McGregor, making the timing and location more than coincidental.
A TFR has appeared around SpaceX’s McGregor Testing Site up to 10,000ft and runs through until the 2nd of October 👀 pic.twitter.com/rcZ4p4JkLm
— Niall Anderson (@INiallAnderson) September 18, 2026
What stands out is the altitude. Typical recent TFRs at McGregor for engine static fires and component tests have used far lower ceilings, often around 2,000 feet. Raising the limit to 10,000 feet is unusually high even compared with some Starbase restrictions and signals operations that go beyond a standard ground-level engine test.
That extra airspace has fueled speculation about the long-promised SpaceX Package for the Roadster. Elon Musk has described cold-gas thrusters that could deliver sub-one-second 0-60 times and, more dramatically, brief lift-off. Reports earlier this year indicated Tesla planned a remote-controlled demonstration at McGregor in which the car would leave the ground with no one inside; spectators kept hundreds of yards away because of the noise.
The 10,000-foot envelope would give operators a large safety buffer even if the vehicle only hovers a short distance.
Tesla has not confirmed a flight demo. The company has only used the phrase “Go for launch” and posted a teaser image of the car on what looks like a launch pad. The TFR itself mentions only hazards. Still, closing airspace this high and this close to the reveal date strongly suggests the event will include more than a static display.
Whether the Roadster actually hovers on October 1 remains to be seen. What is certain is that the FAA has cleared a large vertical slice of Texas sky for whatever Tesla and SpaceX intend to show. Reservation holders heading to Waco will be among the first to find out if the car can do more than drive.
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
Tesla Full Self-Driving expands to another European country
