News
Tesla Gigafactory Nevada operations exec heads to Plug Power
Tesla Gigafactory Operations executive David Mindnich has left the electric car company for Plug Power. Mindnich, who was with Tesla for over five years, has joined Plug Power as the Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing.
A 15-year veteran of manufacturing and business operations, Mindnich was responsible for three roles during his time at Tesla, most recently “Senior Director of Gigafactory Operations,” a position he assumed in July 2020. Before that, Mindnich was “Director of Operations” and “Senior Manager of Manufacturing, Energy Products.” In his most recent role, Mindnich was responsible for overseeing Gigafactory Nevada’s entire operations, “including employee training and development, data management, capital and operational expenditures, production engineering, maintenance, quality assurance, and safety facilities across 5 separate business units within the factory,” his LinkedIn states.
At the Nevada plant, Mindnich was responsible for overseeing a team of over 5,000 employees. Giga Nevada is the largest battery and powertrain manufacturing facility on Earth, so the demands of his previous job undoubtedly have him prepared for his new position at Plug Power, where he will manage just 450 global employees. Plug is still maneuvering through hiring phases and expects to have over 1,000 employees within the next two years.
In his new role at Plug Power, the company said that Mindnich would report directly to company CEO Andy Marsh. He will lead the modernization of Plug’s manufacturing operation through creating efficiencies and modernizing the operation of its facilities.
“I’m honored to join Plug Power at a time when more businesses are looking for clean hydrogen energy solutions,” Mindnich said in Plug’s press release regarding his recruitment. “As a leader on Plug Power’s management team, I’ll work to strategically grow the company’s manufacturing operations, transitioning from mid to high volume through automation, to cater to this increasing demand.”
Plug Power focuses its operations on developing hydrogen fuel cell systems that could replace conventional batteries in equipment.
Tesla has lost several executives this year due to other job opportunities. Al Prescott, Tesla’s longtime VP of Legal and Acting General Counsel, has joined Luminar. Lynn Miller, Tesla’s Deputy General Counsel Litigation/Regulatory/Privacy Counsel, joined Plus, an autonomous trucking startup.
It is unclear who will take Mindnich’s post as the Senior Director of Gigafactory Nevada Operations. It could be Chris Lister, who holds the VP of Operations job title at the Sparks-based plant.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk reiterates rapid Starship V3 timeline with next launch in sight
Musk shared the update in a brief post on X, writing, “Starship flies again next month.”
Elon Musk has confirmed that Starship will fly again next month, reiterating SpaceX’s aggressive timeline for the first launch of its Starship V3 rocket.
Musk shared the update in a brief post on X, writing, “Starship flies again next month.” The CEO’s post was accompanied by a video of Starship’s Super Heavy booster being successfully caught by a launch tower in Starbase, Texas.
The timeline is notable. In late January, Musk stated that Starship’s next flight, Flight 12, was expected in about six weeks. This placed the expected mission date sometime in March. That estimate aligned with SpaceX’s earlier statement that Starship’s 12th flight test “remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026.”
If the vehicle does indeed fly next month, it would mark the debut of Starship V3, the upgraded platform expected to feature the rocket’s new Raptor V3 engines.
Raptor V3 is designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight. Starship V3 itself is expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.
Starship V3 is widely viewed as the version that transitions the program from experimental testing to true operational scaling. Previous iterations have completed multiple integrated flight tests, with mixed outcomes but steady progress. Expectations are high that SpaceX is now working on Starship’s refinement.
An aggressive launch schedule supports several priorities at once. It advances Starlink’s next-generation satellite deployment, supports NASA’s lunar ambitions under Artemis, and keeps SpaceX on track for its longer-term Moon and Mars objectives.
News
Tesla Model Y L six-seater approved for Australia ahead of launch
The variant was listed as YL5NDB on the Australian government’s ROVER approval website.
Tesla’s six-seat, extended-wheelbase Model Y L has been approved for sale in Australia, as per newly published government documents.
The variant, listed as YL5NDB on the Australian government’s ROVER approval website, has confirmed that Tesla has received regulatory clearance to offer the extended Model Y to domestic customers.
Documents seen by Drive show that the Model Y L has been approved in Australia in a single dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration. While Tesla has not formally announced a launch date, vehicles are typically approved for Australian sale several months before arriving in showrooms.
The Model Y L is a longer version of the regular Model Y, designed to accommodate a six-seat layout with two seats in each row. It measures 177mm longer overall than the regular Model Y, at 4969mm, and features a 150mm longer wheelbase at 3040mm.
Australian approval documents list the Model Y L with the same nickel-manganese-cobalt battery pack used in the regular Model Y Long Range, which is expected to have a gross capacity of about 84kWh and a usable capacity of about 82kWh. Output is officially listed at 378kW in government filings, though real-world peak output may differ.
The Model Y L replaces the regular Model Y’s second-row bench with two captain’s chairs featuring heating, ventilation, and power adjustment. Heated third-row seats are also included.
Additional upgrades reported by Drive include an 18-speaker sound system, new front seats with single-piece backrests, and continuously variable shock absorbers. The only wheel option listed for the Australian model is 19-inch wheels.
In Europe, where the Model Y L has also received approval but has not yet launched, the variant is expected to claim up to 681km of WLTP range.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk highlights one of Tesla FSD Supervised’s most underrated features
In his post on X, Musk wrote, “Tesla self-driving now recognizes hand signals.”
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is able to recognize and respond to hand signals, as highlighted recently by CEO Elon Musk.
In his post on X, Musk wrote, “Tesla self-driving now recognizes hand signals.”
Musk shared the update in a quote reply to a video posted by Tesla Europe, which showed a vehicle operating with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) navigating a tight lane in the Netherlands while responding to hand gestures from a person directing traffic.
Hand signal recognition is an important capability for advanced driver-assistance and autonomous systems. In real-world driving, pedestrians, construction workers, parking attendants, and other drivers frequently use hand gestures to direct traffic, yield right of way, or indicate when it is safe to proceed. For a self-driving system operating in mixed environments, interpreting these non-verbal cues is critical.
Musk’s post comes as Tesla owners have surpassed 8 billion cumulative miles driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged. “Tesla owners have now driven >8 billion miles on FSD Supervised,” the company wrote in a post on X.
Annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased sharply over the past five years. Roughly 6 million miles were logged in 2021, followed by 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025.
In the first 50 days of 2026 alone, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles. At the current pace, the fleet is trending toward approximately 10 billion FSD (Supervised) miles this year.
Tesla’s latest North America safety data, covering all road types over a 12-month period, also indicates that vehicles operating with FSD (Supervised) were recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles. By comparison, the U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
Elon Musk reiterates rapid Starship V3 timeline with next launch in sight
Tesla Model Y L six-seater approved for Australia ahead of launch
