News
Tesla’s in-house body repair shop restores damaged Model 3 in 25 hours
Back in Tesla’s 2018 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Elon Musk stated that the company is opening in-house body shops to reduce the time it takes for owners to get their cars repaired. The first nine of these in-house body shops were announced in Tesla’s official website earlier this month, and so far, reports of the service they provide have been very positive.
Just last week, u/ekobres, a Model 3 owner and member of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, shared his experience with Tesla’s in-house repair shop in Marietta, Georgia, which reportedly fixed a panel alignment issue in one day. According to the Model 3 owner, Tesla picked up the car, loaned him a vehicle, and delivered it back fully fixed and cleaned within nine hours. While this turnaround time was impressive, the work done in u/ekobres’ Model 3 was rather minor. Thus, it remained to be seen how fast Tesla’s in-house repair shops could fix a vehicle with more significant damages.
One such vehicle was sent to the same in-house body repair shop in Marietta, GA recently. The Model 3 was owned by the hosts of YouTube’s Like Tesla channel, who noted that their vehicle was damaged after a car backed into it. The electric car was still drivable after the accident, but a portion of its front bumper was hanging out, and its left headlight was cracked from the impact. Kim, the YouTube channel’s host, even aired her concern as to when they would get their Model 3 back, considering Tesla’s notorious wait times even for otherwise simple repairs.
Fortunately for the Model 3 owners, they were in the vicinity of Tesla’s in-house body shop in Marietta. Within an hour of the accident, the shop had been contacted, and necessary information such as the claim number and the electric car’s VIN were taken. The shop also started coordinating with the responsible party’s insurance provider. The next day, Tesla Service came by, dropped off a Model X loaner, and took the damaged Model 3 to be repaired.
Forty-five minutes after that, Tesla notified the Model 3 owners that their car had arrived at the shop, and around four hours later, images of the vehicle being worked on were sent over. Not long after, the in-house body shop sent another message informing the Model 3 owners that their car had been fully repaired, complete with a new bumper, front fender, headlight, and wheel. It was just 25 hours after the accident.
The rapid turnaround time of the Model 3’s repair stands as yet another example of Tesla’s continued attempts at improving its service to its growing customer base. This was highlighted in one of Elon Musk’s tweets last month, when he noted that Tesla is aiming to improve its in-house repair shops to such a level that same-day repairs become possible.
Tesla body shops are ramping up fast. Aiming to go from 30+ days using external body repair shops to same day body repair with prestocked parts at Tesla service centers.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2018
If these recent accounts are any indication, it appears that Tesla’s ramp of its in-house repair shops is moving alongside the company’s ramp for Model 3 production. While Tesla’s body shops are only addressing minor repairs for now (major damages are still referred to the company’s network of certified, third-party repair shops), the service they provide undoubtedly improves the ownership experience. Once Tesla’s in-house shops are fully ramped, the company might finally be able to shake off its image of providing great cars that are beautiful and powerful, but are a pain to get repaired.
Watch Like Tesla‘s Model 3 repair experience with an in-house body shop in the video below.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
