News
Tesla denies report on local battery partner for Gigafactory 3
The construction of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in China is moving in a rapid pace. Not long after the facility’s groundbreaking ceremony, the company’s 864,885-square meter plot of land in Shanghai’s Lingang Industrial Zone has become abuzz with activity. If recent reports are any indication, though, it appears that work is also underway to ensure that the company has all the partners it needs to produce batteries on the upcoming facility.
Citing individuals reportedly familiar with the proceedings, Reuters recently published a report suggesting that Tesla has reached a preliminary agreement with China-based battery provider Tianjin Lishen to supply batteries for Gigafactory 3. The publication’s sources have noted, though, that Tesla and Tianjin Lishen have reached no official, definitive deal as of date.
Among the details reportedly being worked out by Tesla and the battery supplier is the size of Tesla’s battery orders, as well as the specific size of the cells that would be produced in the Shanghai-based factory. Inasmuch as news of a possible battery supplier is compelling though, a Tesla spokesperson has denied that any official agreement between the electric car maker and the Chinese battery provider has been reached.
“Tesla previously received quotes from Lishen, but did not proceed further. We have not signed any agreement of any kind with them,” a Tesla spokesperson said.
Lishen, for its part, has noted that there is no agreement between itself and Tesla for Gigafactory 3’s batteries, at least for now.
The update suggested by Reuters’ sources point to Tesla tapping into the local Chinese market for a possible battery partner. So far, Tesla’s sole battery partner has been Panasonic, which has been producing the 18650 battery cells for the Model S and X in its Japan-based facilities, and the Model 3’s 2170 cells in Gigafactory 1 . Considering the size of the Chinese market, though, Panasonic’s resources would not be enough to meet the demand in the country. Elon Musk described this in a prior tweet.
Tesla will manufacture all battery modules & packs at China Giga, as we do today in California & Nevada. Cell production will be sourced locally, most likely from several companies (incl Pana), in order to meet demand in a timely manner.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2018
While reports of Tesla’s preliminary agreement with Tianjin Lishen are undoubtedly interesting, some aspects of the information provided by Reuters’ sources were a tad bit strange. For one, Elon Musk has stated that the first vehicle set to be produced in Gigafactory 3 is the Model 3, an electric car powered by 2170 cells. Despite Gigafactory 3 only producing the affordable versions of the electric sedan, it doesn’t make much sense for Tianjin Lishen and Tesla to be still undecided about the types of battery cells that would be needed for the upcoming facility.
If any, these recent reports of Tesla and it’s possible battery partner in China teases the accelerated pace of Gigafactory 3’s development and construction. The facility, after all, is currently following an incredibly ambitious timeline, with Tesla aiming to finish the initial construction of the factory by the end of summer. Tesla also aims to start producing the Model 3 before the end of 2019.
Perhaps the most notable factor in the construction of Gigafactory 3 though, is the apparent favor currently being extended to Tesla by the Chinese government. For one, Tesla was allowed to become the sole owner of Gigafactory 3 — a privilege not given to any other foreign carmaker operating in the country. Apart from this, Tesla was also granted low-interest loans from local Shanghai banks to fund part of the facility’s construction. China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd, the company tasked with the facility’s buildout, is also a subsidiary of China Construction, a government-owned company.
News
Tesla FSD’s newest model is coming, and it sounds like ‘the last big piece of the puzzle’
“There’s a model that’s an order of magnitude larger that will be deployed in January or February 2026.”
Tesla Full Self-Driving’s newest model is coming very soon, and from what it sounds like, it could be “the last big piece of the puzzle,” as CEO Elon Musk said in late November.
During the xAI Hackathon on Tuesday, Musk was available for a Q&A session, where he revealed some details about Robotaxi and Tesla’s plans for removing Robotaxi Safety Monitors, and some information on a future FSD model.
While he said Full Self-Driving’s unsupervised capability is “pretty much solved,” and confirmed it will remove Safety Monitors in the next three weeks, questions about the company’s ability to give this FSD version to current owners came to mind.
Musk said a new FSD model is coming in about a month or two that will be an order-of-magnitude larger and will include more reasoning and reinforcement learning.
He said:
“There’s a model that’s an order of magnitude larger that will be deployed in January or February 2026. We’re gonna add a lot of reasoning and RL (reinforcement learning). To get to serious scale, Tesla will probably need to build a giant chip fab. To have a few hundred gigawatts of AI chips per year, I don’t see that capability coming online fast enough, so we will probably have to build a fab.”
NEWS: Elon Musk says FSD Unsupervised is “pretty much solved at this point” and that @Tesla will be launching Robotaxis with no safety monitors in about 3 weeks in Austin, Texas. He also teased a new FSD model is coming in about 1-2 months.
“We’re just going through validation… https://t.co/Msne72cgMB pic.twitter.com/i3wfKX3Z0r
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 10, 2025
It rings back to late November when Musk said that v14.3 “is where the last big piece of the puzzle finally lands.”
With the advancements made through Full Self-Driving v14 and v14.2, there seems to be a greater confidence in solving self-driving completely. Musk has also personally said that driver monitoring has been more relaxed, and looking at your phone won’t prompt as many alerts in the latest v14.2.1.
This is another indication that Tesla is getting closer to allowing people to take their eyes off the road completely.
Along with the Robotaxi program’s success, there is evidence that Tesla could be close to solving FSD. However, it is not perfect. We’ve had our own complaints with FSD, and although we feel it is the best ADAS on the market, it is not, in its current form, able to perform everything needed on roads.
But it is close.
That’s why there is some legitimate belief that Tesla could be releasing a version capable of no supervision in the coming months.
All we can say is, we’ll see.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX IPO is coming, CEO Elon Musk confirms
However, it appears Musk is ready for SpaceX to go public, as Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger wrote an op-ed that indicated he thought SpaceX would go public soon. Musk replied, basically confirming it.
Elon Musk confirmed through a post on X that a SpaceX initial public offering (IPO) is on the way after hinting at it several times earlier this year.
It also comes one day after Bloomberg reported that SpaceX was aiming for a valuation of $1.5 trillion, adding that it wanted to raise $30 billion.
Musk has been transparent for most of the year that he wanted to try to figure out a way to get Tesla shareholders to invest in SpaceX, giving them access to the stock.
He has also recognized the issues of having a public stock, like litigation exposure, quarterly reporting pressures, and other inconveniences.
However, it appears Musk is ready for SpaceX to go public, as Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger wrote an op-ed that indicated he thought SpaceX would go public soon.
Musk replied, basically confirming it:
As usual, Eric is accurate
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2025
Berger believes the IPO would help support the need for $30 billion or more in capital needed to fund AI integration projects, such as space-based data centers and lunar satellite factories. Musk confirmed recently that SpaceX “will be doing” data centers in orbit.
AI appears to be a “key part” of SpaceX getting to Musk, Berger also wrote. When writing about whether or not Optimus is a viable project and product for the company, he says that none of that matters. Musk thinks it is, and that’s all that matters.
It seems like Musk has certainly mulled something this big for a very long time, and the idea of taking SpaceX public is not just likely; it is necessary for the company to get to Mars.
The details of when SpaceX will finally hit that public status are not known. Many of the reports that came out over the past few days indicate it would happen in 2026, so sooner rather than later.
But there are a lot of things on Musk’s plate early next year, especially with Cybercab production, the potential launch of Unsupervised Full Self-Driving, and the Roadster unveiling, all planned for Q1.
Tesla has added the 15th automaker to the growing list of companies whose EVs can utilize the Supercharger Network this year, as BMW is the latest company to gain access to the largest charging infrastructure in the world.
BMW became the 15th company in 2025 to gain Tesla Supercharger access, after the company confirmed to its EV owners that they could use any of the more than 25,000 Supercharging stalls in North America.
Welcome @BMW owners.
Download the Tesla app to charge → https://t.co/vnu0NHA7Ab
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) December 10, 2025
Newer BMW all-electric cars, like the i4, i5, i7, and iX, are able to utilize Tesla’s V3 and V4 Superchargers. These are the exact model years, via the BMW Blog:
- i4: 2022-2026 model years
- i5: 2024-2025 model years
- 2026 i5 (eDrive40 and xDrive40) after software update in Spring 2026
- i7: 2023-2026 model years
- iX: 2022-2025 model years
- 2026 iX (all versions) after software update in Spring 2026
With the expansion of the companies that gained access in 2025 to the Tesla Supercharger Network, a vast majority of non-Tesla EVs are able to use the charging stalls to gain range in their cars.
So far in 2025, Tesla has enabled Supercharger access to:
- Audi
- BMW
- Genesis
- Honda
- Hyundai
- Jaguar Land Rover
- Kia
- Lucid
- Mercedes-Benz
- Nissan
- Polestar
- Subaru
- Toyota
- Volkswagen
- Volvo
Drivers with BMW EVs who wish to charge at Tesla Superchargers must use an NACS-to-CCS1 adapter. In Q2 2026, BMW plans to release its official adapter, but there are third-party options available in the meantime.
They will also have to use the Tesla App to enable Supercharging access to determine rates and availability. It is a relatively seamless process.
Tesla FSD’s newest model is coming, and it sounds like ‘the last big piece of the puzzle’
SpaceX IPO is coming, CEO Elon Musk confirms
